PHOENIX — Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is renewing an effort to ban cell phone use in schools.
Supt. Horne spoke Thursday with other school officials who have implemented cell phone bans in various school districts.
Earlier this year, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs rejected a law banning phones in schools, saying it should be left up to districts to decide.
In June, Apache Junction Unified School District’s governing board voted in favor of a ban.
School districts around the country — and the world — have been increasingly working to limit phone use during the school day. Lawmakers in New Zealand passed a ban on cellphones in schools which went into effect in late April.
Last year, Scripps News reported on the cell phone habits of teenagers. A study showed that teens appear to be increasingly distracted by the handheld technology.
The study found that kids 13 and older picked up their phone, on average, more than 100 times a day.
The report found that more than half of the study's participants received at least 237 notifications a day. Twenty-three percent of those notifications reportedly came during school hours.
