The District 186 Board of Education will consider two paths forward on a more restrictive cellphone usage for middle school and high school students this coming school year, including a vote on the purchase of Yondr pouches that lock up cellphones and other devices.
Board members would also look at implementing a more consistent policy around cellphones that amounts to a tightening up of usage during the day.
The board next meets Aug. 5, its last meeting before the start of regular school on Aug. 19.
Members debated the cellphone issue for over an hour on Monday, the third consecutive time it has been the dominant topic.
It included a presentation and question-and-answer session by a representative from Yondr which employs the pouches in 2,500 schools nationwide.
Board President Micah Miller, who has endorsed the pouches, said he didn't see the setup cost going north of $200,000.
If approved, the matter of where the funding would come from could be a matter of debate.
The use of ESSER III funds for the pouches would take the approval of the Illinois State Board of Education, confirmed Superintendent Jennifer Gill Monday.
The district had sought a more robust policy because of the number of bullying incidents initiated by cellphones, Gill said. Students also have been using them to record fights which are posted to social media sites.
Gill said more than half of the 976 technology violations committed by students last school year were via cellphones. Sixty suspensions were linked directly to cellphone usage, she added.
The district has a cellphone policy in the student handbook. Middle schoolers must keep cellphones in their lockers during the school day, but the policy is more lenient for high schoolers who can have their cellphones out during lunch period.
The policies are also enforced by the schools, which, some members contended, can sometimes be uneven.
"We've gotten ourselves in this position," said board member Sarah Blissett, "because we have a handbook that lets schools make whatever rules they want."
Miller insisted the use of the pouches would take "a lot of the enforcement from the teachers. If you have a policy that can't be enforced, then it's not much of a policy."
But board member Buffy Lael-Wolf said, even with the pouches, that responsibility is going to fall back on the teachers.
"They're going to have babysit about (getting the phones) into airplane mode and getting them in the pouches and where the pouches are," she said. "I feel like the teachers are going to have to police a lot of stuff they don't want to police either. I get it that they don't want cellphones in their classrooms."
The Springfield Education Association (SEA), the teachers' union, has been in on discussions around cellphones. Gill said earlier this summer, she met with the principals of the district's three high schools and five middle schools.
Students would be issued their own Yondr pouches, said partnerships manager Alex Simmons Monday, much like they are assigned Chromebooks.
"It's their responsibility for the (school) year," Simmons said.
Students would put their cellphones and other devices into the pouches in the morning. They could keep the pouch on their person or in their backpack, but the pouches can only be opened with a specialized magnet.
While the pouches aren't indestructible, Simmons admitted, "they are strong and durable. If a student has gotten into their pouch, they will have had to either actively tamper with or outright destroy it."
Yondr also makes medical pouches for students on insulin pumps or heart rate monitors, Simmons said. It's a Velcro pouch without the locking mechanism, he said.
It takes about six weeks to set up the process, including communication and instruction with students and parents and guardians, Simmons added.
"It's a big decision," Blissett admitted. "As board members, our main duty is to ensure the district is being fiscally responsible."
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
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