North Texas school district requiring students to lock cell phones in pouches

GRAND PRAIRIE — School districts across North Texas are cracking down on cell phone use inside the classroom. This week, Grapevine-Colleyville and Northwest approved stricter policies, but Grand Prairie ISD is going a step further than the typical ban.

"The issue with that is that's dependent on the teachers being able to find it and see it," said Larry Jones, the principal at South Grand Prairie High School. "We want them to focus on the lesson. We don't want them to focus on, does Jonny have his cell phone out?"

To minimize distractions in the classroom, every student at Grand Prairie and South Grand Prairie high schools will get a Yondr pouch this year . They'll be required to lock their phones inside them every day. A survey of GPISD staff found more than 90% support the program.

"Based on the data we've collected from other districts, we think it's going to increase the social-emotional learning opportunities for our students," Jones said. "It will allow them to communicate with their friends more, actually sit down and talk."

Yondr, the company behind the pouches, says schools credit them with improving student performance, teacher retention, and mental health. GPISD says it was inspired to enact this pilot program after seeing how well it's worked in Richardson ISD. Dallas ISD plans to pilot the pouches at three of its campuses this school year as well.

"While parents may not have a lot of direct control over the policy at school, it helps to be familiar with it and understand what those parameters are, and then figure out what makes sense for your child within those parameters," said Dr. Celia Heppner, a pediatric psychologist at Children's Health.

Dr. Heppner believes these types of policies may be effective in the classroom since research shows even the presence of a cell phone can negatively impact attention and memory. However, she says it's not a one-size-fits-all solution.

"For kids with mental health concerns or medical concerns, having quick and easy access to a parent or a medical professional, somebody they can get in touch with," she said.

Parents have also expressed concerns about safety and not being able to immediately reach their child in the event of an emergency, but the district says there will still be multiple ways to contact a student.

"They can call the office, they can come into the office," said Jones. "If it's an emergency where the student needs to talk to a parent, the administrator will be able to unlock those bags and allow the student access to their phone. We don't want this to be a major deal or major incident for any student. We want them to be able to communicate as they need to communicate, but we want to remind them the main focus is on learning."

Jones says they'll talk to the students about the Yondr pouches the first week of school, then officially roll them out during week two. South Grand Prairie High School is hosting a meeting for parents on Monday, Aug. 5, from 7-8 p.m. to discuss the new cell phone policy. It will take place at the high school's theater.