PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — More Philadelphia schools are locking cellphones in pouches during the day so students can keep their phones with them — but they can’t use them in class.
“Cellphones, while a great instructional tool and a great way to be entertained, can interfere with our attention span and our ability to get what we’re in school for,” said Dr. Jonathan Brown, an assistant superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia.
At 22 Philadelphia elementary, middle and high schools, students are required to lock their phones inside a magnetic Yondr pouch. Each student is issued one at the beginning of the school year.
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“There was a little pushback,” said Principal Lillian Izzard, when she introduced the pouches at Edison High School this year. “A lot of ‘What ifs.’ A lot of parents had questions — ‘What if there was an emergency?’ — and things of that nature.”
Parents are told to call, text or email the school’s main office if they need to communicate with their children, she said.
“Law enforcement and emergency responders have made it clear that having hundreds of people calling one another during an emergency is the worst thing that could be done,” Brown said. “So, while that might be the instinct of a number of families — to reach out to their children — they're actually doing what's against the recommendations from first responders.”
Each pouch costs $18, and schools pay for them out of their own budgets. Students who damage or destroy a pouch are required to buy a replacement from the school.
“[Students] have tampered with the pouches, and what we’ve been able to do is put a system in place where we take their phones and hold them,” Izzard said. Some students have tried to outsmart the pouch system by bringing a second phone to school, Izzard said. “During admissions, they scan their items through metal detectors. So we have found burner phones.”
Most students have grown to accept the pouches, Brown said. “The students know they’re not missing out on anything either, because their friends are not messaging without them,” he said. “Once they realize that no one’s using their phone during the day they’re pretty much okay with it.”
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“We know that [students] have had these devices in their hands since birth, that this is how they've gotten all of their information,” Brown continued. “This is how they've entertained themselves for the overwhelming majority of their lives. And this is not something that's being done that's in a punitive way.”
In the beginning, students carried the pouches throughout the school day, Izzard said.
“Now they've been able to put away their pouches, their cellphones, and they're more accepting and see the benefit of not using cellphones in the classrooms.”