TA News

Guest post by TA student Elijah Renner ’26.

Thetford Academy students gathered on Wednesday, February 26, at the Vermont State House to support the proposed bipartisan Phone and Social Media-Free Schools bill (H.54). The bill has two key state-wide provisions: banning personal electronic devices during the school day and prohibiting school use of social media for communication. They urged legislators to review the bill before the “crossover” date of March 14th – the last day for a bill to advance to the senate. (Watch the video of their testimony here.)

Students began their day by gathering before Vermont’s Lt. Governor John Rodgers, Rep. Angela Arsenault, Thetford Academy parent and phone-free advocate Robin Junker-Boyce, and other advocates. A discussion of pro-H.54 arguments and responses to criticism was held with Vermont educators, administrators, and physicians in favor of H.54. 

Later, students sat in on the House Education Committee, with Elijah Renner, David Thaxton, Oliver Ransom, Eliza Knowlton-Young, and Ulysses Junker giving testimony about their experience with phone-free schools–which they described as overwhelmingly positive. Thetford Academy is now one of four Vermont schools to implement a “bell to bell” phone-free policy.

In Room 11, which was reserved for testimony, students Isaac Yukica, Hardy Payson, Elijah Renner, and Christopher Payson spoke to the press. Yukica addressed several concerns raised by critics of the phone ban, such as reduced student-parent communication and challenges for technology-dependent classes like photography. He and other Thetford Academy students argued that these issues can be easily resolved without phones. “This bill is all gain, no loss,” said Yukica.

Across Vermont, over 1075 have signed a letter of support for H.54, and students are hopeful their testimony will encourage legislators accelerate the bill’s review.