SEATTLE — A Seattle middle school will require students to lock up their cellphones during the school day, as part of a new program approved on Thursday.
Hamilton International Middle School will start the mandatory program in September for the 2024-2025 school year. Students will be required to seal their cellphones, smart watches and earbuds into pouches for the duration of the school day.
The system, created by the company Yondr, consists of canvas pouches with a locking mechanism that can be unlocked at an unlocking station at the end of the school day.
This follows the difficulty the middle school had enforcing a policy requiring cellphones be put away for the entire school day. Principal Dr. Eric Marshall said teachers can spend “hours” a day dealing with cellphone-related issues in the classroom.
“We want teachers to spend their time teaching, we want kids to spend their time learning, we want administrators to spend their time running the school," said Molly Spence Sahebjami, the spokesperson for the school's PTSA. "The more and more that the adults in the building have to spend dealing with cellphone issues, it takes time away from academics.”
School officials say this program will support “academic performance, student engagement, mental health and staff retention while decreasing bullying and other disruptive behaviors,” according to a June 13 news release.
The PTSA will fundraise to pay for the one-time fee for the program.
According to Yondr, the cellphone locking system can improve student engagement by 83% and increases student behavior by 74%. Sahebjami said the Tech Committee researched schools across the country that have implemented similar programs.
“We reached out to schools across the country looking for solutions. Again and again, principals told us the Yondr pouches were dramatically improving academic achievement and school environments,” said Tech Committee Lead Lori Dennis.
Students will keep the pouches with them and they’ll be unlocked at the end of the school day, or can be unlocked earlier if a student has to leave campus for an appointment or sports-related event.
When it comes to safety, Sahebjami said the school has emergency protocols in place as well as safety recommendations from Yondr. Landline phones are available in every classroom and students who need their phones for medical reasons will receive a different type of locking pouch.
“There’s a number of benefits to this that are really, in the big scheme of things, not only about student’s academic performance and staying focused on learning, but also about their safety,” Sahebjami said.
Hamilton is the first school in Seattle to use the pouches. Other Seattle schools are expected to announce similar plans in the coming weeks.