Students locking away cell phones in pouches at Elmira Middle School

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – For the first time, seventh and eighth grade students at Ernie Davis Academy are starting a new year without access to their cell phones in class.

Students are putting their phones in lockable “ Yondr ” pouches at the start of the day. Students keep the pouches with them until they are unlocked with a device used by school staff after last bell. About 850 students attend Ernie Davis Academy. The ages range from 11 to 14.

“There’s three major reasons we’re doing this, one of them is the impact on education,” Principal Colin Werfelman told 18 News.

“We’re here to help kids learn and grow, and it’s really hard to compete with social media. It’s not fair to kids to give them such this big distraction in their hands all day with no limit. We’re looking to put some limits on it with this, and parents have been welcoming toward it,” Werfelman added.

“The other two reasons are students’ mental health and physical well-being. There’s a huge body of research emerging that has been published about how social media use and cell phone use is affecting kids’ mental health and their physical health too,” Werfelman said. “Everything from lack of sleep to misinformation about their diets and things like that are affecting kids because of their use of cell phones.”

“The last reason, it’s really about partnering with families so that they don’t have to do this all by themselves,” Werfelman said. “We can sort of be the bad guy with them, saying we’re going to limit your cell phone use, because there’s a whole world that you can get involved in, in school, especially. You don’t need your phone for anything, so let’s work together on it. If we’re united, they can be angry at all of us that they don’t have access to their phone all day.”

Werfelman says he expects students will get used to not having access to their phones, after feeling some initial withdrawal from their devices.

“In working with Yondr, they’ve done this in over 3000 schools in 30 countries,” Werfelman added, “for the most part, what they see is kids struggle the first few weeks with being separated from their from their cell phones. But within a couple weeks, kids report like, okay, I don’t I didn’t need it. I didn’t realize I didn’t need it.”

“In the past, we’ve had different rules around cell phones. We found that it was a big burden on classroom teachers to try and have to monitor that,” Werfelman said. “So, we’re really trying to take that out of the hands and off the backs of our teachers and monitor it in a way that allows a student to still hold on to their property, but limits their use during the day, and it gives them a little sense of responsibility, because the pouch is assigned specifically to them. So, it gives them some sense of ownership and responsibility over managing their devices.”

“I think most of us want a break from our phone, including young kids, even if we don’t realize it. The reaction from parents and the reaction from kids so far has been extremely positive. You know, parents are excited about this and are very much on board with it, even if they don’t necessarily agree with the policy, they have been very, very open to it, and they’ve asked the right questions, and we have the answers.”

The Elmira City School District is among a growing number of school districts nationwide adopting similar efforts to remove cell phone distractions in the classroom. The school district cited a 2024 report that showed at least 13 states have “passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict students’ use of cell phones in schools statewide or recommended local districts to enact their own bans or restrictive policy.”

In July, New York Governor Kathy Hochul kicked off a “listening tour on tackling smartphone use in New York Schools.”

“We can help our young people succeed in the classroom by ensuring they’re learning and growing – not clicking and scrolling,” Governor Hochul said on July 15th. “That’s why I’m working with all stakeholders across the state to develop effective solutions on smartphones that help protect our kids’ mental health and deliver the best results for our schools.”

The Elmira City School District also cited a 2023 report from Common Sense Media that showed “half of kids ages 11 to 17 receive at least 237 notifications on their phones on a typical day – 25% of which are received during the school day.”

“Like many regional schools, Ernie Davis Academy is seeking to limit distractions in the building and improve overall student engagement, mental health, and well-being. Beginning this fall 2024, the middle school will become phone-free, from arrival to dismissal,” said Beth Manwaring, the school district’s Public Information Coordinator.

The school district says it offered families a chance to weigh in and ask questions about the new policy during “Parent Roundtable” events in the 2023-2024 school year, in the Fall and Spring. The district says it listened and provided answers to “excellent questions regarding cell phone use in schools.”

Werfelman says the main concern from parents has been how communicate with their child in the case of an emergency.

“My biggest questions from parents were really about, how are you going to do it? What if I need to get in touch with my child? What if my child needs to get in touch with me?” Werfelman said.

“I was very quick to remind them that even 10 years ago, not every person had a cell phone on them at all times, and you didn’t have 24/7 access to your child. So, there’s a really easy way to get in touch with your child, and there’s a really easy way for your child to get in touch with you, and that’s through our main office.”

“We do a lot of that as it is, so it won’t be difficult for us to communicate with parents and for kids to communicate with their families,” Werfelman added. “We can do that through all of our landlines in our main office.”

“That was probably the biggest question that I got, what if we need to contact each other? How do we do it? And that’s in the documentation that I sent out to families. We can do that through our main office. Same thing if there’s an emergency, if there’s an emergency at home, you can call us. If there’s an emergency here at school, we’ll call you.”

“When device is put away and the distractions are removed, we really have an opportunity for kids to connect with each other in a more meaningful way,” Werfelman said. “We increase the opportunities for adults and kids to really connect in a more meaningful way, in a more substantive way.”

“When those distractions are completely eliminated, it is very hard to compete, I think, with the allure as a 12-year-old or 13-year-old, the allure social media, the allure of YouTube, the phone and all the distractions, the amount of notifications that our students get.”

“When you can remove all that, it gives them the chance to really focus on what’s important, that’s learning and growing, not just academically, but the relationships they have with adults and other kids in the building.”

You can watch the full interview with Principal Werfelman below:

18 News reached out to several school districts in the Southern Tier to ask if there are similar efforts to lock away phones during class time. Although we did not find a school district that is currently using “Yondr” style pouches, all districts we spoke with have rules in place banning cell phone use in class.

We also learned the Corning-Painted Post Central School District is rolling out a new policy at its High School this year called “Bell to Bell. ” The school district says students, as well as teachers and staff, have to put cell phones away in a locker, backpack or “teacher designated location.” The policy applies to classrooms, study halls, the library and hallways while classes are in session. Students are allowed to use their phone in the hall between periods and the cafeteria during lunch time. A policy called “Away for the day” was implemented at the Corning-Painted Post Middle School last year.

The Horseheads Central School District told us rules against cell phone use in class have been in place for about 10 years. At Horseheads Middle School, phones have to be turned off and put away during class time. Phone use is also not allowed in the hallways or in the cafeteria during lunch. At Horseheads High School, the district says teachers have some discretion in allowing cell phone use if it is related to a class lesson. Students can use their phones in between periods in the hallways and during lunch in the cafeteria.

In the Watkins Glen Central School District, Superintendent Kai D’Alleva told us his district also has an “Away for the day” cell phone policy for PK-6. For seventh to 12th graders, phones must be put away in lockers or in a teacher designated location during class time. Students are allowed to use their phones during lunch.

In Hornell, School Superintendent Jeremy Palotti told us his district also forbids cell-phone use in class.

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