To ban or not to ban the cell phone?

 To ban or not to ban the cell phone? Without them, schools see more learning, fewer fights, and calmer hallways.
“Cell phones were a big distraction to the point that teachers were teaching to themselves," said one principal. "It just came to the point that we said, ‘It’s not going to work.'"

Assistant principal Bethany McCabe (far right) holds a magnet that unlocks Overbrook High students' Yondr pouches at the end of the school day. Overbrook, like a growing number of schools, is banning phones during school, requiring students to keep phones locked up during the day.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer