{"id":4449,"date":"2026-04-30T20:21:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand.org\/colorado\/?p=4449"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:21:06","slug":"in-the-denver-post-why-instructional-time-only-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand.org\/colorado\/our-stories\/in-the-denver-post-why-instructional-time-only-falls-short\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Denver Post: Why &#8220;Instructional Time Only&#8221; Falls Short."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Stand for Children Colorado Executive Director Krista Spurgin has an op-ed in the Denver Post making the case for bell-to-bell cell phone policies in Colorado schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every school district in Colorado must adopt a cell phone policy by July 1, 2026. Krista&#8217;s piece explains why the type of policy matters just as much as having one. Instructional-time-only restrictions feel like a reasonable middle ground, but they leave students with phone access during lunch and passing periods, where distraction, social conflict, and addictive algorithms continue to cause harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bell-to-bell policies, phones off and away for the entire school day, produce real results. Schools that have adopted them report more instructional time, fewer behavioral disruptions, and stronger peer relationships. A ninth grader in Boulder Valley, where schools went bell-to-bell in January 2025, told us her mental health, focus, and friendships have all improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The July 1 deadline is close. Read Krista&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2026\/04\/29\/school-cellphone-policies\/\">full op-ed in the Denver Post<\/a> and then visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/stand.org\/colorado\/phone-free-schools-action-center\/\">action center to see what you can do. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stand for Children Colorado Executive Director Krista Spurgin has an op-ed in the Denver Post making the case for bell-to-bell cell phone policies in Colorado schools. Every school district in Colorado must adopt a cell phone policy by July 1, 2026. Krista&#8217;s piece explains why the type of policy matters just as much as having [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":true,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","color_schema":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In the Denver Post: Why &quot;Instructional Time Only&quot; Falls Short. - Stand for Children Colorado<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stand.org\/colorado\/our-stories\/in-the-denver-post-why-instructional-time-only-falls-short\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In the Denver Post: Why &quot;Instructional Time Only&quot; Falls Short.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stand for Children Colorado Executive Director Krista Spurgin has an op-ed in the Denver Post making the case for bell-to-bell cell phone policies in Colorado schools. Every school district in Colorado must adopt a cell phone policy by July 1, 2026. 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