Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced on May 8 the launch of a $500,000 Phone-Free Schools Support Grant aimed at helping public schools, charter schools, and educational collaboratives in Massachusetts create distraction-free learning environments. The initiative is part of ongoing efforts to address youth mental health challenges and improve school communities.
The grant will provide resources for schools to implement bell-to-bell cell phone policies designed to reduce distractions and promote student focus. “Students and teachers deserve environments where the focus is on learning and building relationships – not constant notifications and distractions,” said Attorney General Campbell. “This grant will help schools implement thoughtful bell-to-bell policies that support student mental health and create stronger, more connected learning environments.”
Funding from the grant can be used for materials such as lockable phone storage or technology that limits device access during the school day, professional development for staff, community engagement initiatives, data collection tools to assess policy impacts, and translation services for inclusive participation. School leaders have reported that cell phones contribute to classroom distractions, increased anxiety among students, negative peer interactions, cyberbullying incidents, harassment, and hate incidents. At the same time, schools with established distraction-free policies have observed improvements in student focus and peer relationships as well as reductions in cyberbullying.
Jon Mitchell, Principal of Ipswich High School—which has implemented a bell-to-bell no cell phone policy—said: “We always try to do what’s best for our students, and the implementation of this policy is an example of that aspiration. Our teachers came to me a couple of years ago and pitched the idea… it was clear we had to do something different because our existing policy just wasn’t working… I was glad to hear that elected officials like AG Campbell are advocating for the ‘bell-to-bell’ ban to go statewide… And really it has been a game changer for us as a school community.”
Grant awards will range up to $50,000 based on enrollment numbers per applicant’s school(s), with funding anticipated to begin September 1 for up to two years. Applications must align with strategies outlined in the Attorney General’s Cell Phone and Social Media In Schools Toolkit; submissions are due by June 5 at 5:00 P.M., with questions accepted until May 29.
The program builds on broader efforts by Attorney General Campbell’s office—including introduction of legislation known as the STUDY Act proposing a statewide bell-to-bell cell phone ban during school hours—and lawsuits against social media companies Meta and TikTok over alleged harms caused by their platforms’ design features targeting young users.
