Phone police? Schools lock up devices during instruction time

James Island Charter High School (JICHS) Principal Timothy Thorn noticed a problem during his routine classroom walk-throughs. The students couldn’t help but be distracted by their cellphones.

In fact, teachers “who didn’t have a good system [of cellphone policies] were really losing the battle” against phones interrupting learning, he said.

So this past fall, JICHS became one of the handful of schools in Charleston County School District (CCSD) with a school-wide policy to secure phones while class was in session using a product called Yondr.

Yondr has a pretty simple premise. It’s a bag with a heavy magnet designed to hold a phone and block its signal. A student cannot access their device without getting a Yondr bag unlocked at a monitored station. At JICHS, the only time bags are unlocked are at lunchtime. At other schools with this policy, students can’t unlock their phones at all throughout the school day.

The program cost JICHS about $20,000 for a year of nearly unlimited bags, Thorn said. “If the kids damage them on purpose, they get charged $5” to hold them accountable.

Principal Keturah Gadson of Northwoods Middle School in North Charleston heard about Yondr from someone who piloted it at a different institution. Northwoods, she said, gave students and community members a voice in the process before the school started its Yondr policy in 2022.

Charleston Charter School of Math & Science (CCSMS) also engaged its community, said parent Lisa Covert. “They had a session for parents, where they showed us the Yondr bags and explained how it works.”

In general, Covert said “the feeling of the room was one of like, ‘Yes, this is good.”
Parent Francis Beylotte III, whose son goes to JICHS, agreed.

“I think the agreement from pediatricians and parents across the board is that these addictive devices need to be put away in school,” he said.

Gauging Yondr’s efficacy

So does the phone bag actually work? Opinions are mixed.

Beylotte said that all of the kids know how to cheat the rules with a dummy phone, his son included. Thorn admitted that fake phones were a problem.

But, said Beylotte, this doesn’t necessarily mean the ban isn’t helpful.

“Even if the kids are still sneaking their phones in, they’re using them a lot less because they have to hide them now. So there probably has been an overall reduction in phone distraction.”
Northwoods Middle’s Gadson said that since the ban, there have been less incidents related to cell phone usage. Teacher Ridge Welch, who has been at Northwoods Middle for five years, used to have to beg students to put their phones away during class time. “Now,” he said, “[phone usage], it’s not even a question.”

CCSMS Executive Principal Mary Carmichael wrote that the school’s Yondr policy has cut down on daytime drama. “Teachers are very happy with the increased levels of engagement.”

But some students say they feel a bit differently about the efficacy of Yondr. For example, a James Island junior said that one teacher routinely forgets that the ban is in place and asks the kids to get out their cellphones.

Moreover, said a second JICHS student, who also asked for anonymity, the policy is affecting how they socialize with their friends — and not in a good way.

“Last year and the years before that, I wouldn’t even go on my phone at lunch, but now … you’re just catching up on your socials.”

Safety issues

Besides its efficacy, another concern with the Yondr policy has been about how it might limit communication, especially in the face of an emergency.

Principals Gadson and Thorn had the same response to this question as the CCSMS admin: The office phones are always staffed, and employees can reach a student very quickly. Thorn said students can break their Yondr bags without a ton of difficulty if there were to be an on-campus threat like a gun — because when safety is compromised, “everything is fair game.”

But the first student pushed back against this reassurance. “If one of my family members were to die, or something, I wouldn’t want, like, my high school math teacher telling me. I would rather my parents just told me that.”

Us vs. them mentality

A few weeks ago, one student’s Apple Watch went off during a class and the teacher immediately called the office. Then, “four or five people came into the classroom,” including “a guy who had a taser. I was assuming he was, like, a security officer,” a JICHS student said.

“I had a friend who sat two seats away from me, and he was literally getting his backpack searched,” the student said. The entire time, she said, the staff members were screaming at the kids in the classroom.

This incident highlights the contrasting Yondr experiences between some students and the adults in charge of their education. For instance, Covert’s son said that at CCSMS, the Yondr policy is the product of a lack of trust in the students not to go on social media, like TikTok, during class time.

Some James Island students feel left out of the discussion. Teachers and administrators would better know how students felt “if they were to … include us in the conversation.”

How schools frame the cellphone ban

Northwoods Middle’s Gadson said that the lack of resistance to the cellphone ban at her school could be attributed to how her school had introduced it to the students. “We don’t look at [Yondr] as a punishment or consequence. We don’t have any negative associations with Yondr pouches. We just look at it as another tool in our toolbox.”

Welch has tried to minimize the us-versus-them dynamic in his classroom by admitting to his students that sometimes, he, too, can be a little bit too attached to his cellphone. At age 26, “I’m not that far removed from where you guys are,” he told his students.

Gadson emphasized it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. “We’re not going to ever just disregard something [important], because … it doesn’t fit into our policy.”

According to Beylotte, such a solution should include allowing students to access their devices if it were absolutely necessary, like in the case of a mental health crisis.

Either way, he said, students still graduated high school before cellphone usage was normal.
“If my kids hear me say I went to school my entire life without a cellphone again, they’re probably gonna throw up,” Beylotte said. “But it’s true,” he added with a chuckle.