School districts across the county are introducing and revising their own cellphone and personal device policies after a statewide policy was signed into law in May by Governor Janet Mills.
By Aug. 1, all school boards must adopt and implement a policy related to the use of personal electronic devices during the school day. The law states the policy must include provisions related to student use of cellular telephones and wearable electronic devices, such as smartwatches.
With the deadline a month away, officials in RSU 12, RSU 48, RSU 40, and AOS 98 are working on amending their current cellphone policies to comply with state standards or creating completely new ones.
The RSU 12 Board of Directors passed a cellphone policy at its last meeting on June 11. Superintendent Howard Tuttle said the policy isn’t a major shift for the school district’s families, as students have never been allowed to have cellphones in school.
“The expectations themselves are nothing new,” Tuttle said.
The addition required by statute and the district’s policy is that cellphones are not only to be put away during the school day, but powered off. With this, Tuttle said the district hopes to formalize and reinforce an expectation of a “distraction-free” learning environment for students.
“Having it codified in policy and aligned with state law ensures consistency across the district and gives staff and administrators clear guidance when enforcing those expectations,” Tuttle said.
On June 17, the RSU 48 Board of Directors updated its cellphone policy. Superintendent Lynsey Johnston said the only change was with the definition of what was covered. The board changed what previously said “cellphones and other personal electronic devices” to “cellphones and other personal electronic devices with internet or cellular network connectivity capabilities.”
In September 2025, RSU 48 implemented a policy to ban personal devices to limit distractions and screen time during school hours. The change was to be in compliance with the new law, Johnston said.
“Like so many other places, we are making an effort to promote face to face interactions over additional, constant screen time and felt this was beneficial to our school environment,” Johnston said.
Since the implementation of the policy, she said the board feels there has been noticeable improvement.
RSU 40 Board of Directors Vice Chair Rick Butler said the board also made necessary changes to a preexisting policy, which is coded JICJ, to comply with new state standards.
“Despite the vocal opposition and concerns I saw from parents on social media, no parents appeared to speak at the policy committee or school board meetings when policy ‘JICJ’ was discussed,” Butler said.
The Edgecomb School Committee has been working on a new cellphone policy, but approval has yet to happen. Chair Heather Sinclair said details will be finalized at the committee’s next meeting and it was only tabled to give them time to define some of the specifics within the policy.
The new policy will ban cellphones during school hours in accordance with state legislation, Sinclair said. Currently, the committee is working out the details on how to approach cellphone use at the beginning and end of the school day, she said.
“As an elementary school, this is not an issue that we have a tremendous amount of trouble with, but we are still happy to support an increased focus on social and academic opportunities and to support an opportunity to remove children from personal screens,” Sinclair said.
For more information, go to legislature.maine.gov.
