On May 21, 2025, the Legislative Bill 140, often referred to as LB140 was officially passed into law. LB140 affects every school in Nebraska including Omaha North High School. 

According to Governor Jim Pillen, LB140 “requires public school boards to adopt policies for restricting cell phone use bell to bell.’” 

However, before the legislative bill was ever mentioned, North had their own phone policy. 

“Last year we were trying to implement the phone policy, and I think we did okay… this year I think we are off to a better start” Jenna Hotze said, an Engineering and Math teacher at Omaha North High School.  

The policy was similar to LB140, as students were not allowed to use phones during class time. The students’ phones could either be in their pocket, backpack or at home and should not be seen on their desk, in their hand or out anytime during class.  

“The only update is, in addition to not being on phones or have headphones or anything like that during class, people can also not be on them during passes from class because that is still considered as instructional time,” said Elizabeth Anderson, Assistant Principal and Data Processor. 

North’s policy was officially enacted on August 19, 2024. 

The teachers would give one warning at the start of class to students to have their phone be put away. The second time the teacher saw the phone the teacher would give the student a key and tell them to put their phone in a lockbox. 

The lockboxes are made from plastic and are placed in all classrooms and the library.  

If a student refused to lock up their phone, then the teacher would call their administrator, which would hold on to the phone for the rest of the day. Then, at the end of the day, the student could pick up their phone at the administrator’s office. 

Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, the policy was not strictly enforced. This was because many kids did not take the policy seriously and teachers started to give up on the procedure. 

“It is not another student’s responsibility if some are addicted to their phone or not, just because some people like the color blue doesn’t mean everyone does” said Natalia Meadows, 10.  

However, that all changed in the 2025-2026 school year, when the law was passed through Governor Jim Pillan. Since it is a law, teachers are stricter on the students being on their phones than when it was a policy. 

“It’s illegal to have your phone out in class now, teachers are being more strict now because of that, North follows that to the T,” said Kayleigh Clark, 11. 

Most students still dislike the idea of not having phones during class, since emergencies still can happen and they want to have access to their phones during those situations. 

“Being able to quickly let your parents know you’re okay and immediately go back to work shouldn’t be a distraction,” said Meadows. 

However, teachers and staff members think that this law is a good way to prevent students from being distracted during class.  

“Overall, I think it is good because it’s not saying they can’t bring them [phones] to school and as long as we enforce it, it teaches the students a better phone balance in life,” said Hotze. 

At the end of the day most students believe that LB140 is not the best solution for this situation (phones being out during instructional time). Despite this, teachers found that the new LB140 law is a good start to solve this issue.  

“Not everyone is going to agree with the new law, but it’s become a topic that has been in the news a lot, so I think some changes were going to be made,” said Ryan Koch, Social Studies teacher.