SUHSD YONDR pouches raise questions regarding potential school emergencies

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Students have been back in school for about one month, and many California campuses are navigating the new cell phone restrictions implemented this academic year.

Salinas Union High School District (SUHSD) is using YONDR phone pouches to lock away middle school students' phones during class.

The district said the reaction so far to the YONDR pouches has been positive from both students and parents. Many parents agree that their kids should not be using their phones during class, but other parents have concerns.

"I feel like students should have their phones just because of an emergency, because if it does happen, they won't have access to that," said Christal Bell, who's daughter attends Harden Middle School.

If and when an incident does happen--at least at Harden Middle School--officials say that they have a School Safety Plan with procedures in place to keep students and staff safe. An example of this is the school's active school shooter training, among other things.

As far as academics, Bell said she hasn't seen a huge difference since the YONDR pouches were introduced.

"She has really good grades. I like to speak for my own child. I feel like she's still the same. Her grades are still very good," said Bell.

SUHSD announced Monday that they are working to make middle schools a phone-free space with the intent to improve both instruction as well as student learning.

"We believe that phones have great utility," said Harden Middle School in a Facebook post. "We have also found that learning and social behavior improve drastically when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates."

Schools implementing this phone-free culture will be doing so with a company called Yondr. According to SUHSD, Yondr is already in more than 2,000 schools across 16 countries and they keep students phone-free with a secured pouch that will store the phone during school hours.

The program says that once a student enters their school, they then put their phone in their personally assigned Yondr pouch. The pouch will be closed and secured, yet the student can keep it with them throughout their school day, according to Harden Middle School.

Once the school day is finished, the student can retrieve their phone by tapping the pouch on an unlocking base. SUHSD says that the student is responsible for bringing their Yondr pouch with them to and from school, as well as overseeing the pouch off-campus.

According to an annual survey response of over 1,200 schools, the Yondr Program saw an 84% increase in student engagement; a 72% positive change in student behavior; and a 68% positive change in academic performance.

"Of our most recent impact survey of over 370 of our school partners, 86% saw a positive impact in student safety and wellness," according to Yondr.

The District says that this program will start in the fall.