It’s no secret that children have trouble staying off their phones after the bell rings; so, one superintendent decided to try something new this school year to keep kids focused on what’s on the board instead of what’s on their screen.
TAOS, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s no secret that children have trouble staying off their phones after the bell rings; so, one superintendent decided to try something new this school year to keep kids focused on what’s on the board instead of what’s on their screen.
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KRQE News 13 spoke with the Taos Municipal School District about it’s new ‘cell phone pouches.’ “There were times where they’d be in class playing Fortnite; trying to sneak phone calls to the parents and the parents [calling] back! That was the most incidents we had, where parents were texting their students during the school day,” said Linda Martinez, principal of Taos Middle School, “So the kid would take out the phone, ‘well it’s my mom! It’s my dad! They’re texting me to ride the bus to my nona’s’ or whatever.”
It’s no surprise cell phone use in class has disrupted school days: “The feedback I received from parents, community members, was that, is there anything that we can do?” said Dr. Antonio Layton, Jr., superintendent of Taos Municipal Schools. So, Layton Jr. sent out a survey asking that very question; and got more than a thousand responses from students, staff, parents, and community members.
“Over 60 percent said, ‘we understand that cell phones are a problem in the schools. We understand that they are a hindrance when it comes to instruction.’ But the response was, ‘please don’t take it away from our kids,’ as well. So, how do you balance that?” Layton Jr. said.
In answer to that, the district decided on cell phone pouches made by a brand called ‘CellockED.’ They magnetically lock the phone away during the school day, and block signals to the phone.
“It’s not a ban because students can take their phones to school,” Layton Jr. said. Every student in middle school and high school in the district got one after Labor Day—more than a thousand students, and the pouches cost the district roughly $15 per pouch.
“This is new to our district, and I believe we’re the first public school system in New Mexico to implement this,” said Layton Jr.
Students lock away their phones in the pouch and keep them in their backpacks throughout the day. When school is out, they use magnetic “detachers” located in different exits throughout campus to get their phones back out. The school district even has detachers in their school buses to give students one last chance to unlock their phones before they go home for the day.
School officials said they’ve already seen a difference, especially when it comes to bullying behavior: “Recently we had a situation in the hall where there was a fight and usually we can see in the camera all the students pulling out their phones and videotaping and then we’re having to call in those kids make sure it’s deleted, make sure they didn’t send it out to social media,” Martinez says, “During this incident there wasn’t one student who had their phone out because they couldn’t just pull it out of their pocket.”
They’re noticing a social change, too: “The kids are starting to talk to each other again, instead of just being in front of each other looking at a screen,” Layton Jr. said.
The superintendent admitted it’s not a foolproof system: “Implementation has been good. Like anything else, nothing is perfect. There were some instances were students were intentionally breaking them open…It’s not perfect, but it seems to be working.”
The district also said the new policy helped in an emergency situation last week when reports of gunfire near the high school surfaced. The superintendent said first responders were able to quickly respond to the situation rather than becoming inundated with calls and possible misinformation from students. “By helping structure the communication piece, our emergency responders can get precise information and neutralize whatever the case, whatever the situation is occurring a lot quicker than chasing ghosts or chasing rumors or chasing misinformation,” Layton Jr.
For parents worried about being able to connect with their kids during the day—the superintendent said there are still landlines in every classroom that the front office can connect to if parents call the school.