The district is using Yondr pouches to prevent students from accessing their cell phones during the school day.
FARMINGTON, Maine — The ban on cellphone use at the Mt. Blue Campus is receiving rave reviews from staff members, who report fewer distractions and more focused students.
Principal Joel Smith of Mt. Blue High School recently updated the Regional School Unit 9 board of directors on the implementation this year of magnetically locked Yondr pouches throughout the campus.
The pouches prevent students at MBHS and the Foster Career and Technical Education Center from using their cellphones, while allowing them to retain the devices throughout the day.
The pouches are locked and unlocked using magnetic stations throughout the campus.
The school board revised the district’s electronic device policy over the summer to more strictly limit cellphone use during school hours and activities.
The Yondr pouches, which cost $30 each, were purchased with funds from the previous year’s budget.
Mt. Blue is the sixth school in Maine to adopt Yondr pouches, which are common at events, including concerts.
Smith shared survey results from nearly 60 staff members, all of whom said students are more engaged at school, and the policy is having a positive impact.
He called the change in student behavior a “major victory.”
“It’s been a huge transformational shift,” Smith said.
Among the improvements reported by staff members, according to Smith: a “noticeable decrease in distractions, with students more focused, engaged, and socially present. All classrooms are now phone-free, allowing teachers to spend more time on instruction and less on behavior redirection.”
Teachers also reported more interaction between students, particularly in hallways, and a “calmer school culture overall.”
Another benefit reported to the RSU 9 board at a previous meeting is that the bandwidth issues the campus had been experiencing have not reappeared since the policy was implemented.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.
