As of the first of August, every public school in this state must have a policy prohibiting students from having access to their personal electronic devices during the school day and at school-sponsored activities.

I have read the definition. A personal electronic device is a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet, a computer, a smartwatch, or any other electronic device not owned or provided by the school that is capable of communication. There are exceptions: individualized education plans, 504 plans, medical needs — glucose monitoring is named — language access for emergent multilingual learners, and emergencies.

I support this. I want that first, because everything after it is going to read as though I don't.

The classroom argument is not in dispute here. A room where thirty people can be reached individually at any moment is a room where nobody is in it. The House sponsor was a substitute teacher and described what she saw: videos in the stairwell, fights filmed and circulated, a teacher who cannot confiscate a phone without leaving the lesson. That is testimony from the room. I have no standing to argue with it and I am not going to.

What I want to say is a smaller thing, and it is about what the law had to become in order to work.