On September 23, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Phone-Free School Act, requiring schools across the state to implement a phone and personal device ban policy by July 2026. Over the course of a year, some SCUSD staff researched and planned out a phone-free initiative to start in the 2025-2026 academic year.
Yondr, a company that supplies magnetically locked device pouches, stood out to SCUSD officials when selecting a method to carry out California’s new device law. Observing student habits with cellphones, Chief Academic Innovation Officer Brad Stam looked for a process that was efficient for students and teachers.
“We didn’t think that it was realistic to tell students to keep their devices at home because they wouldn’t, and we didn’t think it was realistic to tell students to keep it in your backpack because we knew that the temptation would be too great to take it out during the day,” Stam said. “We needed some mechanism where the students could have their devices in their possession but not be able to access them.”
In order to implement Yondr into SCUSD, Stam worked with individuals across the district to form the Mobile Device Policy Work Group.
“We pulled together teachers, administrators, students, parents and classified staff members into this work group,” Stam said. “The work group met monthly and started by studying other school districts that had implemented device-free campus policies.”
San Mateo High School in San Mateo, Calif. is one school that provided information about Yondr pouches in their classrooms. After visiting the campus, SCHS Principal Gregory Shelby was able to gauge a better understanding of the changes that would occur on campus.
“We had a number of student representatives that met with students that were going to schools that had these (Yondr pouches) to figure out what to expect, what are the benefits, what are the downsides? How do you deal with things like Leadership?” Shelby said. “Leadership uses a lot of social media, and it’s a little bit more limited now. They talked with Leadership students at other schools to figure out how they had adjusted.”
Following the background research, SCUSD’s student senate wrote a report to the policy committee and the Mobile Device work group to endorse moving forward with a device-free campus. Stam also highlighted his engagement with families to share Yondr’s influence on campus.
“I conducted a virtual town hall, and about 300 students and staff participated in that town hall. We shared the implementation, answered questions and helped people understand how life would be different beginning in the fall of this year with the first day of school,” Stam said.
Once fully approved, the district started budgeting and looking at the costs needed to purchase pouches and magnets. According to Shelby, SCUSD spent about $50,000 as an initial cost and has plans to spend around $10,000 yearly to maintain the Yondr system.
“Every expenditure we have comes out of a general fund and you have a limited source, but it’s not like there’s this one specific item that was dropped because of this expense,” Shelby said. “This was prioritized as a necessary thing because of the academic and mental health benefits.”
Within the first few months of a phone-free campus, students and staff observed changes. For freshman Sara Karnik, the use of personal computers allowed her to keep her tasks organized, something she does not have access to this year.
“I have a to-do list on the Notes app on my MacBook that I usually check off, and that helped me a lot last year,” Karnik said. “Then having extra files that maybe I downloaded on my Mac that are a little harder to get to on my Chromebook.”
Social science teacher Gwendolyn Schneider has made modifications to her teaching style as well. Although Chromebooks are used in class, Schneider highlighted the importance of using various learning tools.
“We are really into technology, but one of the ways to really learn is to take handwritten notes,” Schneider said. “It (Yondr pouches) has changed some teaching, or helped us revert back to some other alternatives.”
Outside the classroom, student behavior has also shifted. Around campus, Karnik has seen students interacting more with one another. She attributed the shifts in student interaction to the revival of cellphone alternatives.
“Students are socializing more, but a lot of socializing has to do with the fact that during the beginning of the year, people brought their digi cams and were recording on Chromebooks,” Karnik said. “They got more creative. It was a lot of bonding over technology.”
Looking toward the current and future academic years, students and staff are adapting to a phone-free environment. Even within a short time, changes across campus are visible in many aspects of school life.
“I hear far more laughter. The volume in the halls, in the quad, in the cafeteria is significantly higher because kids are talking to each other. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing,” Shelby said. “It sounds like high school, and it hasn’t sounded like high school in a while because so many people were isolating themselves on their phones.”