It takes a while for a person to fully fall into a routine. In the first few weeks of school, Woodland Regional students have experienced a drastic change in their daily lives with the introduction of phone pockets. The current phone pockets Woodland has introduced are easily accessible. But that is only phase one. The region has been discussing purchasing Yondr bags as an alternative to pocket phones.
Unlike the current phone pockets, Yondr bags lock phones from the beginning and the end of the school day. The main argument being made against the Yondr bags is that the current phone pockets that are being used now have been effective and do not need to be replaced. On the other hand, Yondr bags would limit students from immediately reaching for their phones at the end of class and gluing themselves to it in the hallways and during lunch, something teachers like Christopher Tomlin see often.
“If the goal of the Yondr bags is to improve the social and emotional health of students, I think implementing them would be a good idea,” said Tomlin. “I have noticed more students walking around looking down then in the years past, glued to their phones,”.
Yondr bags may prevent a student’s immediate access to their phones at the conclusion of class time. An opposing opinion to Yondr is that the bags would be counterproductive and students would constantly stress over their phones being locked up.
“Students are going to be more focused on getting into their phones when they are in the Yondr bags,” said senior Matthew Silva. “Whereas the pockets we have now are fine,” The general consensus of Woodland at this time leans towards the opinion that current phone pockets are getting the job done. With recent news in the media of school shootings and threats, the idea of not having a phone on hand is concerning to some, like senior Gabriella Volpe,
“ Yondr bags would not be safe because our phones are locked up and we would not be able to quickly contact our parents in a state of emergency,” said Volpe.
Teachers will be provided with “keys” to open Yondr pouches. That doesn’t change how they would facilitate the process of unlocking phones in a state of emergency. Teachers need to first evacuate or put students in lock down before they obtain the phones. Students would not be able to swiftly contact their parents at the sight of an emergency. If a student is on their own when an emergency takes place, they would not have the means to contact anyone quickly.
Concerns like this can be very unattractive and disturbing to the community. It does not help that there have been several school shootings in the past few weeks. In fact, American school systems average almost two school shootings a day, according to “How many US mass shootings have there been in 2024?” from BBC World News.
At the moment, the community does not have any answers to these questions, students and teachers are left pondering on their ‘what if?’ questions.
“If I need to text my mom in an emergency and my phone is locked, that is a terrifying situation I would never want to be put in,” said senior Abigail Raffone.
The Board of Education has not yet taken the vote on the possibility of switching over to the Yondr bags. There was a conversation held on the issue on Wednesday, September 11th, where students and parents stated their cases as to why Yondr bags should and should not be in place. As of right now, the topic has been tabled, the community is on the edge of their seats looking for answers.
Multiple teachers and students have expressed positive opinions on the current phone pouches, noting that students have become more social with their peers and less worried about their technology. So far, students have been very cooperative with the phone pouches; there has been little conflict about the situation.
Teachers like Tomlin have noticed that there has been little pushback from students “I like that students are willing about the pockets. Everyone seems to be on board with it; it is exciting to see,”.
This new lifestyle has relieved students from their technology, prompting them to converse with people they never thought they would. Not only that, but also they find themselves paying more attention in class/
“The pockets help me with concentration a lot. I’m a procrastinator so when I don’t have my phone I actually have to do my work. [The phone pockets] help me to be more productive,” mentioned junior Rebekka Lawton.
The pockets seem to be serving the purpose that they were intended for, especially after hearing reports from students stating that they have been more academically successful these past few weeks without their phones. Perhaps this current system will be something the Board of Education will favor instead of the Yondr pouches in the future for student growth and socialization.
