by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent
Cross volleyball players: More pros than cons for Yondr so far.
One of the school’s wall-mounted Yondr unlocking devices.
“Need to unlock your phone?” Wilbur Cross Principal Matt Brown asked student after student after student at dismissal time — prompting them to tap their Yondr pouches against his handheld magnetic-release device, as part of what has become an end-of-day ritual during New Haven’s new era of phone-free school.
That was the scene at around 2 p.m. Wednesday at the city’s largest high school, which currently has around 1,600 enrolled students.
Like all city public middle and high schools, Cross now requires students to store their phones in magnetically sealed pouches during the day in order to reduce distractions and increase interpersonal interactions in class.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) rolled out Yondr pouches for all public high schools this academic year, after distributing the devices to all public middle schools last spring.
Brown said Wednesday that the Yondr launch has been working well so far. He said it helps that the comprehensive high school introduced Yondr pouches over the summer for the 300 Cross students who attended summer school. Brown also visited New Haven Academy last school year to observe its use of the phone pouches, as New Haven Academy was the first city high school to pilot use of those phone-free devices, starting in February.
Brown also said that the transition to Yondr has worked so far because the school’s ninth grade class used these devices while in eighth grade last year. That means that nearly half of the students in the building came into the school year with some experience with these phone-free devices.
So far, Brown and staff have been shocked by the general lack of pushback among students to storing their phones away during the school day. Nevertheless, he said, there have been examples of students breaking the pouches, including by finding a strong enough magnet to open them during the day.
Cross staff however have been reminding students that phone-free spaces are “not a power play of control” but rather necessary work that is aimed to help youth break addictive habits and avoid being distracted from learning in class.
Brown said Cross requires students in all grades to store away their devices during the school day. He said the school may adapt this policy over time to allow for limited phone-release time when considering students’ seniority or good academic status. During New Haven Academy’s pilot of Yondr last school year, for example, the high school allowed seniors leaving the building or in study hall for a period to unlock their phones as long as they have no discipline issues, a 2.7 GPA or higher, and parental approval.
“We just all need to break the habit,” Brown said. “It’s not a fair set of expectations for us to ask kids to live up to without helping because phones can do so much.”
“It’s a part of our job,” he added, “to help kids be present where they are.”
Brown said that students have been talking to each other more — and reading more — now that they don’t have their phones out all the time. He said teachers have also become more aware of their own phone use thanks to the students’ required use of Yondr pouches.
The school’s librarian reported that the school’s library has had ten times more books checked out this year compared to this time over the past four years.
Cross has installed 11 wall-mounted Yondr pouch release devices on its first floor, by the school’s designated exits, for students to unlock their devices at dismissal.
While Cross sophomores Asheli Molina, Alice Near, Evie Poynter, and Sophie Rothrock waited for their volleyball practice to start Wednesday, they sat in Cross’ atrium talking to one another and occasionally catching up on social media notifications they missed during the school-day.
They all agreed that despite being hesitant about Yondr at the start of the school year, they now believe it’s working to encourage them and their peers to be more social.
Molina said she imagined phone-less schools would be “hectic” but instead it’s been “helping a lot for us to be social, creative.”
“I didn’t realize we’re way more without our phones until now,” she added.
Near agreed that there’s been more positives than negatives when it comes to Yondr. “I feel like I’m focusing more on class,” she said. She added that during the school’s first lockdown this year, after a student allegedly posted a threat against other students on social media, she was stressed and scared that she could not reach her parents in the moment.
Rothrock said she thought the lack of phones would cause more fights during the school year because people are interacting more. Instead, to her surprise, she said there have been no fights in the school’s first two weeks.
The group added that it helps that classes this year have included more hands-on lessons. Rothrock said that a small downfall is their bookbags are heavier now because of the increase in paper handouts.
Poynter’s only critique was that students still do make use of devices like personal laptops and iPads for school assignments. And while more work has returned to paper, she said some of her class work is still assigned online which causes inequitable access for students because students who have computers can complete online assignments while in school, while those who don’t have computers have to do the assignments at home.
Another student told the Independent that the high school should allow seniors to use their phones during the day, and that all students should have access to their phones at lunch.
And another said that the arrival process at the start of the school day has been delayed as school staff have to watch students put their phones in their Yondr pouches, sometimes making students late for class which can impact their grades.
Brown said that the shift to Yondr has had some hiccups and tradeoffs for staff and students, including students no longer having immediate access on their phones to Powerschool to look up schedules and grades. The school also has to adjust to no longer using QR codes for students to sign up for clubs, as it did in the past.
But, Brown concluded, “when looking at the balance sheet it’s just wonderful to have kids fully here.”
Free the phones.
Students reunited with their phones, after dismissal.