For longer than any of us can remember, bells have signaled change and helped manage our lives.

Church bells handled religion. Fire bells alerted us to emergencies. School bells started and ended our days and controlled movement between classes for nine months of our formative years.

If lawmakers in Harrisburg have their way, those school bells will take on another task by limiting student access to cellphones and other electronic devices while classes are in session.

Senate Bill 1014, a bipartisan effort, is a course correction that would make the school day a “bell-to-bell” cellphone-free zone in every public K-12 building in Pennsylvania, starting no later than the 2027-28 school year.

The bill isn’t a panic over technology or a one-size-fits-all mandate.

It simply adds another rule for students to follow: Using phones or other internet-connected personal devices just plain isn’t allowed.

It does allow districts to control how to implement and enforce the process, whether that involves lockable pouches, classroom storage or other ways that fit their communities.

The proposal is moving fast through the halls of the Capitol. The Senate approved it, 46-1, earlier this month. It’s now being considered by the House Education Committee, and if it’s passed, Gov. Josh Shapiro is waiting — pen in hand — since he’s already on record supporting a bell-to-bell ban.

That kind of support is rare in Harrisburg and it reflects something that a majority of parents, teachers and even students know: Cellphones can disrupt the school day.

And there’s data to back it up.

Since the early 2010s, teen depression has skyrocketed about 150% and suicide among 10-to-14-year-olds tripled between 2007 and 2021, with the majority of those increases among girls.

At the same time, smartphone use among teens exploded, with many spending nearly eight hours focused on their screens. On average, those teens get more than 200 notifications every day.

Think about it. That time equates to what is a full-time job for many of us.

Educators and teachers unions have been blunt. Mobile devices add to anxiety, cyberbullying and an inability to focus.

Nationally, almost half of the nation’s teens have reported experiencing cyberbullying and many say that social media drama makes their lives worse. Constant access during the school day only increases that harm.

Some parents shudder at the suggestion of limits on cellphones in schools, saying children couldn’t contact them in an emergency.

But security experts also warn that cellphones can undermine safety in real emergencies as students focus on filming, texting and sharing unverified rumors instead of listening to adults trying to get them to safety.

Parents can still reach their children through the office and schools have intercoms, radios and notification systems designed for crisis communications.

For now, school cellphone limits are a patchwork.

Here in Carbon County, for example, they’re often tougher on paper than in practice.

In Lehighton, phones need to be out of sight or in classroom holders. Teachers control educational use, and violators see escalating consequences as they choose to break the rules.

In Palmerton, students can use phones in specific settings like buses as long as they’re wearing headphones. Limits differ at the building level, but there’s no bell-to-bell ban.

Other districts — Weatherly, Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley — have varying rules and building-level limits.

Parents who might move from one district to another find inconsistencies, and students learn quickly which buildings enforce the issue and which don’t.

The new bill would eliminate the confusion by setting a state-level ban while still allowing the local districts to figure out the logistics.

The concept isn’t new, and in many places where it’s already in effect it’s a chance to reclaim the school day.

Other states and Pennsylvania districts that have already gone bell-to-bell without cellphones report there’s something quietly radical happening. Kids are talking to each other again, there’s more laughter at lunch, fewer students are referred for discipline and classrooms are places where teachers can actually teach.

Call it a form of educational hygiene.

In all our schools, we ask teachers to raise test scores, manage complex behaviors and attempt to triage a mental health crisis all while dealing with hundreds of pings a day in every pocket in the room.

The new legislation is the least we can do to help.

The Senate has come through, and the House is considering a simple question: will we keep letting technology set the rules of the school day or will we reclaim in-school hours for learning, relationships and sanity?

For local students and those across the state, it’s time to get this proposal to the governor’s desk.

And ring the bell on cellphone-free schools.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 45 years’ experience in community journalism.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.