By Lisa Scagliotti, Waterbury Roundabout
With the first day of school less than a month away, principals at Harwood Union Middle/High School have announced details for the new school policy to keep students’ cellphones locked away during the school day.
On August 27 and 28, Harwood students in grades seven through 12 will be issued a locking pouch to store their phones and other Bluetooth-technology devices such as earphones and smartwatches. The move is meant to make the school a phone-free space to continue “strengthening engagement across our community and improve overall student mental health and well-being,” per a July 25 memo from high school co-principals Laurie Greenberg and Megan McDonough and middle school assistant principal Bethany Turnbaugh.
The idea to use pouches that students keep with them during the day came from an all-school assembly at the end of last school year, Greenberg said in an interview this week. Students said they would be more comfortable not having to turn phones in and retrieve them, she recalled. “This seemed like the easiest approach,” she said.
There weren’t many suppliers to choose from or other schools in Vermont to look to for examples. “We really are leading the state in this initiative,” Greenberg said.
The memo emailed to students and parents last week explains that the district has purchased special pouches from a California company called Yondr to store electronic devices during the school day.
“Yondr has been implemented in over 2,000 schools across 16 countries and they have consistently found that learning and social behavior improve drastically when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates,” the memo says.
The pouches can fit a phone, earbuds, and a smartwatch. They have a magnetic closure that is activated on and off by tapping it on a base device.
LOCKING AND UNLOCKING
The school memo explains how the process will work during arrival and dismissal: “Upon entering school, students will turn their phone off, place the phone, smartwatch, and Bluetooth headphones/AirPods inside of the Yondr pouch, and lock it in front of the designated staff. The pouches will be unlocked at the end of the school day at several designated locations within the building.”
Greenberg said school leaders are figuring out the details for how arrival and dismissal will work with the locking/unlocking stations near building entrances. Staff will oversee the process, the memo says, “but it is the responsibility of students to follow this expectation.”
Students in middle school grades will be expected to leave their locked pouches in their lockers; students in high school can have their pouches in their backpacks during the school day. Students have the option to leave phones at home or for those who drive to school, they can leave phones in their vehicles, the memo notes.
Students with a medical condition who need an electronic device for monitoring their condition during the school day will be issued a special pouch with a Velcro seal that they can open, the memo also explains.
In the memo section with questions/answers related to the new policy, the question of compliance is raised. “Students who are found with an unlocked pouch, cause damage to the pouch, or use an alternate phone will be subject to disciplinary action,” the memo stated without specifying the consequences.
Greenberg said those details will be forthcoming.
School leaders emphasize that the goal of this effort is “deeper engagement for our students.” Their message is that the new rules are not meant as a punishment. “The point is not to take something away,” Greenberg said. “We want students to be engaged in the classroom. We want them to be engaged with their peers and in person, not through a device.”
FEDERAL FUNDS COVER COST
According to the Yondr website, the pouches are priced between $25 and $30 each. Greenberg said Harwood has purchased 667 pouches – one for every seventh-through-12th-grader with additional spares to have on hand as needed. The school should have 580 students this fall, she said.
The purchase is covered with $21,000 from the final round of federal COVID funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program. The district received just over $4.8 million in ESSER funding since 2020.
The Harwood school board has reviewed and approved the ESSER grant spending over the past several years. The last such request was in early May when director of curriculum and technology Shannon Lessley told the board that the 2024-25 budget did not have enough funding to pay for summer school programs this year. Lessley and finance manager Lisa Estler outlined how the remaining unspent ESSER funds could cover most of the summer school budget. Estler said summer school was expected to cost just under $302,000 and remaining ESSER funds would leave about $250,000 to help cover that expense. The board unanimously approved that request.
Since then, Greenberg said, the ESSER account still had unused funds that could be used for the phone pouches and equipment. That decision was made after the Harwood school board took its summer break; however, the board has not yet approved the allocation, Greenberg said. To meet a July 31 deadline, the district requested permission from the state Agency of Education to use ESSER funds for the pouches. The funds must be spent by September 30.
If the request is denied, the district would pay for the phone pouches from its regular supply budget, Greenberg explained.
