Two Texas High Schools to Require Locking Cellphone Pouches for Students amid Crackdown

Students in Grand Prairie, Texas, are being obligated to lock up their cellphones during the school day amid an outcry from educators.

The young people attending Grand Prairie High School and South Grand Prairie High School will be required to lock their phones into a Yondr pouch when they arrive on campus in an effort to cut down on distractions, Fox 4 reported Saturday.

After they have locked their phone into the pouch and placed it in their backpack at the start of the school day, they will be able to unlock the pouch at the end of it.

“Students who lose their pouches will be required to pay for a replacement. Any student who shows up to school without the pouch will have their phone collected and they can pick it up at the end of the day,” the outlet said.

The Associated Press (AP) reported in February that teachers across the nation said students use social media, listen to music, and even shop online during class time, which — obviously — causes distractions.

The outlet continued:

The hold that phones have on adolescents in America today is well-documented, but teachers say parents are often not aware to what extent students use them inside the classroom. And increasingly, educators and experts are speaking with one voice on the question of how to handle it: Ban phones during classes.

In June, a Seattle school said it would introduce a mandatory cellphone locking system to help academic performance, student engagement, and mental health, according to Breitbart News.

“Hamilton International Middle School principal Dr. Eric Marshall approved the plan in an effort to lift the academic environment,” the article noted.

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s board voted 5-2 in June in favor of banning cellphones during the day. One board member who supported the ban said students always have their head in their hands while walking down the hallways, do not talk to each other very much, or play at lunch or recess due to using AirPods, according to Breitbart News.

In Grand Prairie, school officials decided to make the change because teachers overwhelmingly supported the action.

“A survey of GPISD staff members found 91% agreed with the statement ‘I have observed classroom management issues regarding cell phones in my classroom.’ 90 percent also believe a cell phone-free environment helps students be more engaged in the classroom,” the Fox report said.