Washington, Ringgold districts ban cellphone use during school day
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School teacher Teresa Booker and Principal Chet Henderson display a Yondr pouch and unlocking magnet. Students at the high school and junior high school won’t be allowed to use cellphones during school hours. Instead, they’ll put their phones in a Yondr pouch, and can unlock the phone at the end of the day with the magnet.
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School and junior high students will put their cellphones in Yondr pouches during the school day. The school district is prohibiting use of cellphones to decrease distractions and improve academic performance. Picture are a Yondr unlocking magnet and a Yondr pouch.
As school resumes, two Washington County school districts are banning student use of cellphones during the school day.
Ringgold School District said it is prohibiting the use of cellphones and other electronic devices in an effort to reduce cyberbullying and other disciplinary issues.
The use of cellphones and other communication devices is prohibited during the day in all district buildings, on district property, and on school buses and vehicles.
In the Washington School District, students in the junior high school and high school will be required to store their phones in pouches, called Yondrs, during school hours.
Washington School District Superintendent George Lammay said the district aims to eliminate distractions and improve academic performance.
“We’re looking to create the best educational environment that we can for our kids, and phones create distractibility,” said Lammay, who noted a pilot program at Linton Middle School in Penn Hills School District, where cellphones were banned, showed improved academic achievement and student engagement.
Lammay said a group of high school teachers had voiced concerns to Principal Chet Henderson that students weren’t focusing in class because they were on their phones.
Henderson researched Yondr pouches, a bag with a magnetic lock that allows students to lock away their phones during the school day. Students can carry the pouches from class to class, but they can’t unlock the phones until the end of the day, when they tap it on an unlocking magnet station.
Most teenagers today have grown up with cellphones, and the Pew Research Center reported recently that 45% of teens admitted to being on their phones or an electronic device almost constantly.
“We really want students to understand this is not meant to be punitive or difficult; it’s meant to help them keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s education,” said Lammay.
Lammay said he’s aware that there are parents who want their child to have access to their phone in case of a personal or school emergency, and said the district has purchased mobile devices that can release the locks. Parents can contact the school if there is a family emergency.
In a letter to families posted on the Ringgold district website, Superintendent Randall Skrinjorich said recent national statistics show that about 20% of cyberbullying incidents happen over cellphones during the day, along with the planning of fights.
“The Ringgold School District was not exempt from these kinds of occurrences last year,” Skrinjorich wrote.
The Ringgold Police Department documented 56 criminal incidents during the 2021-22 school year in which students used cellphone communication with fellow students to plan fights, harass other students, coordinate vaping “gatherings” in school bathrooms, vandalize property and commit other criminal mischief.
According to the 2021 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, a survey conducted every two years by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, 23% of students said they’d been bullied in the past 12 months, with about 15% saying the bullying occurred online. Also, 20% said they received inappropriate sexual messages on phones and electronic devices.
Skrinjorich did not return a phone call seeking additional information about the new cellphone policy on Thursday.
In May, state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, introduced legislation that would prohibit students using cellphones in schools.
He said studies in the U.S., Spain, and Norway have shown a positive impact on academic achievement when cellphones are prohibited during the school day.
“With smartphone technology becoming more addicting, and with social media having a toxic impact on the mental health of young people, I believe we should not permit the use of such devices in schools,” DeLuca wrote in a memo. “This bill will allow students to be focused on their education without the distractions that come with cellphones.”