More school districts across the country, including those in the Aurora area, are taking steps big and small to put the proverbial genie back in the bottle by restricting cellphone usage in classrooms.
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To which I say, kudos to those with more aggressive policies – and why the heck did it take so long?
Pushback, from some parents and lots of kids, is the likely answer to that question. It doesn’t take much Google effort to realize just how addictive mobile devices are, especially to young minds. Your own eyes, especially if you hang around children for any amount of time, will also give you an idea of the power technology-in-hand has over them.
But recently more attention has been given to this issue, with at least 10 states passing or considering laws banning them in classrooms. New York’s governor recently announced plans to introduce legislation allowing students to only carry phones that don’t have access to the internet. There’s also a bipartisan push in Congress to study how cellphone use in schools is affecting academic performances and mental health.
Closer to home, school districts all have policies that attempt to regulate the use of these devices in classrooms. For example, Oswego-based School District 308’s policy states “all electronic devices must be powered-off/out-of-sight during the regular school day” unless with teacher permission, if it’s necessary for a student’s Individualized Education Program or there is an emergency.
But a few local districts have taken this a step further by literally taking phones out of the hands of students so they can focus more on the teacher and less on those constant TikTok pushes coming through.
As a way to complement block scheduling and its 90-minute class periods, East Aurora District 131 purchased cellphone lockers with individual keys for each classroom this year. Students in grades eight to 12 turn their personal electronic devices over at the beginning of each period and retrieve them at the end, which still allows phone access during lunch and in hallways, said Superintendent Jennifer Norrell.
Likewise, Yorkville School District 115 has a new policy that mandates students place cellphones, earbuds and other listening devices into designated caddies called Device Dens at the beginning of each class, where they remain until the end of the period. In essence, they can only be used during passing periods, lunch, study hall and non-academic classes.
I consider these all positive and long overdue steps. But no district in the suburbs has gone as far as Hinckley-Big Rock this year, which allows students to keep their phones on them, only they must be powered down at the beginning of the school day and placed in magnetic signal-blocking pouches that makes them inoperable. At the end of the school day, students reactivated their devices by pressing them against “unlocking stands.”
Plenty of research went into the decision to use a safety grant to purchase these $25 “Yondr” pouches, insisted Superintendent Jessica Sonntag, adding that an unlocking station is also at the local library for those who forget that end-of-day step.
Yondr, which was designed a decade ago as a way to deactivate cellphones at concerts, has quickly become the de facto tool in many schools across the country as educators come to understand the critical correlation between cellphones and behavior, mental health and academic struggles.
Yondr is more popular in central Illinois schools such as in Peoria and Decatur, noted Sonntag, who believes Hinckley-Big Rock is the only district in the suburbs using this product.
Norrell said District 131 looked into Yondr, but after a “listening tour through parent groups” and “feedback” from a town hall that indicated the pouches were “too restrictive,” East Aurora decided instead on the phone caddies so students could still use their devices when not in class.
But “so far so good,” claims Sonntag, despite some pushback from parents and students who really can go through a withdrawal period when they can’t access their phones from morning until mid-afternoon.
The staff at the high school, the superintendent told me, already has seen a difference in these first three weeks of school. Not only are students “certainly more focused in class,” she said, teachers report more engagement, more discussion, more energy in the lunchroom and in the hallways because kids aren’t looking at their phones or listening for notifications that can itself be a distraction.
“It feels more alive,” Sonntag concluded.
And no wonder. Ask most educators and they likely will tell you cellphones in schools can be constant sources of distractions and drama that include shaming, name calling and rumor mongering. According to Education Week Research Center, teachers single out phone usage as the biggest behavioral-related issue they deal with, as students get hundreds of notifications on their cellphones a day, often during school hours.
On the other side of the coin, educators claim it is part of their jobs to teach students healthy cellphone habits. Well aware of the shift toward greater restrictions both nationally and locally, West Aurora School District spokesperson Anna Gonzalez noted that School District 129 “is not implementing any cellphone changes this school year but are actively educating ourselves on this important topic.
“We believe that any decisions we make must be well-informed and carefully considered in the context of our district,” she added.
Likewise, Indian Prairie Deputy Superintendent Louis Lee also pointed out that, while School District 204 has no current changes to its existing practices regarding cellphone usage, “we review all our policies and procedures on an annual basis.”
According to Sonntag, most of the pushback from her parents came in the form of two concerns that “I understand as a parent and a professional,” she added. They want to be able to contact their child at any time, and they are concerned about emergency situations at the school.
The latter point was made by some parents Thursday morning, she told me, after two students and two teachers were killed and nine more injured the previous day at a shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia.
But Sonntag was ready for those calls.
“We work closely with local and county first responders and they all say the same thing: They don’t want cellphones in kids’ hands” when there is an emergency. Not only do signals get jammed with so much use and misinformation going out, too many parents on the scene can make the chaos harder for emergency personnel to control, she said.
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Plus, students with phones become more concerned about texting their parents than listening to critical instructions and following emergency protocols that can save lives.
Sonntag also believes that rather than negatively impacting students who can’t be in constant contact with their parents on a daily basis, these restrictions allow kids to figure out ways to work through any problems they might encounter at school, which include turning to teachers for help rather than depending on mom or dad.
Sonntag admits that, because Hinckley-Big Rock has only 730 students, it’s easier to manage these restrictive measures. But she also is aware other larger districts are keeping a close eye on how this year goes with Yondr. And she invited me to check back with her toward the end of this calendar year after a November survey is completed with students and parents.
“It was probably a bold move,” the first-year superintendent admitted of the decision to shut down mobile devices throughout the entire school day. “But after six years with the district, I know the impact of cellphone usage.
“I think this will catch on.”