LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (KPLC) – Students in Louisiana are facing a big change this school year as a new state law prohibits them from using cell phones.

ACT 313 prohibits students from using their phones during class time and requires them to turn off their devices and put them away until the end of the school day.

The new law was discussed by members of the Calcasieu Parish School Board (CPSB) at today’s meeting.

“ACT 313 has to do with cell phones and removing them from campus. This is a new state law. One of the things I told the administrators on the first day together is: If you remember any state law, please remember ACT 313,” said CPSB Superintendent Jason VanMetre.

A question from a school board member raises the question of whether using the telephone after it rings at the end of the school day is still permitted.

“Please define at school. Does that apply to buses too? A bus driver says, ‘Hey, I’ll take your phone.’ The parent calls. What happens next?” asked CPSB member Russel Castille. VanMetre replied, “Yes.”

VanMetre said students have been more focused from the first day of school to today.

“I’ve heard from and talked to school administrators in the first few days of school, and they’re excited. I’m talking to teachers, and they’re excited. One of the teachers told me, ‘It’s incredible, the kids can talk to each other in the same room,'” VanMetre said.

The discussion ended with a board member emphasizing the importance of implementing this law.

“Just an encouragement to please, please, please enforce it, because we have some schools that are known as easy schools where the kids can play on their cell phones in the stairwells. You can’t go there. Enforce it, enforce it the way it’s written,” said CPSB member Eric Tarver.

VanMetre tells the administration that this is one of the laws that is easier to enforce because it is not just a CPSB policy, but a state law.

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