KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) – KISD board candidates for place three are divided on the future of Yondr pouches, which require students to lock their cell phones during the school day, in KISD schools. Incumbent Oliver Mintz supports their use. Challenger Lan Carter wants them gone.
The election comes after a fatal stabbing at Roy J. Smith Middle School. The school requires students to seal their cell phones in a Yondr pouch during the school day. Roy J. Smith Middle School parent Renee Calzado said this made it difficult to reach her children on the day of the stabbing.
“My concern was those pouches,” Calzado said on the day of the stabbing.
Lan Carter agrees with Calzado. She said the Yondr pouches impede communication between parents and students during emergencies.
“Especially with that tragedy right now, parents are wanting their kids to have access to cell phones because they don’t feel like they were notified in enough time,” Carter said.
Incumbent Oliver Mintz, seeking reelection, said students don’t need to be on their phones during emergencies.
“As soon they left and were safe they were allowed to communicate with their parents,” Mintz said. “So the notion that that somehow impeded communication is just factually incorrect.”
Mintz said the district should improve communication with parents during emergencies to avoid their reliance on their children for information.
“We need to do a better job of making sure parents understand that when we communicate in an emergency, this message is important,” Mintz said.
Carter criticized the effectiveness of the pouches outside of emergency situations.
“It was a waste of money,” Carter said. “Kids have already figured out ways to get around the Yondr pouches.”
Mintz argued that teachers appreciate the pouches, as they reduce classroom distractions.
“If you don’t put it in a Yondr pouch, they continue to get alerts and notifications, and cell phones continue to be a distraction in class,” Mintz said.
Carter wants to replace the Yondr pouches with a policy limiting cell phone use in school.
“I used to work at a neighboring district, and we had no cell phone policy,” Carter said. “My class didn’t use their phones unless I gave them permission.”
Mintz said teachers should not have to worry about enforcing a cell phone policy.
“I want my teachers teaching,” Mintz said. “I don’t want them worried about enforcing all these other rules and telling kids to put their phones away and having to monitor all that.”
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