‘It’s a swing and a miss’: Gee doubts Ferguson’s case for statewide phone ban

Gov. Bob Ferguson is pushing to ban cell phones in all Washington public schools from first bell to last, promoting his “Away for the Day” proposal at Pasco High School on Wednesday as the school year begins.

The governor and state Superintendent Chris Reykdal want lawmakers to pass the ban by September 2027. About three-quarters of districts in the state already restrict phone use to some degree, but Ferguson said Washington needs one uniform standard.

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin discussed the proposal on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, with the two landing on opposite sides of the issue.

“I don’t believe that this will happen statewide,” Gee said. “There will never be one uniform ban. Remember, I said it. There will be no banning of cell phones as a statewide law.”

The parent pushback Gee is hearing

Gee said he has been asking parents about the proposal and found that support is far from universal, and that the biggest objection has nothing to do with academics.

“Not all parents are liking this,” Gee said. “They do more to address the cell phones than they do to address the continuation of mass shootings that happen in schools around the country.”

Ursula said the parent concern she has heard most is about emergency access.

“I want to be able to touch base in the event that there is a mass shooting or there is something emergency-wise,” Ursula said. “What I heard the governor say in his news conference is that they’re trying to address that, like what to do in the cases of emergency.”

Ursula thinks it will happen

Ursula said once the governor addresses emergencies and exceptions, the ban will pass.

“I actually think that there will be one uniform policy once they address those two things,” Ursula said.

She pointed to an analogy Ferguson used at the Pasco event, comparing the eventual phone ban to the now-unthinkable practice of smoking on airplanes.

“He said something to the effect of, ‘Do you remember a time when we used to be okay with people smoking on planes?'” Ursula said. “He says that it’s going to be like that in the future. People are going to look back and go like, how did we ever think that it was okay for kids to have cell phones all day in school?”

Gee gave the governor a pass on the analogy but wasn’t convinced.

“I’m not going to get on the governor for this,” Gee said. “It’s a swing and a miss for sure. But I won’t.”

Gee asks why parents won’t act on their own

Gee turned the question back on parents, asking why so many are waiting for a government mandate instead of simply telling their kids to leave the phone at home.

“Why do you guys think that most parents don’t stop their child from taking their phone to school?” Gee asked. “Is it because the parents are waiting for some type of rule to tell them so that that way their kid won’t get mad at them?”

“I absolutely think that’s a big part of it,” Ursula responded. “Because the kids are your friends, right, parents?”

A listener named Barry texted in that his wife is an educator in the Olympia School District, where politicians’ children attend school. The district already has a no-phone policy, and he said the kids “actually like it and respect it.”

“When it does happen, and if it does happen, I cannot wait to come on and say, ‘Hey, I was wrong,'” Gee said. “I know that’s hard for a lot of people to do these days.”

Ferguson expects to release detailed proposal language by Sept. 15 and plans to pre-file the bill Dec. 7. If passed during the January legislative session, districts would be required to carry out the policy by September 2027. A national report card currently gives Washington an “F” for its school phone policy.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.