At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, SCUSD introduced the phone-free campus policy, requiring students to lock their phone in a handheld Yondr pouch throughout the school day. The goal of this initiative was to improve focus and attentiveness in class.
After one year with Yondrs, many SCHS admin and students have differing thoughts about how effective the policy has been. Having overseen the implementation, Principal Gregory Shelby explained how the effects of the phone-free campus has manifested itself even beyond the classroom.
“I think it’s one of the most successful programs we’ve run, from an academic perspective, from a wellness perspective and from a discipline perspective,” Shelby said. “Students are more attentive than they have been in the past, which is the number one main reason why we did that.”
Though Yondr pouches were initially meant to reduce distractions in class, Shelby observed other benefits, namely in the way students interact with each other.
“We see far fewer students just using their headphones or using their cell phones as a way to stay disengaged from others,” Shelby said. “We have seen a drop in fights, we’ve seen a drop in cyberbullying, we’ve seen a drop in bullying overall.”
Like Shelby, freshman Advika Pathak perceived a shift in the social culture on campus.
“I’m noticing that people talk more to each other during lunch. I remember in eighth grade, people used to sit around on their phones even though we weren’t allowed to have them,” Pathak said. “Because of the Yondr, people are more forced to socialize with each other.”
Junior Vikram Atmuri noted that another aspect of student interactions affected by the Yondr pouches was access to a camera.
“Personally I do feel like, picture wise, it is difficult to get a lot of pictures with your friends during the school day, and you miss out on a lot of moments that you could have captured,” Atmuri said.
Similarly, freshman Connor Taffe believes Yondr pouches have hindered assignments that require a recorded component.
“Before, we could just take our phone out and take pictures or videos. It’s more inconvenient with the Chromebook, and it takes longer,” Taffe said.
Although they may seem to be effective at first, upholding new rules and policies consistently can be difficult. As students and teachers adapted to Yondrs, Shelby reflected on the struggles of managing the policy.
“It’s really easy for one class to try to be a little bit more permissive, undermining other classes, so we want to make sure that our teachers are as consistent (upholding the policy) as possible,” Shelby said.
With people using tactics to get around the Yondr pouches, Atmuri explained how this might affect relationships between students who get around the policy and those who comply with the school’s enforcement measures.
“I feel like with any policy or framework, that is obviously going to happen. I understand from the admin perspective that it must be frustrating and hard to work around, but personally, that doesn’t affect me,” Atmuri said. “I understand that it does cause problems for some people and it creates a system of inequality where some people do have their phones and others don’t.”
Shelby revealed some of the methods students have been caught using and solutions the school board applied to counteract these circumventions.
“We found that students were bringing an old phone that didn’t work and putting it in their Yondr and then keeping their live phone in their pocket,” Shelby said. “We’re starting to go into classrooms and have everyone open up their phones to make sure the phone that’s in their Yondr is a phone that actually works.”
Overall, most feel the Yondr pouches have brought a variety of pros to SCHS in its first year, such as reducing distractions and facilitating social interaction. Despite its benefits, Yondr pouches have also brought unforeseen problems. Moving forward, Pathak feels that the Yondr pouch can be improved with a little more leeway.
“They (teachers) should give students more leniency to be able to open their phones when they need it during class time. That way it’s like a give and take system instead of the school just completely taking away phones,” Pathak said.
Based on this year, Shelby believes Yondr pouches are worth keeping around.
“While it can be hard to maintain our Yondr policies, it definitely takes work. In my mind, it’s absolutely worth it,” Shelby said. “Many students I’ve talked to have found it’s more liberating to not have their phones.”