The distractions of texts from friends or notifications from social media have mostly disappeared in classrooms across Nebraska, in part due to a new statewide law banning personal devices in class. And teachers from the Panhandle to the eastern border are all for it, even if students may be less enthusiastic about the bans.

So, in response, Nebraska legislators passed a law last spring banning cellphones during instructional time, matching policies many school districts throughout the state have individually implemented in recent years, including Lincoln Public Schools.

The new law provides cohesion statewide. "Now we're not going to get as much flak from the kids for it and look like the bad guy," Coady said.

"It's for their good and my good as well, because it makes me a better teacher, and I think it makes them better students and able to focus on what they need to do," said Janelle Coady, a teacher at Norris High School in Firth

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