LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Some say they made the the right call by hanging up the phone.
A principal in the valley says the Clark County School District is onto something with the new signal blocking cell phone pouches in the classroom.
FOX5 spoke with that principal and a student on how grades have gone up once phones were put down.
Instead of hearing notifications from text messages and phone calls, it’s just a few seconds of Velcro noise and then undivided attention, according to Arbor View High School senior, Brayden Boulter.
“When you’re trying to go to school to learn and your phone is going off, you’re naturally want to get it,” Boulter said. “Kids can’t learn that way, and teachers can’t teach when kids are on their phones.”
That’s something principal Duane Bickmore knows all too well.
“Pretty much from day one of implementation, really all positive things seemed to come about from it,” Bickmore said.
But the cell phone pouches haven’t been well received by everyone.
Nearly 30,000 people signed a petition to get the district to pull the policy over concerns about accessing phones in an emergency.
Principal Bickmore addressed those concerns head on, saying, “All the pushback came when we were first messaging saying we were going to and it’s all the what if’s.”
Principal Bickmore made sure to let parents know their students will still have access to their phones right on their desk in an emergency.
But Boulter says the bigger emergency seems to be the need to have a phone in hand.
“Ever since COVID I think phones have become less of a tool and more of an addiction,” Boulter said. “I think just with kids constantly being on their attention spans naturally go down.”
CCSD sixth graders through high school seniors have to put away their phones. When students understand the assignment, it can signal better grades.
“Our ACT scores were way up from last year. Our grades are way up from last year. So our academic data from last year to this year looks great,” Principal Bickmore said.
“It makes me forced to focus on my school and definitely my grades have seen a much better improvement,” Boulter said.
The principal adds there are many factors that go into better standardized test scores. But he’s confident the cell phone pouches made a difference since his school was part of a pilot program that implemented the pouches last school year.
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