High School Civic Assemblies

 What problem did the school face?

New York State banned cell phones and other digital devices from schools using a bell-to-bell policy to begin in the 2025-2026 school year. Schools were tasked with involving community voices in creating local implementation policies.

The Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in the Bronx, NY had already chosen to use Yondr pouches for all high school students in the previous school year. Students were not included in the implementation plans, and many rebelled against the new policy even while some saw positive effects from it.

What was the solution?

Principal Ingrid Chung saw an opportunity to involve students by using a citizens’ assembly model in collaboration with us at The Source School, Cortico, and MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication. Over the 2025-2026 school year, AMS students co-designed an assembly process to make recommendations for changes to the school’s implementation of the NYS law or to other related policies. We implemented the plan together, resulting in better policy, stronger relationships, and more trust between students, teachers, administrators. This report below outlines that process, the outcomes, and the next steps.

Explore the story through this slide deck.

How are we scaling this solution?

We are scaling it across the state of Maine to develop a replicable state-level model. We will do this by building on our network of Listening Schools in Maine in a collaboration with the Maine School Board Association, the University of Southern Maine, and Cortico. Next we hope to provide this solution, on a variety of topics beyond cell phone policy, in other states through local collaborations.

A statewide problem: Maine enacted a statewide policy for phone-free schools in spring 2026. The Maine School Board Association and the Maine Department of Education developed a model policy for local districts to be in compliance with the new law in a timely way. Tight timelines prevented students and teachers as local implementors from contributing to the creation of the model policy. Districts would benefit from more targeted, evidence-based guidance thoughtfully developed by those most impacted by the phone-free schools mandate.

A statewide solution: Maine High Schools Civic Assembly on Cell Phone Policy Implementation, Nov 20 & 21, 2026, Augusta, Maine

Training: (October 30) Full-day in-person training for 3-6 students, an advisor, and an administrator from any Maine high school at the Maine School Board Association Conference. Participants learn to organize, host, and learn from listening circles in their school to better understand students’ and teachers’ challenges with and without cell phones at school and their visions for a phone-free school. Everyone leaves ready for Listening Schools Week and with the tools and skills they need to host future listening circles at their school on other topics.

Student Co-Design of the Civic Assembly: (October 30) Student representatives to local Maine school boards spend Friday afternoon of the Maine School Board Association Conference co-designing the Maine High School Civic Assembly using the principles underpinning the citizens’ assembly model. Everyone leaves ready to bring this model back to their district to implement locally on other topics. Delegates to the Assembly are selected from across participating schools the week of November 1st.

Listening Schools Week: (November 2 – 6) Schools across Maine set aside time to listen to students and teachers in 60-minute sessions. Imagine if all 100+ high schools in Maine paused for a moment to listen deeply to students and teachers—led by students themselves. Advisory, homeroom, humanities classes are all natural places for listening to happen. We will help schools determine the best time and place for their listening project when they register to participate. All conversations are collected into an online listening portal for local use as well as shared learning across the state. 

Maine High Schools Civic Assembly on Cell Phone Policy Implementation: (November 20-21) Selected delegates gather for two days to develop and approve a recommendation for a model district implementation policy for phone-free schools. Everyone leaves with stronger civic muscles, skills in democratic deliberation across differences, and a strong statewide peer network. The Assembly process is Learn → Deliberate → Decide. 

    • Learn: Delegates learn from Listening Schools Week data and presentations by experts in policy and cell-phone impact on well-being and learning.
    • Deliberate: Delegates engage in moderated, structured small group deliberation to move from ideas to recommendations.
    • Decide: Formal recommendations, passed with supermajority delegate support, are made to the executive committee of Maine School Board Association. 

What is next?

Schools participating in Listening Schools Week can apply in January 2027 to join the 2027-2028 Cohort of the Listening Schools Network. Cohort member schools integrate students and teachers into decision making processes in ways that result in better policy, more trust, and students and teachers who feel they matter. Each school is unique and our program is responsive.

Cohort member schools’ students develop core civic skills and capacities through hands-on practice in real projects that really matter to them and to their schools. A group of up to 16 students join a newly formed sub-committtee of their school’s Student Council. These student leaders engage the full student body and collaborate with administration and teachers to design and implement solutions to problems facing their school. Cohort member schools can expect a three-year process for integration, with yearly listening-to-action cycles.

Cohort member school administrators, teacher advisors, and student leaders have the opportunity to convene in-person at University of Southern Maine in the Fall and MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication in the Spring of each year to learn from each other, practice new skills, share their projects, and interact with researchers and practitioners working to create a stronger democracy through fostering engaged citizenship.

Can schools hold their own Assembly?

Yes! We’d love to see more schools explore options for bringing students’ and teachers’ voices into decision making in impactful and meaningful ways that build trust among school community members and result in good policy. You can use the template and resources provided in the slide deck on your own, or we can support you through the process. Be in touch!