(Radio Iowa) – For the past month students in a southeast Iowa school were not allowed to use their cell phones during school hours and their principal expects the policy to resume when the next school year starts August 23rd. Mike Davis, the principal of Evans Middle School in Ottumwa, says cell phone use was harming students’ mental health and diverting their attention from their classes.

“I felt like taking the cell phones away would take that focus away on the negativity of what’s going on and have them focus a little bit more on what’s going on in our building,” Davis says. Davis says the teachers noticed better behavior, longer attention spans, and more positive interactions during free time.

“You know the real reason why we’re here — it’s not about the cell phones,” Davis says. “It’s to get a quality education.” Davis acknowledges students didn’t appreciate the policy when it was announced, but Davis says cell phones were a distraction during the school day.

“When a kid feels like they can’t live without their phone or be without their phone,” Davis said. “I think that becomes more of an issue than a kid having their phone.” Davis hopes other schools consider a no-cell phone rule during school hours. “I would love to see other schools start to bring their students back to being students,” Davis said, “to being young adults, and learning to interact with others.”

Axios reported last week that Hoover High School in Des Moines will be a phone-free zone when school starts in the fall, to address anxiety and depression among students. Researchers say symptoms of depression and suicides among teens began to rise in 2012, just about the time polling began to show teens who had a phone admitted they used it for several hours a day. About 90 percent of American teenagers have a cell phone.