High school students in North Thurston Public Schools will be allowed to use their cellphones during lunch and between classes beginning in fall 2026, after the district's board voted 4-1 last week to convert a two-year informal ban into formal policy with a key relaxation for grades 9 through 12.
The change drew a pointed objection from North Thurston Education Association President Ray Nelson, who told the board the district had chosen "the easy way out" by loosening restrictions rather than codifying the full ban that teachers and the district had agreed to enforce since 2023.
How the policy will actually be enforced remains an open question.
Disciplinary steps for violations were not decided as part of the July 14 vote. Superintendent Troy Oliver said he and the union will build out the enforcement framework together.
For Thurston County's largest school district, the vote lands as state leaders push all Washington districts toward stricter phone rules.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said in June 2026 he would back legislation banning student phone use bell-to-bell, and a spring 2026 OSPI survey found 31% of Washington school districts still lack any districtwide cellphone policy, as reported by The Olympian.
What the policy requires
Students in preschool through eighth grade will continue under "off and away all day" rules. High schoolers gain phone access during passing periods and lunch only.
A "consent to search" provision that had raised parent privacy concerns at a June 2026 board meeting was removed before the vote.
The board also broadened a health-related phone exception from "mental health" to simply "health" reasons. Board member Gretchen Maliska, who voted yes, advocated for the change because she wears a glucose monitor that sends data to her phone and noted some students may be in similar situations.
Why the union objected
Nelson warned that tardiness will increase once students can check devices on the way to their next class, and that students given limited freedom will feel compelled to check phones before the end of the school day.
He outlined a three-step disciplinary framework recommended by the Phone Free Schools Movement nonprofit: first violation, phone taken and returned at day's end; second, a parent must pick it up; third, the phone stays until a written agreement is signed by school, student, and parent.
The board did not adopt that framework.
The lone no vote
Board member Jeff Line cast the sole dissent, but not because he opposed the policy's substance. "I prefer to see a completed document before I approve," Line said at the July 14 meeting, arguing the board had requested enough changes to warrant waiting for a clean draft.
State context and what's next
State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in April 2026 that neighboring districts with different policies create visible problems. Ferguson plans to prefile a governor-requested bell-to-bell ban bill on December 7, 2026, targeting implementation by September 2027.
The 2026 Legislature passed a separate bill calling for an OSPI study with recommendations due December 2027.
The district said in its official board meeting summary that details on the new phone policy will be shared in upcoming staff and family newsletters.
No date for those newsletters has been announced. Oliver and the union have yet to set a timeline for finalizing enforcement procedures.
