MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Should schools ban cell phones?
Eight states have already done it, and Tennessee has introduced legislation to do the same.
However, some school districts are not waiting for a statewide ban; they’ve implemented their own.
Thanks to a cellphone ban, the hallways at Kirby Middle School look and sound a little different than what you’d expect.
More than 400 students who attend the East Memphis school must keep it locked away in a cellphone restriction device called a Yondr pouch, which is used in school districts across the country.
At the start of each day, students lock their cellphones inside the pouch, and it can only be reopened with a special device that is provided to student at the building exits at the end of the school day.
Kirby Middle School, along with the three other schools within the newly formed Iota Community Charter Schools, has a cellphone ban.
Kirby Middle rolled out the Yondr pouches during summer school last year due to a problem experienced in schools across the country.
“I be on my phone. I be on TikTok and social media,” said Kirby middle school student Tyonna Smith, who said it was a hard adjustment when her school banned cellphones.
Chief Operating Officer Chad Everett said teachers and principals were constantly taking away phones in class.
“Oh, that phone sitting on my desk–and this is no exaggeration–within a 3-minute time period, if a student is in multiple group texts, between 15 and 20 text messages that student would get while that phone was sitting on my desk,” said Everett.
“So just imagine a student sitting in class and hearing that and having to resist that urge to look at their phone,” said Everett.
You may be surprised to learn just how many alerts your kid receives every day.
In 2023, the non-profit Common Sense Media tracked the smartphone activity of over 200 teens and pre-teens.
On average the participants received 237 notifications per day.
“I mean on the high end there were over a thousand, close to a thousand–a quarter of those coming during school hours. It also makes sense that peak time of day and they are there for a while,” said Director of Research at Common Sense Media Dr. Supreet Mann.
Distraction isn’t the only concern.
The U.S. Department of Education says 9 in 10 public schools report cellphone cyberbullying.
Everett says since the cellphone ban at Kirby Middle, disciplinary actions involving cellphones decreased.
“Absolutely, many of the conflicts we saw between students, at some point in time, the cellphone helped to facilitate it,” said Everett.
Arnold Bunch, Superintendent of Hamblen County Schools in East Tennessee, says he knew it was time to implement a ban on smart devices in April of last school year after a 12-day period with 18 zero-tolerance drug offenses.
“We had students who were using phones to arrange drug transactions, students who were using phones to text people that we were conducting random searches,” said Bunch, who considered using Yondr pouches as well but found it to be too expensive.
Hamblen County Schools took a very different approach.
Students were required to put away all smart watches, earbuds, smart glasses and cellphones at the start of the school day.
If they were caught using them, the device was confiscated and given back at the end of the day.
A second violation meant a 7-day device confiscation, or a parent can pay $50 to get it back earlier.
On the third violation, the phone was confiscated for 14 days unless a guardian was willing to spend $100 to get it back earlier.
If a student was caught using a phone during school hours a 4th time, that student would be sent to alternative school for 45 days.
Bunch says the new personal communication device policy went into effect in April.
He received only 19 emails from parents with mixed reviews on the new policy but overall, the feedback, he says, was positive.
“The teachers are stopping me and saying, ‘thank you.’ The kids are more engaged, they know more about what’s going on in the classroom,” said Bunch.
“Too early to tell about how our performance will go on until we test and everything, but here is what I view as very positive. The cafeteria is loud again and that’s a good thing. Kids are talking to each other,” said Bunch.
That’s something Everett is noticing with his students in Memphis as well, student engagement is finally coming back following the pandemic.
However, Everett says after a year and a half of the cellphone ban, he advises other school districts who are considering something similar to make a bigger investment in professional development for teachers in order to fill the void of cellphones.
“if the student was used to having that constant dopamine hit from the cellphone and you’re taking it way, what are those other things that you’re doing to make sure they are engaged in the work of the classroom and those non- academic times?” said Everett.
However, due to the power of social media, after fall break Kirby Middle School leaders say they’ve had to adjust their cellphone ban all thanks to TikTok.
The popular social media app was teaching students how to break into the Yondr pouches, so now they are using lock boxes.
Students lock up their cellphones in a container and it’s unlocked at the final period of the school day.
Everett said parents had concerns about security, particularly if the unthinkable happens such as an active shooting situation when they can not get in touch with their child.
In the event of an emergency, when something is going on campus, do you want people to follow the instructions of people who are here who know what’s going on or for you who may not know what is going on outside of campus?“ asked Everett.
“Our first priority is keeping the main thing and that’s your child safe,” said Everett who encourages parents to call the central office if they need to communicate with their child.
In Hamblen County, Superintendent Bunch says parents were concerned with students who have medical conditions such as diabetes who use their cellphones to manage their care.
Bunch says they handle each case individually.
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