According to CBS News, schools across the United States have introduced new phone policies for the 2024-25 academic year, which restricts students’ access to their devices during school hours. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that 76% of public schools prohibit the use of phones for non-academic purposes. For example, Hampstead Hill Academy located in Baltimore implemented a new policy for cell phone use.
The school is working with Yondr, a company that helps create cell phone-free spaces by providing students with special pouches designed to store their phones during school hours. According to Hampstead Hill Academy’s website, if a child brings their cell phone to school, they will be required to turn off the phone and store it in a pouch, which will be provided by the school. Pouches close magnetically and must be unlocked by a staff member. When students arrive in homeroom, they will be instructed to turn off their phone, place it in their pouch, and lock it. The student will hold their phone pouch during the school day. At dismissal, students will unlock their pouch, remove their phone, and take both their phone and their pouch home with them.
The Yondr pouch was introduced as a part of the new cell phone policy at Hampstead Hill Academy during the 2023-2024 school year to prevent distractions and help students focus. Principal Matt Hornbeck said there has been a positive response from both parents and students alike.
“Everybody knows that this is a problem. It’s a problem at home, it’s a problem on weekends, it’s a problem in the evening, and it’s definitely a problem at school. We did not have a problem with implementation. Once we made the decision a year and a half ago and we passed out the pouches and everyone learned the procedures, it was good to go,” Hornbeck said.
Before the decision was enacted, the school conducted and presented research on the negative effects cell phones have on children. Sixth grade teacher Jason Farber at Hampstead Hill Academy said research has pointed to negative impacts on students.
“It’s almost like the early days of cigarettes, people kind of had a feeling that cigarettes were bad for you, but there wasn’t a lot of tangible proof. And then the proof showed up, and it was a lot worse than people thought it was. I kind of feel like the same thing is happening with cell phones right now, where it’s like, of course, we knew that having these devices that people were kind of obsessively playing with all the time was going to be bad for kids’ mental health,” Farber said.
Before the Yondr pouches, the cell phone policy was that students could have their phones with them, but they had to be turned off and stored away. The school has updated its disciplinary measures for those who violate the new policy.
“So, if you saw a kid’s phone fall out of their backpack, it wasn’t a big deal because it’s just supposed to be off and away. Now, if I see a kid’s phone, like, at any point, they get automatic detention because they’re intentionally not putting it in the Yondr pouch,” Farber said.
The 2024-25 academic year began with two major school shootings at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and Joppatowne High School in Harford County, Maryland. The new policy raised concerns about parents’ ability to contact their children in cases of emergencies. Jill Vasbinder Morrison, president of Hampstead Hill Academy’s Parent-Teacher Organization, said the school has explained in emergencies it is vital to keep students’ attention.
“You want them to pay attention to their surroundings and doing what they’re instructed to do, and taking the safest precautions, you know, taking safety measures as they follow the drills, or if there was actually an emergency, you don’t want them on their phones, right? You want them to be present in the moment and doing what they need to do,” Vasbinder Morrison said.
The school uses two platforms to communicate with parents in case of an emergency. Hornbeck said they have several ways to keep parents informed of the status of their children.
“We know there are problems with school shootings and that does capture the hearts and minds of parents around the country, and they do worry about not reaching their children. Here we have a phone in every classroom, a landline, and we have several ways to communicate with parents, through a school app called ClassDojo, and we have RoboCalls, which allows us to call all the parents all at once,” Hornbeck said.
Similarly to Farber, Principal Hornbeck highlighted the importance of not wanting students to be on their phones during school hours. Vasbinder Morrison said most members of the PTO support the new cell phone policy.
“We are all wanting our students to get the most out of their school day as possible and have the best academic experience possible, and most of them share my opinion that having their phones with them is really just a distraction from that day,” Vasbinder Morrison said.
The Yondr pouch system requires cooperation and honesty of the students. Farber says some of this is out of their control.
“We don’t have a list of all the students who have cell phones, and we are not diligently checking every single morning and watching as they put it into their Yondr pouch and lock it. So, there’s a little bit of an honor system component,” Farber said.
