COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia lawmakers passed legislation to ban student access to phones during the legislative session.
Now, the Cobb County School District says it won’t be investing its budget into storage for phones at its schools.
Cobb County School Superintendent Chris Ragsdale gave the update to parents, the school board and other community members at a meeting on Thursday.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
“We will continue to communicate with parents throughout the school year as how that implementation is going to look. I can say that we are not going to invest any money into storage solutions for cellphones. The law allows us to determine what that storage place is going to be. And the storage place is going to be in a student’s backpack or purse or pocketbook,” Ragsdale said.
RELATED STORIES:
- A ban on cell phones in Georgia Schools heads to the governor’s desk
- A bill banning cell phones in school for kids in K-8 is one step closer to becoming law
- Georgia student phone, tablet ban passes House vote, heads to state Senate
- Ban on student phones in Georgia public schools back up for review in House Education Committee
- Schools participating in cellphone lock-up pilot program says discipline issues are down
The law in question won’t take effect until July 2026, giving districts time to come up with new policies and enact them.
Policy decisions have a January 2026 deadline, with additional months for implementation.
For Cobb County’s schools, Ragsdale said the district is going to update the student code of conduct and ensure all students and parents know the new rules.
“We will be making updates to the student code of conduct so that all students will be aware, as will parents, what the punishment would be for that,” Ragsdale said. “We are certainly going to adhere to the law and follow the law as we always do. But the bottom line is we’re going to be focused on having school.”
The phone ban passed the legislation as the “Distraction-free Education Act,” which would block students in kindergarten through eighth grade from having phones out or accessible while in class.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
