(The Center Square) – Creation of cellphone bans for Georgia students in kindergarten through eighth grade was recommended Tuesday through legislation approved by the Children and Families Committee of the state Senate.

The ban would last from “bell to bell,” said Rep Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, the bill’s sponsor. The bill doesn’t address high schools but doesn’t keep school districts from enacting cellphone policies for grades 9-12. 

“What we’ve thought we’d do is create a culture of cellphone free in those grades and as kids matriculate to high school it won’t be such a shock to the system when they get to high school,” Hilton said. “This was the easiest bite at the apple.”

The bill leaves it up to the school districts to determine how to store the cellphones.

Hilton said the school districts must also create emergency communications protocols. 

“I spent a lot of time,” Hilton said, “talking to sheriffs and safety personnel who have all told me, ‘Scott, in the case of emergency, the very last thing we want is children to have cellphones in their hands. We need them to listen to clear instructions as to where they’re to go and once they are safe, absolutely, reunify them with their phones, with their parents.'” 

Georgia’s neighbor to the south, Florida, was the first state to pass a cellphone ban in schools. California, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia also have bans while nearly two dozen other states are considering them, according to committee testimony. 

The House passed the bill earlier this month. The committee’s 4-1 approval now goes to the full Senate.