COCONUT CREEK – Portia Facen is gearing up for the start of a new school year at a Broward County school . The district school bookkeeper has a son who is entering middle school and supports the new tougher rules for cellphones on campus. She has seen kids on their cellphones every day and she believes it is a brain drain.
“It has hurt academics tremendously,” she said. “It takes the focus off of teachers and education. Electronics have changed us.”
Some researchers agree. Recent data from the Program for International Assessment, or PISA, which tracks student achievement globally found students who spent over an hour playing video games, surfing the internet or browsing social networks, scored lower in Math.
Starting this school year, cellphones are off-limits for Broward public school students. Students are banned from using phones, headphones and earbuds from the beginning to the end of the school day. They can bring phones, but they must be in airplane mode or turned off.