Pouches, bans, chargers, principal patrols: How some Fresno schools keep classrooms phone-free
Fresno teachers say they’re fighting against social media and video games for student attention in the classroom.
The current district policy banning student smartphone use in class is 20-years-old, and it isn’t enforced. So teachers and principals have gotten creative in establishing new rules to keep the phones and distraction out of their classrooms.
They’ve even tapped research from a Fresno State team that studied Fresno classrooms. The team has suggested several strategies now in use at some schools for getting buy-in from students, so it’s a collaborative process and not just black-and-white rules coming from on-high.
“[It] doesn’t mean that we should let them use phones whenever they want,” said Dr. Hong Ni, professor in the Department of Psychology at Fresno State. “We help them regulate their behavior and really identify their needs.”
Lock the phone in a Yondr Pouch
Bullard High School has been implementing the Yondr Pouch program for more than a year to create a phone-free environment. The pouch, made of thick cloth and sponge, requires a special magnetic key to unlock. Students are required to lock their phones in the pouches during their time on campus, including the lunch period. They keep the pouches themselves, but can only release the phones before leaving campus.
“It’s been really helpful, I think I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen a phone out in my class all year,” said Tiffanie Alarcon, a math teacher. Every morning before the first period, teachers stand outside the classroom to check in with students and their pouches.
Yondr Pouch rolled out in over 2,000 schools across the U.S., the company’s spokesperson Sarah Leader told The Fresno Bee, approximately 700,000 students are using the locked pouches to keep their phones during school. The same pouch is also used at concerts and other public performances that ban photos and videos.
The magnetic unlocker for the pouches is kept by every teacher and the Student Service Office, where kids can turn for help if they need to connect with parents or encounter emergencies, said Principal Armen Torigian.
Though students always come up with innovative approaches to free their phones from the pouches, Torigian said that the tool helps students in learning engagement, test scores and social development. After a year of enforcing pouches, the number of Bullard students meeting English language arts’ standard increased by 17%, the statewide Smarter Balanced test result shows.
“Lunch counts have gone up, kids feel more secure in eating… they’re like ‘I don’t even really take out my phone that much when I’m hanging out with my friends,’ so they’re talking again and getting along face to face,” said Torigian. “It’s not perfect, it does take a lot of work, but everything is going up, kids are more and more engaged.”
School-wide efforts to ban phones in class
At Hoover High School, students are prohibited from using phones in class. The rule was initiated by the new principal Courtney Curtis when he came to the office at the start of the school year. From the principal. School staff patrol during class, including the vice principal and campus safety assistant, and intervene with students using phones. And they check in with teachers who don’t stop students from being distracted by screens.
Patrick Sauceda, a special education teacher, told The Fresno Bee that if a student takes their phone out, the instructor tells the student to stop using the phone and place it on their desk. If the student refuses to follow the request, teachers can call campus security or the vice principal to confiscate the phone until the end of the school day.
“I had a student on her phone talking to her boyfriend, I told her to put it up at the table, she was like ‘Oh, Okay,’ she didn’t argue,” said Sauceda. “I don’t get push back from the class side.”
The credit goes to the top-down efforts, especially because the principal pushes hard to enforce the rule, Sauceda told The Bee. The principal never just sits in the office, he said, but always walks around the campus inspecting classrooms.
Creating an acceptable format for students to give up their phones
Why are students more interested in phones than instructional activities? Last spring, psychological students from Fresno State, created an intervention plan for a 9th grade class at Roosevelt High School, said Dr. Ni, the professor and the coordinator of the Educational Specialist School Psychology program.
They found that high schoolers face difficulties for two reasons: Students might find the task or assignment too hard, so they turn to their phones as a way of escape. Also, teenagers are usually not mature enough to fight the urge to check their phones, especially when they have an unfinished discussion with someone or an argument to settle with friends before the class starts.
Providing an acceptable excuse makes it easier for students to forgo their phones compared to simply requesting that they stop, Ni said. The research team suggests the teacher remind students that their phone batteries will run out if they’re using them non-stop, and then ask them to plug their phones into chargers provided during the class period.
“Basically we are removing their physical access to phones, but in a way they can understand, and they will benefit,” Ni said.
She explained that teenagers experience lots of challenges at this stage, their brains are more sensitive to stimulation, relationships are extremely important, and they’re more concerned about how they are viewed by peers than by adults.
“Acknowledge the development needs,” said Ni. “Teachers and parents care about them, but show in a way that might not be clear to students. Have an open and candid conversation, tell students why you are doing so, not just tell them in an abstract format.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2024 at 3:18 PM.
