LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Starting this summer, Indiana law will require students to put their cellphones away during the school day.

The new law goes into effect this July, banning cellphones in schools across the Hoosier state. That means kids going to school this fall are going to have to keep their phones locked up in a bag or locker, or left at home.

"It's simply put more time on task," said Tina Bennett, superintendent of Clarksville Community Schools. "I think the distraction of cellphones and the social media is, quite frankly, it's distracting. It's addictive."

Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 78 in March, requiring students to leave their devices at home or in their backpack, purse or locker for the entire day.

It's something Bennett supports.

"We are grateful that legislators have taken this stance, and that's kind of given us some more teeth to what we're already implementing anyway," she said. 

Indiana already has a law requiring schools to have regulations in place on devices during instructional time, but lawmakers were told those weren't working.

"The change that is made this year is going to cause us to kind of revisit our policy a little bit, put some, maybe some more guardrails in that maybe weren't in before," Travis Madison, New Albany-Floyd County Schools superintendent, said.

Madison said while the district reworks its policy, they want students to stay safe in case of emergency situations.

"The school would have the authority to be able to say 'Hey, then this would be an opportunity for you to have those devices,'" he said. "So those are still things that we have to kind of, kind of sit back and discern on and realize OK, when? When would that kick in? It comes back to that communication piece."

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