School districts across New York are moving forward with plans to get students to put their cellphones down as state officials weigh a ban.
A growing number of districts have plans to go cellphone free when school starts in September. The Greater Amsterdam School District will be using Yondr pouches — specialized cases that prevent students from using their phone during the day — for students in grades 6 through 12.
Board of Education President Reverend Kent McHeard says the effort is meant to boost focus, productivity, and connection between students in hopes of improving mental health and is supported by district teachers.
“They're happy to hear that the district has listened to their concerns about the difficulties that there that exist in getting the students to get off their phones and become engaged in the learning process,” said McHeard.
The Schoharie Central School District is using magnetized pouches — requiring students to go to an unlocking station in order to regain access to their cellphones.
McHeard says his district’s pouches will be secured with Velcro and they’ll adjust their approach as needed.
“Some of the things that the board will look at will be data. We always ask for that, meaning how many referrals have been written from using the phones. Various surveys asking parents and students what are their opinions or feelings. But also feedback from the teacher’s union, from the administrative union to hear what their thoughts are regarding that,” said McHeard.
Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has spoken in favor of banning smartphones in schools while on a statewide tour of districts discussing the issue.
“The most effective and proper way to do it is through legislation. But that being said, there is no reason why every school district in the state of New York can’t act on their own. Some of them have, very successfully. And I think this is an opportunity during this off-season, when we’re not in the session, for us to talk about how this should be happening now and that parents should be starting to engage and think about their role in helping wean children from cellphones a little bit more at home so there’s not such an adjustment when they get to school,” said Hochul.
Melinda Person, President of New York State United Teachers, supports the effort to limit phone use in class. She says it is vital that state-level recommendations or legislation about distraction-free learning environments remain flexible.
“We want to give them the freedom to design how that will work, right? We don't want to say, ‘you must use these boxes to put the phones in,’ or, ‘you must do it this way or that way.’ We want to give local flexibility. And I think it's also important that we support districts in the implementation of these policies along the way, so that they're not out there on their own,” said Person.
Person adds that no matter what position the state ends up endorsing, districts need to create coherent expectations for their own students to minimize confusion.
Another area of concern is safety—in a lockdown scenario, will limited cellphone access put kids in more danger? Person says that’s unlikely.
“When you hear people who are experts in active shooter situation or in disasters or issues where there's a lockdown, what they will tell you is that having a classroom full of kids with phones actually makes them more likely to be injured or to not follow the instructions of the adult in the room, and that if what we're really concerned about is our students safety, that they support the removal of phones in these emergency situations because they are not in the best interest of kids,” said Person.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School principal Tim Brunson said at a Board of Education meeting this month that his school would not be using Yondr pouches, and instead would be using "cell phone racks" in each classroom, meaning students will have access to their phones between classes.
“That takes away some of the student responsibility in that situation—you take their phone away for the day we’re not really teaching them how to use it appropriately. You’re just denying that privilege. I think our students, for the most part, I respect the fact that they listen. I respect the fact that we don’t have a lot of behavior problems. I think that this is a nice half-step to say, ‘we recognize that you may use your phone for different purposes, we recognize that you may use your phone given the opportunity to do it, but it has no place in the classroom setting,” said Brunson.
Brunson and the board agreed that if phone use persists, the district would consider moving to a system like Yondr.
A Common Sense Media report found that participating teens received an average of 237 notifications throughout the day, with a quarter arriving during the school day.
The Gloversville Enlarged School District also announced this week that it will require students to lock phones, smart watches, and ear buds in Yondr pouches this year.