Yondr pouch pilot program at some MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My hope is that schools that do NOT have pouches actually implement and actually do consequences for phone use- that is what have not seen yet in schools so now with governor directive to fall back on, hopefully schools will give consequences and can see whether or not need pouches. I feel the pouches were a fix that someone threw out and it was jumped on before any actual attempt to say no with consequences happened.

I don't think the pouches are necessarily the best idea but they solve the problem of banning phones from first bell to last bell, unlike the hanging-door-shoe-racks which our high school is doing now. That allows (by design) phones during passing periods and lunch.

Fwiw, a better idea I've heard is that, for those high schools with metal detectors, putting cell phone lockers immediately inside the building before the metal detectors. The students enter the building, lock up their phone for the day, go through the metal detectors, and go to class. For those high schools in Fairfax without metal detectors, installing cell phone lockers inside the front door would be feasible but will require actual (slight) changes to the building.

I know of no high school in Fairfax County with metal detectors and doubt they exist.

There are metal detectors coming to Fairfax County but I specifically meant other local non-FCPS high schools with metal detectors and phone bans, including DCPS. Do you have an opinion on cell phone lockers at the doors of buildings? Do you think that's a better or worse idea than the pouches?

Having 2500-3000 kids waiting in line at the school entrance each day to unlock their phones is a really bad idea.

The obvious issues of safety and theft aside, this would depay the already tight bus schedule by at least 20 minutes.

[Anonymous]

My kid hasn't brought his phone to school yet this year. So not a big deal for our family. Shrug.

[Anonymous]

This is going to flop.

[Anonymous]

No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

Yeah I wouldn’t go to a concert with 10k locking up phones. So only the people who want that attend. Unlike school where everyone has to go.

I kind of think with Covid going around again cluster all the kids at the unlock station is dumb and encouraging closer than normal contact but maybe it is fine.

I wish they would concentrate more on keeping guns out of schools than the effort to get phones silenced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

Yeah I wouldn’t go to a concert with 10k locking up phones. So only the people who want that attend. Unlike school where everyone has to go.

I kind of think with Covid going around again cluster all the kids at the unlock station is dumb and encouraging closer than normal contact but maybe it is fine.

I wish they would concentrate more on keeping guns out of schools than the effort to get phones silenced.

Why not both? It's not an either or.

[Anonymous]

I love love LOVE this program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love love LOVE this program.

Me too (teacher). It has transformed our school in such a positive way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

Yeah I wouldn’t go to a concert with 10k locking up phones. So only the people who want that attend. Unlike school where everyone has to go.

I kind of think with Covid going around again cluster all the kids at the unlock station is dumb and encouraging closer than normal contact but maybe it is fine.

I wish they would concentrate more on keeping guns out of schools than the effort to get phones silenced.

Why not both? It's not an either or.

They seem to be concentrating on the one. And spending lots of money on that.

I scoffed (internally) when the principal said that Law enforcement officers don’t want kids texting during emergency situations because they want to handle communications. I guess it would make it easier for them to stand around and do nothing like they did in Uvlade. I personally would like to have contact with my kid in that situation.

I would prefer the pouches to be given as a punishment to kids who weren’t following away for the day policies rather than jumping to using them for everyone. It might be enough of a scarlet letter for a kid to have carry a pouch around all day that it would be a deterrent to the away for a day rule breakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

Yeah I wouldn’t go to a concert with 10k locking up phones. So only the people who want that attend. Unlike school where everyone has to go.

I kind of think with Covid going around again cluster all the kids at the unlock station is dumb and encouraging closer than normal contact but maybe it is fine.

I wish they would concentrate more on keeping guns out of schools than the effort to get phones silenced.

Why not both? It's not an either or.

They seem to be concentrating on the one. And spending lots of money on that.

I scoffed (internally) when the principal said that Law enforcement officers don’t want kids texting during emergency situations because they want to handle communications. I guess it would make it easier for them to stand around and do nothing like they did in Uvlade. I personally would like to have contact with my kid in that situation.

I would prefer the pouches to be given as a punishment to kids who weren’t following away for the day policies rather than jumping to using them for everyone. It might be enough of a scarlet letter for a kid to have carry a pouch around all day that it would be a deterrent to the away for a day rule breakers.

Sounds like you don't understand either problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No issues at all after the first day when kids panicked. Once they realized they had plenty of time to unlock and still make their buses, it hasn't been an issue. We have unlocking stations at 4 different building exits and multiple locations within the building.

If concerts of 10,000+ people can make it work, it was always going to be fine in schools of 1000.

Yeah I wouldn’t go to a concert with 10k locking up phones. So only the people who want that attend. Unlike school where everyone has to go.

I kind of think with Covid going around again cluster all the kids at the unlock station is dumb and encouraging closer than normal contact but maybe it is fine.

I wish they would concentrate more on keeping guns out of schools than the effort to get phones silenced.

Why not both? It's not an either or.

They seem to be concentrating on the one. And spending lots of money on that.

I scoffed (internally) when the principal said that Law enforcement officers don’t want kids texting during emergency situations because they want to handle communications. I guess it would make it easier for them to stand around and do nothing like they did in Uvlade. I personally would like to have contact with my kid in that situation.

I would prefer the pouches to be given as a punishment to kids who weren’t following away for the day policies rather than jumping to using them for everyone. It might be enough of a scarlet letter for a kid to have carry a pouch around all day that it would be a deterrent to the away for a day rule breakers.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to flop.

It’s been going well so far, so I guess it’s not gonna be an absolute failure as you predicted

[Anonymous]

I've got 2 kids at one of the MS where this pilot is being run. They get their pouches next week. I don't mind school having a no-cell-phones policy (the school already had one), and frankly would prefer that devices (including laptops) be off and away during instructional time BUT I think the idea that these pouches are going to be the silver bullet is utterly stupid.

We are just suckers paying who-knows-how-much (FCPS is saying $18/kid for replacement but I doubt that is the true price tag) for a system that kids will quickly outsmart. My money is on 1,000 tech-savvy kids versus a few tech-dumb administrators. My kid already read Yondr's patent application out of curiosity (spoiler alert: it is just a strong magnet). Just say cell phones aren't allowed and enforce the policy. Yondr is an expensive version of enforcement that won't be any more effective than the cheap version and will cause knock-on issues.

The big knock-on issue is that a magnet can't use judgment and grant exceptions in real time. I can think of many reasons why there should be exceptions to cell phone bans for particular situations and we won't be able to think of them in advance. Some could be life or death (on another board, someone mentioned a kid had a heart attack and classmates spent 10 minutes trying to find a teacher because cell phones were banned), and some could just be normal parent-kid communication issues ("I'm having a bad day, mom"). You can't reason with a magnet.

I totally get that there are problems with kids and cell phones -- self-esteem, distraction, etc. -- but this is just a foolhardy measure with logical appeal that won't correct any of those problems. In fact, the schools are on the one hand claiming the moral high ground on cell phones and then plopping a distracting computer in front of every kid. If we had stats showing that schools with Yondr pouches have demonstrably higher test scores or demonstrably lower suicide rates post-Yondr, I'd listen and likely think they are worth the trouble. But we don't have those stats. Our administrators instead put up specious support on a Yondr-branded PowerPoint that suggested (and the administrators expressly asserted) that cell phones are solely responsible for increases in suicide and depression rate increases since 2010.

I'm so tired of schools operating like prisons and then wondering why the students act like inmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is going to flop.

It’s been going well so far, so I guess it’s not gonna be an absolute failure as you predicted

What counts as "going well" and how could you know that? Have any of these schools even issued the pouches yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've got 2 kids at one of the MS where this pilot is being run. They get their pouches next week. I don't mind school having a no-cell-phones policy (the school already had one), and frankly would prefer that devices (including laptops) be off and away during instructional time BUT I think the idea that these pouches are going to be the silver bullet is utterly stupid.

We are just suckers paying who-knows-how-much (FCPS is saying $18/kid for replacement but I doubt that is the true price tag) for a system that kids will quickly outsmart. My money is on 1,000 tech-savvy kids versus a few tech-dumb administrators. My kid already read Yondr's patent application out of curiosity (spoiler alert: it is just a strong magnet). Just say cell phones aren't allowed and enforce the policy. Yondr is an expensive version of enforcement that won't be any more effective than the cheap version and will cause knock-on issues.

The big knock-on issue is that a magnet can't use judgment and grant exceptions in real time. I can think of many reasons why there should be exceptions to cell phone bans for particular situations and we won't be able to think of them in advance. Some could be life or death (on another board, someone mentioned a kid had a heart attack and classmates spent 10 minutes trying to find a teacher because cell phones were banned), and some could just be normal parent-kid communication issues ("I'm having a bad day, mom"). You can't reason with a magnet.

I totally get that there are problems with kids and cell phones -- self-esteem, distraction, etc. -- but this is just a foolhardy measure with logical appeal that won't correct any of those problems. In fact, the schools are on the one hand claiming the moral high ground on cell phones and then plopping a distracting computer in front of every kid. If we had stats showing that schools with Yondr pouches have demonstrably higher test scores or demonstrably lower suicide rates post-Yondr, I'd listen and likely think they are worth the trouble. But we don't have those stats. Our administrators instead put up specious support on a Yondr-branded PowerPoint that suggested (and the administrators expressly asserted) that cell phones are solely responsible for increases in suicide and depression rate increases since 2010.

I'm so tired of schools operating like prisons and then wondering why the students act like inmates.

Kids are not unattended so I’m not sure how that could be true.

They are comparing schools with vs without pouches. How could they compare and orovide stats if some schools didn’t trial the pouches? We are at a pouch school and so far it is going great.