In Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public School District, cell phone bans have made way for students to read for pleasure.
The district is following a new state law that prohibits cell phone use during class and lunch. School district leaders were tasked with creating their own plans for the new school year on how to manage the policy.
Just a few months into the semester, they’re seeing the effort pay off.
During the times when students would typically be on their phones, they’re visiting the library instead.
At Pleasure Ridge Park High School, students have already checked out over 1,200 books since the start of the school year, nearly half of a typical year’s total.
“I thought it’d be hard to get used to,” Michael, a senior at the school, told Wave 3 News. “I had nothing to do. So I thought, why not come grab a book and see if I’m interested again? After I started reading, I liked it.”
It’s a shift librarians are hoping to encourage.
“I see that this is a movement that we are reclaiming attention, rediscovering joy, and reconnecting with one another,” Dr. Lynn Reynolds, the district’s director of library media services, told WLKY News.
“In this country — and I’m a bit of a nerd — but reading for pleasure has decreased,” she added.
It’s true. A recent study saw rates of reading for pleasure drop 40% over the last two decades.
Could this movement in Kentucky schools be a culture shift?
“What I have found is that kids are rediscovering the library again, so we’re turning from phones to pages,” Reynolds told Wave 3. “I see that there’s going to be a shift across the nation.”
It’s not just Pleasure Ridge Park High School where library checkouts are increasing. Wave 3 shared data from other schools in the district:
- Ballard High - 798 checkouts this August, up from 341 last year
- Butler High - 40% of the student body currently has a book checked out, double the number who borrowed books all last year
- Central High - 857 checkouts this August, up from 341 last year
- Seneca High- 953 checkouts this August, up from 575 last year
- Waggener High - 1,069 checkouts this August, up from 232 last year
- Western High - 568 checkouts this August, up from 354 last year
- Crosby Middle - 1,085 checkouts this August, up from 570 last year
- Farnsley Middle - 1,003 checkouts this August, up from 92 last year
At Ballard High School, librarian Stephanie Conrad said the school planned to see a spike in book circulation and spent time over the summer planning how to accommodate the growing interest.
About 31% of the school’s roughly 2,000 students meet state reading proficiency standards, according to Newsweek, so seeing an increase in checkouts is a sign of progress.
Progress Conrad wants to nurture.
“In order to support the kids’ needs when they aren't allowed to have their cell phones during the day, I’ve worked with teachers so that they have a regular rotating schedule to come to the library,” she told Newsweek. “So, they'll come once every two to three weeks, depending on their curriculum and schedule.”
Growing reading rates are certainly a plus, but students and teachers alike are also seeing a trend in strong community bonds.
Conrad, for instance, said she has been hosting book talks and introducing titles to students with more regularity.
“We’ve made sure we have lots and lots of book displays,” she told Newsweek. “Books that people have read, books that they want to talk about. We’re just doing everything we possibly can to make sure books are readily available and enticing.”
Michael, the senior who has traded scrolling for turning the page, told Wave 3 it’s been a noticeable shift.
“At first, I was real dramatic about the policy, I thought it was going to end my whole life,” he said.
“I just realized this was a good chance for me to put my phone down and start focusing back … on school. [It] helps people socialize, because this year I have talked to people more than in all the 12 years of me being in school.”
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