Cell Phones & Teens: Exploring Policies & Practices in Georgia Schools

We invite you to join the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education for our upcoming Critical Issues Forum, "Cell Phones & Teens: Exploring Policies & Practices in Georgia Schools," on Thursday, August 14, 2025, from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM at Emory Rollins School of Public Health (RRR Ballroom). (Registration, networking, and breakfast begin at 8:00 a.m. The program will start promptly at 8:30 a.m.)

This is a time-sensitive opportunity to help key stakeholders (students, educators, parents, policymakers, researchers) in Georgia navigate recent legislation (SB351 and HB340) requiring all K-12 public schools to implement strategies to promote responsible digital citizenship. With many school districts looking to experimental cell phone policies to address this issue, our aim is to convene experts to spotlight promising practices, identify research opportunities and build momentum to work together to identify evidence-based solutions. This collaborative approach can serve as a model to other states and will be widely shared to relevant organizations.

The Forum will feature morning and afternoon sessions and will include a working lunch. The morning session will offer a series of panel discussions with key stakeholders -including policy makers, education leaders, parents, students, and researchers - discussing the impact of cell phone on adolescents’ well-being and academic success, as well as policies and practices related to reduce the negative aspects of cell phone use. The afternoon session will combine lunch and small working group discussions around specific topic areas, with each group responding to specific questions and then reconvening with all attendees to share key points from the small group discussions.

Attention will be given to developing key next steps that interested stakeholders may continue to work on in coalition over the next 12 months.

Featured speakers include:

• Rep. Scott Hilton, Member, Georgia House of Representatives
• Sen. Elena Parent, Member, Senate Education & Youth Committee, Georgia Senate
• Rep. Kim Schofield, Member, Georgia House of Representatives
• Rep. Phil Olaleye, Member, Georgia House of Representatives
• Mr. Richard Woods, State School Superintendent, Georgia Department of Education
• Mr. Jason B. Allen, National Director of Partnerships, National Parents Union
• Mr. Chris Clark, President/CEO, Georgia Chamber of Commerce
• Ms. Sky Cupid-Douglas, Graduate Research Assistant, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
• Dr. Munmun De Choudhury, Assoc. Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Dr. Dani Fallin, Dean, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
• Mr. Granville T. Freeman, Mental Health Coach & Whole Child Supports Coordinator, MetroRESA
• Dr. Robert W. Gaines, II, Chief of Staff, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
• Dr. Julie Gazmararian, Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
• Dr. Sam King, Director of Board Development & Superintendent Search Services, Georgia School Boards Association
• Mr. David Monahan, J.D., Campaign Director, Fairplay
• Ms. Erin Harlow Parker, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, Manager of Child Advocacy Programs, Behavioral Mental Health, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
• Dr. Dana Rickman, President/CEO, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
• Dr. Grant Rivera, Superintendent, Marietta City Schools

• Ms. Jean Rogers, Director, Screen Time Action Network, Fairplay

Directions

The Rollins School of Public Health is located at 1518 Clifton Road on Emory University's main campus next to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and across the street from Emory Clinic. The school is housed within three connected buildings—the Grace Crum Rollins Building, the Claudia Nance Rollins Building, and the R. Randall Rollins Building—on the northern section of campus. We are adjacent to the School of Nursing and the O.Wayne Rollins Research Center and are bordered by Clifton Road and Houston Mill Road. We will be convening in the RRR Ballroom. Click here for campus map

Parking

The closest parking deck is the Michael Street Parking Deck, next door to the Claudia Nance Rollins Building, at 550 Houston Mill Road. The cost is $14.

For questions about visitor parking, please call 404.712.8740 or email your questions to parking@emory.edu. To see additional visitor parking locations and for information about staff, student, or faculty parking, view the Emory University Transportation and Parking Services website.