Booker T. Washington High School senior Caleigh Thompson removes her phone from a Yonder pouch on Oct. 8 at the school in Terre Haute.
Tribune-Star | Joseph C. Garza
Each day, Booker T. Washington High School student Caleigh Thompson puts her cell phone in a fabric pouch that locks, and she is unable to use the phone during school, although she can earn lunchtime privileges.
All students at the Vigo County alternative high school are required to use the Yondr pouches, which use a magnetic locking device to store student cell phones.
When the school day begins, students place their smartphone, which is silenced, into the pouch and lock it. While students keep the pouches with them, they can’t use the phones until they take them to an unlocking base unit, or station.
“I don’t mind it that much. I didn’t have a problem with my phone last year, anyways,” Thompson said. “But I think it teaches good self discipline ... I’ve seen a difference. I think there’s less drama for sure.”
Not all students at the school share her view, Thompson said. “I think eventually they will see the long term effects of it and I think it will be beneficial for them,” she said.
Last year, there were a lot more issues with phones and social media and things being said and passed around among students, Thompson said. The alternative school is small and has 63 students.
The school purchased the Yondr pouches last spring, after Principal Cindi Hrovat did considerable research. The pouches cost $30 each.
Cell phones “have just been such a distraction for students. ... They get dysregulated with certain posts ... and once they are dysregulated, I can’t always get kids back,” Hrovat said.
It also disrupted learning, if students were on their phones when they weren’t supposed to be.
Teachers are happy with the results, Hrovat said.
Student attendance and attitudes are better. “There is less drama because they are not seeing a social media post or someone texting from another school,” Hrovat said.
The students are doing their school work and even having conversations with one another. “The students have done a beautiful job. They’ve acclimated well to this rule,” Hrovat said. “It’s been unbelievable.”
Students have to “earn” the ability to use their phones at lunch, through good attendance, completion of all assignments for the week and no disciplinary issues. If they meet the criteria, they can use their phones every day the following week at lunch.
NEW LAW RESTRICTS CELL PHONE USE
Hrovat was already looking at options prior to the Indiana General Assembly’s passage of a law in the 2024 session that prohibits students from using wireless communication devices during instructional time, including cell phones.
The law, which passed with bipartisan support (unanimously in the senate), has exceptions for educational purposes, emergencies and students who need their phones for medical or disability reasons.
Schools have their own discipline procedures for violations.
“I would not call it a ‘ban’ of cell phones as the state has provided caveats to address student safety and security,” said Tammy Rowshandel, Vigo County School Corp. chief accountability officer. “Cer tainly, teachers feel more empowe r ed now when enforcing classroom rules with the ability to reference state code.”
In Vigo County schools, teachers always had the authority to enforce classroom rules and allow cell phones for instructional purposes or enforce the ‘off and out of sight’ rule, Rowshandel said.
Both the Indiana State Teachers Association and Indiana School Boards Association supported the legislation.
Prior to the new law, most most school corporations already had restrictions and allowable uses of cellphones and other personal communications devices through student handbooks and/or school board policy.
ISBA heard from local officials that the new state law would “establish statewide policy consistency to help better enforce restrictions,” ISBA executive director Terry Spradlin said earlier this year.
Robert Taylor, executive director of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, said “there has been no signif icant discussion concerning the implement at ion of new policies” related to the new law.
Many districts did have policies concerning appropriate use of cell phones during the day and those were just adjusted to reflect the legislation.
“There are a few comments that the kids did not have any issues adjusting, but there were some parents that voiced concern about a lack of opportunity to communicate with their children during the day,” Taylor said. “Overall, outside of a few isolated concerns, this was not a large issue for Indiana schools.”
Tonya Pfaff, a state representative and a Vigo County School Corp. high school math teacher, said the new cell phone law “is proving effective when applied. When teachers enforce it consistently, we’re seeing a real improvement in classroom focus and engagement. It shows that a law works best when it’s actively implemented.”
She believes educators do appreciate having the backing of state law.
“One of the positive effects is that parents, students and teachers all know the expectations and know that when students disengage from their phone, they can actually learn,” Pfaff said.
According to a study by Pew Research Center last fall, 72% of U.S. high school teachers said that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom. That compared with 33% of middle school teachers and 6% of elementary school teachers.
According to a September NPR article, Indiana is among a handful of states that have responded to that problem by passing laws or enacting policies that aim to restrict the use of cellphones in schools. Six of those state measures take effect this school year, the NPR article stated.
In places without state policies, some individual districts have adopted their own cellphone restrictions, the article stated.
OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND THE NEW LAW
In Southwest Sullivan Schools, Superintendent Chris Stitzle commented on the the law’s impact. “Overall it has gone very well,” he said. “For the most part, we have had positive comments from students and parents.”
Michelle Tracy, assistant principal at Sullivan High School, said that with the new state law, the high school has implemented a “no cell phone rule” during class time.
Cell phones must be silenced and in lockers at all times. Students are allowed to check phones during passing periods and they may take them to lunch.
“The impact it has had on our students and staff has been very positive,” Tracy said. “Students feel better able to focus and teachers feel it is easier to have student engagement during class time without cell phones.”
Terri Roberts, principal at Sullivan Middle School, said the school already had a policy in place “so it wasn’t too shocking of a change for our students.
“We have no cell phones in class. They are kept in their locker,” she said. Students may check their phones during passing period and take them at lunch. As of Oct. 10, the school had confiscated only two phones in class this school year.
Among the Indiana school districts using Yondr pouches is Fort Wayne Community Schools, which previously had a pilot project and now has expanded their use.
For the 2024-25 school year, the FWCS board voted to expand the Yondr cell phone pouch program to include all FWCS secondary schools. The Yondr pouches can store phones, smart watches, earbuds and other small electronics.
The district has five high schools and 11 middle schools. A prior pilot project involved two high schools and two middle schools serving 4,000 students.
“The use of cell phones or electronic devices during school can be detrimental to the well-being of students and create disruptions in classrooms. These disruptions take valuable time away from instruction,” the district stated in a news release when the board voted to expand the program.
During the more than three-month pilot that began in March and ended in May, FWCS found:
• The percentage of school staff members who think the school’s cell phone policies are effective grew from 22% before the pilot and 63% after the pilot.
• A 35% decrease in violations for disruptive conduct.
• Increased student interaction during lunch and passing periods.
Back in Vigo County, Landon Garrett, a sophomore at Terre Haute North High School, says he’s receiving much better grades this year in the courses where teachers restrict cell phone use during instructional time.
Teachers may have students put the phone in a storage shelf or on a separate desk.
While Garrett attended a different school last year, he said he has noticed greater enforcement this year. The state law took effect July 1.
“I think the phone is a distraction. It’s an easy way to get plugged off into other things and not be focused on what your teacher is teaching,” he said.
In classes that enforce restrictions, he’s received A’s and B’s. In classes where he keeps his phone, he had C-minus or lower, he said.
In the Vigo County School Corp., Superintendent Chris Himsel plans to have further discussions with Booker T. Washington High School to learn more about their success using Yondr pouches “so we can start the conversation of maybe implementing this at other schools throughout the district,” said Katie Shane, VCSC chief communications officer.
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