Six schools in the Salem-Keizer Public Schools will start using Yondr pouches for students’ cellphones by the end of January as part of the district’s cellphone ban aimed at fostering a more engaging and educational environment by reducing distractions.
“Yondr is one strategy that is available for our schools to support students sense of belonging and to improve student engagement,” said district spokesperson Emily Reverman.
The first phase will be for pouches for students at Sprague and McKay high schools and Whiteaker, Straub, Houck, and Stephens middle schools, Reverman said. The $213,000 for the pouches will be funded through Oregon’s Student Investment Account.
A district email sent to parents this month said additional schools will get Yondr pouches in the spring and fall of 2025.
Reverman said the district policy regarding high school student phone usage will be updated to take the pouches into account.
Current policy states kindergarten through eighth grade students are prohibited from using cellphones during school, including lunch and passing times. High school students are allowed to use their cellphones during lunch and passing times.
The North Clackamas School District, Portland Public Schools, Grant High School and Beaumont High School are among those that have purchased the pouches.
Yondr said they have partnered with thousands of schools across 27 countries with 65% to 83% of schools reporting improvement in student engagement, behavior and academic performance. Founder Graham Dugoni said the pouches were created for “phone-free spaces” where “creativity and productivity could flourish in the absence of technology.”
How Yondr cellphone pouches work
Phones, apple watches and other communication devices are placed in the pouch and sealed using a magnetized lock, which can be opened with an unlocking base.
Students will receive their Yondr pouches when they get to school. They are expected to keep the pouches with them and can get them unlocked at designated stations at the end of the day.
Students with medical needs or in a unique situation that requires access to their phones will coordinate with their teachers or administrators.
“Prior to having cell phones to get ahold of families, there was the traditional method where they call the office,” said Stephens Middle School Principal Ricardo Larios.
The pouches are an opportunity “to see the impact of what more focused students can look like,” Larios said.
They are intended to increase a sense of belonging, make students feel more comfortable, expand their group of friendships, have present conversations and not think about their phone notifications.
In case of a “true emergency,” students will be able to open the pouches.
How effective are cellphone bans at schools?
Gov. Tina Kotek told Oregon Public Broadcasting in July that she would support a state-level policy around cellphones in schools as long as it addresses student social and emotional well-being and parents’ concerns about reaching their children in an emergency.
There are little to no studies that examine the long-term effects that cellphone usage has on academic performance. And the research is muddied because of differing parameters of what a cellphone ban looks like.
A study from 2016 found that banning cellphones has an effect on student academic performance, but only by a standard deviation of 0.07 and driven by low-performing students.
The study was partly replicated in 2020 by Swedish researchers who found “no impact of mobile phone bans on student performance.”
A more recent study from 2024 concluded there is “little to no conclusive evidence” showing that cellphone bans in schools result in improvement in academic performance, mental health, wellbeing and reduced cyberbullying.”
The study, however, states there is “a significant lack of robust evidence on which to base sound decisions.”
A German study corroborated these findings, concluding a “significant, but small effect,” with the effects being more prevalent in the realm of social wellbeing than academic performance.
Even with a ban, the study found that 29% of students still use their cellphone.
“The negative consequences of smartphone use often stem from unreflective and thoughtless engagement with these devices, largely due to a lack of digital literacy among young people,” the study states.
The researchers suggested there could be an effective alternative to cellphone bans:
“By using smartphones constructively in education, schools can foster responsible usage habits, ensuring that students learn to leverage these digital devices effectively and safely as communication tools and information sources.”
Alexander Banks is an AAJA-SPJ reporting intern at the Statesman Journal. Reach him at abanks@statesmanjournal.com.
