Emerald Academy using pouches to become a ‘phone-free’ school

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Three grade levels at Emerald Academy have started using personally assigned phone pouches to store students’ phones while they are at school.

According to Emerald Academy, the school is the first in East Tennessee to start using the Yondr Phone-Free Space system.

The school’s use of the system requires students in 6th through 8th grades to secure their phone in a Yondr pouch when they arrive at school. The phones remain in the student’s possession, but they cannot use them until the pouches are unlocked at the end of the day. Each student is responsible for bringing their pouch to and from school.

Emerald Academy School Director Carlissa Weeks explained that the change was implemented to reduce distractions to the learning process.

“Simply put, electronic devices – most notably cell phones with easy access to social media – are
increasingly a significant distraction in schools and to the learning process,” Weeks said. “The Yondr program aligns with our values of high expectations, excellence, respect, teamwork and commitment, and we believe implementing this new tool is another way to help fulfill our mission of preparing urban scholars for the college of their choice and community leadership.”

Yondr explains that the pouches lock whenever they are in a phone-free area, but the phone can be removed by the pouch either by using an unlocking base or stepping out of the phone-free zone.

Emerald Academy implemented the use of the pouches on July 29, one week after school began. According to Emerald Academy, Yondr has been implemented in more than 2,000 schools in 16 countries. A release from the school said that in 1,200 school partners that responded to Yondr’s surveys, after implementing the program:

• 84% saw a change in student engagement
• 72% saw a positive change in student behavior
• 68% saw a positive change in academic performance

For students in Kindergarten through 5th grade, Emerald Academy still requires them to keep all electronic devices turned off and in their backpacks for the entire school day.

The implementation came just ahead of a bill being reintroduced into the Tennessee General Assembly, pushing lawmakers to reconsider banning cell phone usage in schools . If the bill is passed, it would be up to each school district to decide how they would implement the policy.

Earlier this year, Hamblen County implemented a phone ban that made parents pay a fee to get their child’s phone back before a set time after the second time it was confiscated because the child had it out when they weren’t supposed to. Parents and school officials told 6 News Reporter Dominic Webster earlier this year that the new rule had been implemented without many violations, and they were pleased with how it had worked.

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