Phones weren't allowed in my high school 10 years ago. Everyone still used them. They were huge distractions to students and also to teachers since they spent a lot of time policing. Teachers were not allowed to give you an F for having it, they would just take it and give you in-school suspension. Talking in class was much easier for a teacher to police than being on your phone. We got very good at hiding it. I held my phone by using the back of my knee, bending my leg to pinch the phone in place, then typing a text or Google search until I needed to look.

No one was using them for educational purposes.