New High School Cell Phone Policy

Many of you may know that in late 2024, California passed Assembly Bill 3216, requiring all school districts to create and enforce a limit on cellular phone use while at school.

Santa Cruz City Schools is pleased to announce that, after working with students, families and staff, we have arrived at a district-wide cell phone policy for our High Schools. The full policy can be found here. We believe it is vital that students be able to remain focused on classwork, connected with peers and attentive to their teacher while in class.

Our Middle Schools have already adopted a full “away for the day” cell phone policy to support student focus on the class day. In High School, all students will now be expected to deposit any phones in a cell phone caddy on the wall at the start of each class.

The use of earbuds, headphones, smart watches or other electronic devices will be prohibited during class time. Phones will be made available to students in case of emergency, but otherwise left in the caddy until the end of each class.

You can read about the specific disciplinary actions following violations of this guidance in the full policy here.