BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Board of education members and Brunswick County Schools staff are largely pleased with the introduction of Yondr pouches to house student cellphones during the school day.
READ MORE: Parents cite safety concerns with Brunswick Schools pilot cellphone program
The Yondr pilot program was implemented at Cedar Grove and Town Creek middle schools at the beginning of the school year, on Aug. 26. Students are required to lock their phones in magnet-operated pouches provided by tech company Yondr at the beginning of the day and unlock the pouches — carried with them to class — when the last bell rings that afternoon.
Based on staff feedback, taken in January, 85.5% of surveyed teachers (55 total from both schools) said the pilot has been very effective. The remaining 14.5% indicated they are somewhat effective. The breakdown is slightly lower when it comes to improving student learning outcomes; 81.6% of teachers agreed cellphones being stowed away during the day helps.
Additionally, staff rated student response to the pouches at 56.4% somewhat positively, 23.6% very positively, and 10.9% somewhat negatively, the rest either neutral or very negatively.
Director of Secondary Instruction Tiffany George and Cedar Grove Middle principal Justin Hayes both reported at the board of education’s Tuesday meeting that distractions and disruptions from cellphones to have drastically reduced.
“This gives us meat behind the cellphone policy which allows us to enforce it,” Hayes said.
However, there is one downside to the pouches.
“They’re not holding up very well,” Hayes said, noting cost-wise that could turn into an issue for the district.
The pilot, which includes the Yondr pouches and unlocking stations at the school entrance and front office, costs the district around $30,000.
At around 500 students, Cedar Grove Middle originally received 525 Yondr pouches at the beginning of the school year, Hayes estimated; he said the school doesn’t have any more to distribute now.
Administration is supposed to give students one free replacement and charge students $25 thereafter, but Hayes said students are following policy and wear and tear is significant. Though without collecting all the pouches in — as they go home with students every night — there was no good way to tell exactly how many were damaged.
According to board member Steve Gainey, Yondr representatives told the district the replacement rate should be around 25% over four years, which equates to only
30 pouch replacements at Cedar Grove per year.
Regardless, Hayes said they were providing a huge benefit to the school.
Before the Yondr implementation, the district had a policy typical of school districts across the country: Phones should be turned off and stored during instructional time. However, some teachers tend to be stricter than others and punishment differs across classrooms for the same infractions.
Board member Catherine Cooke said the Yondr pouches wouldn’t be needed if the policy had been enforced uniformly.
Superintendent Dale Cole pushed back on this notion a little, noting the pouches take some of the enforcement burden off the teachers, leaving time for uninterrupted instruction.
“You’re really only having to deal with it once a day … If it happens at any time throughout the rest of the day it’s black and white,” Cole said. “If you don’t have a pouch, it’s happening all day long.”
Gainey essentially called the old policy, without Yondr, unenforceable. He said if he was teaching, he wouldn’t stop a lesson to tell students to get off their phones if they simply weren’t paying attention.
Now, students will have their phone confiscated to the front office if it’s found outside of the pouch. On the second offense, a parent would need to pick up the phone from the office. The third offense comes with three days of in-school suspension.
A fourth offense will lead to the student being prohibited from bringing any devices to school. The student will also serve one day of out-of-school suspension. As the number of offenses increases, the duration of out-of-school suspension can extend up to 10 days.
George said the impact of the pilot on student disciplinary actions is still inconclusive, and because it’s early in the pilot, there’s no test scores to show yet. However, there has been a drop in absenteeism since last school year.
Chronic absenteeism, meaning missing 10% or more of the school year, at Cedar Grover dropped almost in half, from 180 to 61 students. The decrease at Town Creek was 207 to 159 students. George attributed the drop to the Yondr pouches increasing the social climate at the schools — students using social media or group messages to cyberbully or spread rumors or even more heinous acts, like planning fights.
Last year, the New Hanover County school board considered Yondr pouches after Ashton Herring, New Hanover County assistant DA overseeing juvenile court, told the board three cases of child pornography distributed by teens came to light in the previous six months. She reported many incidents of photos or videos being taken in student bathrooms and spreading throughout the school, with those involved not even realizing the crime they were committing.
NHCS has not picked up the pilot with Yondr.
Brunswick County board of education member Robin Moffit said she’s heard from the schools that videotaping has just dropped and is almost nonexistent.
“Students are far more apt to attend school when they’re comfortable there,” George said on Tuesday.
The superintendent added he’s noticed the easier it is for students to communicate with their parents during the day, the more checkouts schools have, which could contribute to the higher numbers of absenteeism.
Moffit also noted students could be wanting to attend school more due to the social interactions they’re now cultivating outside their phones.
Despite the praise, George outlined some ways to improve the pilot moving forward, including more frequent checks of student pouches throughout the day and more unlocking stations to reduce student congestion.
The director also noted concerns still remain regarding the pouches. When the Yondr program was still in discussion at the board of education, parents expressed discomfort with not being able to reach their children during an emergency. Additionally, a student would not be able to call 911 if needed when their phone was locked away. George said these concerns still remain, along with a desire to outline an emergency phone access plan.
However, a survey of 200 middle- and high-school teachers showed 81.7% supporting the implementation of Yondr pouches at their school, though the school board did not discuss the option of expanding the pilot at Tuesday’s meeting.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com
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