With new program, Winnetka District 36 among schools fighting smartphones in the classroom

A general term, “yonder” will have a more specific meaning at two Winnetka schools starting this year.

The Winnetka District 36 School Board approved on Tuesday, Aug. 20, the district’s purchase and usage of Yondr technology pouches for its fifth- through eighth-grade students. Under the program, any Skokie School or Carleton Washburne student who brings personal tech devices to school must keep them inside the locked pouches during the school day.

The program reinforces standing district policies that restrict student use of personal tech — including smartphones, smartwatches and airpods — that “in any manner disrupts the educational environment.” While the school previously asked students to turn off and pack away their phones, that did not always happen, Superintendent Dr. Kelly Tess told the School Board.

“Kids were finding it nearly impossible to separate themselves from their personal tech that they shouldn’t be bringing to school in the first place,” she said.

Tess said students’ “unhealthy connection” to technology only increased in the midst of the pandemic and the result could be seen in the hallways and classrooms of Winnetka schools.

She said the Yondr pouches are meant to help remove the distraction.

“We have a responsibility as educators to provide a safe but instructional environment abut how tech can be used to improve their engagement with the world,” Tess said.

Yondr, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2014, strives to enable “phone-free spaces” and touts its usage at concerts, weddings, courthouses and schools. The company told The Washington Post earlier this year that more than 2,000 schools use Yondr pouches — doubling the total from 2022.

Yondr pouches cost $30 per student, and the D36 board approved $28,035 for the program, or approximately 900 pouches.

Yondr pouches will be distributed to students in early September. According to district protocol, while on campus, district fifth- through eighth-graders will store their personal tech devices — cellphones, smartwatch, airpods/earbuds — inside the pouch. The pouch locks and remains with the student all day. The Yondr pouch will be unlocked by a special device at the end of the school day and it will remain with the student.

If a pouch is not brought to school, administrators will collect any personal tech, the district says. If a pouch is lost or damaged, a student may be responsible for replacement costs and may face other disciplinary measures.

District 36 is far from alone in attempting to respond to students’ increased use of technology. Schools across the globe are attempting to address an issue with educational and socio-emotional impacts.

According to districtwide survey in June, 57% of district staffers have responded at least weekly to students distracted by personal technology in the classroom, while 56% of fourth- to eighth-graders gave the same response about their classmates.

“I am encouraged by this recommendation and of course support it,” board member Emily Rose said. “… And I think that it’s about all of us partnering together to do what’s best for students.”

While expressing her support, member Katherine Myers-Crum added that the district should also encourage its educators to limit personal-tech use during the school day.

“It’s the adults that need to do the modeling for kids in all behavior and that includes cellphone use in school and around schools,” she said.

Tess agreed and said the Yondr program does more than enforce school policy, it has a “deeper value base” and can teach them “what real communication looks like.”

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