"Phones have really stripped childhood away from kids, said Polak. "We joined together; we really started trying to advocate in our community for education around the harms of social media, and through that we began talking with the leaders in our school community."

As a former teacher and a member of Smartphone Free Childhood US, Kathleen Barlow saw firsthand the negative effect of cellphone addiction in kids. 

"Kids are retreating into these virtual worlds, and we feel like we're losing them," Barlow said.

Beyond mental health concerns, teachers and school administrators are seeing more classroom disruptions and disciplinary problems in students with phones in class.

The Pew Research Center recently found that 72 percent of high school teachers consider cellphone distraction a major problem in their classrooms. Thirty-three percent of middle school teachers also share concerns.

"I call them dopamine devices in their hands," said Barlow. "It's very difficult for teachers to compete with that kind of level of entertainment. Even the best teachers can't compete with that."

Some parents aren't comfortable that their children won't have their phones, especially in case of an emergency.

But Henson points to the advice of experts on that issue. 

"If mom is calling their child during an emergency, or heaven forbid there's a school shooter situation going on, the child, instead of listening to the first responders that are there in person and have complete, accurate information, instead they're trying to calm mom down on the phone, or mom may be hearing inaccurate information," said Henson.   

Meanwhile, teachers across the country are happy about the new policies.

"I've never had our kids more engaged – in 21 years – ever – 21 years," one teacher posted on TikTok.

Another said, "All of my students – 100% of them – took notes in my class, did their assignment. And then when they were done, they talked to each other. Was it this easy the whole time?"

There are also other surprising outcomes.

"One of my partners with a Smartphone Free Childhood team, she was talking to librarians and after the school had gone phone-free, the librarian said the amount of books checked out of the library of high school increased by 50%," commented Derrendinger. "That's huge."

Such results have many celebrating as parents, lawmakers, and schools work together to create healthier, more focused environments for the nation's students.