Corona-Norco Unified among school districts implementing cellphone restrictions on campus

CORONA, Calif. (KABC) -- A new policy that places restrictions on cellphone use in the Corona-Norco Unified School District is going into effect this school year, joining a growing trend on campuses throughout the U.S.

"We were seeing that it was becoming a bigger and bigger distraction in the classrooms, with students, with teachers, with instruction," Dr. Kelli Jakubik, an administrator with Corona-Norco Unified, said in an interview with ABC7. "I would see kids at tables communicating through cell phones, and asking who they're talking to, and they would point at the person next to them."

This year in the school district, cellphone use will be cut dramatically, at least inside the classroom. But unlike some policies other districts have put in place, Corona-Norco Unified students won't have to lock them up at the beginning of the day.

"We did allow students to have phones on them, but we wanted to make sure parents still had that connection in case of an emergency, and we did allow that as an exception in our policy," Jakubik said.

The policy will require all elementary and middle-school students' phones to be put away for the entire school day. However, at the high school level, they will be allowed to use their phones in between classes and at lunch.

"Our high schoolers do need to focus, do need to pass their classes, but we felt that high school kiddos could manage the flexibility of the schedule," Jakubik said.

The Los Angeles unified school district put its cell phone ban in place last year. Is it working? That depends on who you ask.

"I think the phone ban is good," one student told ABC7.

Said another: ""I feel like it's kind of pointless, because I feel like it's going to make no difference."

In the Inland Empire, both the Ontario-Montclair and Morongo school districts also have cellphone restrictions in place.

And it's something that could be coming to all districts across the state: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring all districts to place restrictions on cellphone use by July 2026.