MANCHESTER — Middle school students' cellphones will be locked up during the school day, part of a growing trend in the state and nation to curb a major, often toxic distraction in classrooms.
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District leaders believe, Superintendent Matt Geary told the school community, that limiting phone use "will lead to an environment where students are more engaged in their school work, less distracted, and can maximize their learning potential."
The pilot program at Illing Middle School is to begin in a few weeks and last until the end of the school year, district spokesperson Jim Farrell said Tuesday. Arriving students will have to place their phones in Yondr pouches, which use a magnetic lock. Students will keep the pouches and open them at unlocking stations at the end of the school day. Cost of the grant-funded program is $19,340, according to the district.
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Currently, 77 percent of schools in the U.S. prohibit non-academic phone use during school hours, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Policies, however, vary widely. Some districts leave enforcement to individual teachers. Some teachers collect phones before class and give them back when the bell rings. In some cases, students are allowed to have phones in class, but are supposed to keep them stowed in pockets or backpacks, which according to news reports from around the nation, is often an imperfect remedy.
Besides scrolling through social media and texts, some students use phones to cheat on tests, bully other students, and circulate inappropriate photos, according to news reports.
The pilot program in Manchester is among the strictest approaches to the problem. Torrington school leaders decided last year to use Yondr pouches, prompting a student walkout at the high school. Some Hartford schools use the lock pouches, district spokesperson Jesse Sugarman said, but district administrators leave the decision up to each school.
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Ray Dolphin, Illing’s grade 8 assistant principal, said at the Manchester Board of Education meeting Monday night that teachers proposed using the pouches.
“Our concern is about the challenge of having to teach everything,” Dolphin said, “and at what point does the amount of things on a teacher’s plate exceed their availability in the day?”
Board Chairman Chris Pattacini said he has seen other schools and districts use the pouches successfully.
“If we were the first school trying this, I’d be concerned,” Pattacini said.
"All the data shows cellphone usage is impacting learning," Chris Scott, executive director of the Hartford-based educational nonprofit SUN Scholars, told the school board.
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Scott recalled an epiphany he had three weeks into an online course, when he realized he spent most of each session scrolling through his phone.
“If I’m doing this, what are my students doing?” he said. “It’s an addiction.”
Others, however, said locking down students' phones is not the answer. Susan Vedaa, who described herself as a former educator, said each teacher should have a box where students must place phones, to hold students accountable for their own actions and their own education.
“Where are we going to draw the line to teach these children to be responsible?” Vedaa said.
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She said she also had concerns about phone access during an emergency, even if Yondr bags can be cut open.
“If there is an emergency … my child isn’t going to be able to call anybody,” Vedaa said. “She’s not going to have a pair of scissors."
But Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, said cellphone communication during such an emergency can actually increase risks, according to an article posted on the National Education Association's website, neaToday.
"During a lockdown, students should be listening to the adults in the school who are giving life-saving instructions, working to keep them safe,” Trump was quoted as saying. “Phones can distract from that. Silence can also be key, so you also don't want that phone noise attracting attention.”
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Michael Stebe told the Manchester board, however, that while there are major issues with cellphones, a blanket approach will not work. Stebe said his daughter has reached out to him with her cellphone several times so she can leave class and go to the nurse’s office for migraine treatments, despite her Individualized Education Plan.
“It happens over and over again, and it’s not because the school isn’t trying,” Stebe said. “It’s because they’re overworked, and the programs that help are getting cut because there’s no other place to cut.”
But Torrington Board of Education Chairperson Fiona Cappabianca has said the battle to control students’ use of phones has been going on for years.
“Cellphones are abused by all our students that bring them into the buildings,” Capppabianca said. “The abuses can be as simple as texting back and forth with parents and friends or sharing a funny TikTok video, sending Snapchats, receiving Facetime and phone calls during class.
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“Students retreat to the bathroom to use apps on their phones, make calls, schedule meet-ups with friends, all while losing classroom instruction time,” Cappabianca added. “For others, the abuses are more serious. Cellphones are used in our schools daily to share messages or images of other students, incite fighting, and illegal sharing of private pictures of other students.”
Disciplining students for cellphone use takes up 60 percent of the school administration’s time, she said.
Also, for younger students in particular, social media exposure is damaging, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has said. Children and adolescents on social media, according to Murthy's advisory issued this year, "are commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content and frequent social media use can contribute to poor mental health, including depression and anxiety."
A representative of the state Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
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The U.S. is nowhere near a national ban on students' phone use, but other nations have taken that step. France banned cellphones in elementary and middle schools several years ago. China instituted a ban in 2021, citing a need to protect students’ eyesight and enhance their concentration. Earlier this month, British Education Secretary Gillian Keegan recommended that schools ban phone use during the school day, including recess and break times, to cut disruptions during class time and online bullying, according to Education Week.
Branford High School is among the Connecticut schools that have recently banned use of cellphones and other electronic devices.
“Student cellphone use in class impacts our school goal of supporting a high level of instruction and experiences for all BHS students and maintaining a positive learning environment that is responsive and respectful of the needs of every student,” Branford High Principal Lee Panagoulias Jr. wrote in a letter to the school community last year.
“We view it as a nationwide trend we should discuss because it impacts student learning and wellness,” Panagoulias said.
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