In August and September of 2023, district leaders began discussing the possibility of instituting Yondr pouches — containers intended to allow students to bring their smartphones with them to school, but which keep them sealed during school hours. (Photo courtesy of Yondr)
YS Schools talk Yondr pouches, nine months later
- Published: October 8, 2024
It’s been nearly a year since McKinney Middle and YS High schools instituted the use of Yondr pouches at their campuses — containers intended to allow students to bring their smartphones with them to school, but which keep them sealed during school hours.
In August and September of 2023, district leaders began discussing the possibility of instituting the pouches, spurred by a letter the school board received from a group of local parents who were concerned about the prevalence of smart devices in the schools.
“Evidence seems clear that a phone-free culture at school fosters learning, nurtures more real connection and compassion and supports the wellbeing of young people,” the letter read.
District leadership agreed, and purchased Yondr pouches for about $7,700, or $22 per unit. In January this year, after students returned from winter break, the schools began requiring students to lock their phones away in the pouches, to be unlocked at the end of the school day.
Nine months later, McKinney and YSHS Principal Jack Hatert, who spoke to the News last week, said using the Yondr pouches has been “really smooth” for the district thus far, and, in his estimation, worth the investment.
“Our goal is that kids can focus on their learning when they’re here,” he said. “I feel like we’ve accomplished that.”
The feedback from staff regarding the use of the pouches, he added, has been overwhelmingly positive. Where before, he said, teachers often had to battle with phones for students’ attention, distractions in the classroom have largely diminished.
“The fight is gone,” Hatert said. “They have the kids’ attention.”
Hatert cited a reduction in the number of phone-related disciplinary actions within the schools from one semester to the next during the 2023–24 school year as evidence of the effectiveness of the pouches: In the first semester of that school year, there were seven out-of-school suspensions related to phone use — specifically, incidents of cyberbullying. In the second semester, after the implementation of the pouches, that number dropped to zero.
The number of minor phone infractions — that is, students caught using their phones during school hours — also dropped.
“It’s been a big difference,” Hatert said.
Unlike other area school districts, such as in Dayton and Fairborn, where Yondr pouches are also being used, Hatert said YS Schools doesn’t use “surprise Yondr checks” to ensure compliance.
“We provide the Yondr pouches as a resource to the kids with the expectation that the phones are in them, but we’re not trying to find problems — if problems present themselves, we deal with them,” Hatert said. “As long as we’re not seeing phones, we’re not looking for them.”
This approach, he added, results in a unified expectation for students from classroom to classroom, and doesn’t create extra work for teachers by expecting them to perform such checks.
“Prior to the pouches, some teachers were more willing to enforce expectations than others, and kids would be mad when someone had their phone in another teacher’s class and didn’t get in trouble,” Hatert said. “The Yondr pouches reset the expectations across the board, for students and teachers alike.”
Though requiring the use of the pouches has meant a time investment each morning and afternoon — students must have their pouches magnetically locked or unlocked by staff as they enter or leave the school each day — Hatert said the pouches have saved time for staff overall.
“It takes us two minutes [to lock or unlock the pouches] — but two minutes a day for the entire school year is less than one cyberbullying investigation,” he said.
And how do students feel about the use of the pouches? Hatert said he hasn’t received much feedback from students during this school year, as incoming seventh graders often don’t have phones at all, and seasoned eighth through 12th graders are used to using the pouches by now.
Last school year, he said, he offered students the option to talk with him about any concerns they might have regarding the new rules — and several did.
“But the feedback was not nearly as bad as we thought it would be,” he said. “Some even said they appreciated the break from their phones.”
For district parents and caregivers concerned that they might be unable to be in contact with their children to communicate important information throughout the school day, Hatert said the district recommended last year that parents call the front office to pass messages along. He expected, then, that the number of calls to the front office would increase significantly — but that hasn’t been the case so far.
“I think parents are probably now planning those conversations before school,” Hatert said. “And the students have their Chromebooks all day — if parents have a message they need to get to their kid, they can send them an email instead of a text message, and the kid can get it in a way that doesn’t require them to pull their phone out and be tempted to look at Instagram.”
Another concern from caregivers, Hatert said, has been how to be in contact with students in the case of a campus emergency. In those situations, he said, it’s best that students aren’t on their phones, and that clear and accurate messaging to parents comes directly from the district.
“If kids are on their phone, they may not have all the information,” Hatert said. “As soon as parents start showing up to try to pick up their kids in a crisis, and they don’t know when and where, they could get in the way of first responders and the reunification plan the district has.”
Hatert recalled a gas leak at the high school that took place in January this year — just two days after issuing the Yondr pouches.
“I think in that emergency, families saw that we, as a district, are committed to communicating factual information as quickly as we possibly can,” he said. “As soon as we made the decision to close school for families and communicated where to pick their children up, every Yondr pouch in our building was unlocked within two minutes.”
Using the Yondr pouches has necessitated that district staff learn to “do things differently,” Hatert said; the district had to purchase more digital cameras for classes in which students take photos, since they can no longer use the cameras on their smartphones. And there’s been something of a culture change within the school, he said, now that phones are out of the way.
“Lunches got way louder,” Hatert said. “Kids started changing who they were sitting with; before, kids would sit at the same table every day and be on their phones, but as soon as they couldn’t have them, we saw them sit with different people.”
He added: “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by our students’ response to it; we’re fortunate to have really great kids.”
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