DALLAS — Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas, is in its second year of banning cell phones in the classroom, and staff are pleased with the results.
When the school’s nearly 3,000 students enter the building each morning, they are required to place their phones in magnetically sealed fabric pouches from Yondr, a California company. They are unlocked by special devices at dismissal.
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Principal Kerri Jones told DPA National that students are now conversing with each other in the mornings instead of staring at their screens.
“The hallways get loud but it’s a good loud,” she said.
Lake Highlands Principal, Staff Highlight Cell Phone Ban Policy’s Impact
The pouches have been implemented at eight secondary schools within the Richardson Independent School District (RISD), which houses Lake Highlands. Survey data from the district shows most teachers at schools currently using the pouches feel the policy has been effective and has significantly reduced classroom issues. Last year, Lake Highlands had a 42% decrease in out-of-school suspensions and an 8% decrease in in-school suspensions.
Students weren’t supposed to be on their phones prior to the cell phone ban. However, Jones says she and other administrators spent hours each day confiscating phones while teachers spent class time reminding students to put their phones away or put them on silent.
Students would use their phones to watch streaming services or to message each other to “hype up” impending fights and then record them on their phones. Those fights would then quickly spread to social media, Jones said. Since the ban, if a fight breaks out, other students usually walk past the melee because they can’t take out their phones to record it.
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For parents who have voiced concerns about not being able to reach their children throughout the day, Jones said students can always use school-issued Chromebooks to email parents.
During an emergency, Jones wants kids to remain quiet and stay in their classrooms without phones ringing. RISD math teacher Carolyn Vincent said during a lockdown last year, instead of hiding quietly in their dark classroom, students were taking selfies and recording videos with their phones.
Vincent also noted that since the pouches were implemented, students are interacting with her and each other more. One principal even says the policy has helped with teacher retention as the U.S. continues to deal with teacher shortages.
In Sept. 2024, the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education’s research wing, announced a newly-funded five-year initiative intended to find more effective teacher recruitment and retention strategies for American schools. Texas is among nine states participating in the initiative.
Lake Highlands students are also starting to see the benefits. Senior Adara McBeth told DPA that while “no kid wants their phone taken,” she noticed she is more focused on assignments.
“It’s been very effective,” she said.
Dallas ISD Pilots Yondr at Several Campuses
Not all students are supportive of banning cell phones in school. After the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) started piloting Yondr pouches at several of its schools, a Change.org petition created by a Bryan Adams High School student received more than 1,800 signatures.
“We understand that phone usage should be controlled during school hours to maintain focus on education and we are willing to put phones in pouches during class time,” the petition read. “However, completely confiscating them all day seems excessive and disregards their role as crucial communication tools.”
Bryan Adams High Principal Sarah Foster Arbaiza attributes the pushback to “student’s don’t know what they don’t know.”
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“Students have been so accustomed to having a cellphone attached to their hand from such a young age that it is almost like prying away a piece of them, right?” she said, noting the sentiment changed as students adjusted.
“We’ve seen a huge decrease in instances of bullying, whether cyber bullying or in person, decreases in fighting, decreases in classroom disruptions,” continued Foster Arbaiza. “I’ve just seen an overall increase in our positive school climate and culture.”
Some DISD campuses implemented a cell phone ban more than five years ago, including Robert T. Hill Middle School, NBC reports.
Since then, the school has since seen a 75% decrease in bullying and has recovered a 13-point gain in the number of students meeting expectations on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), the state’s standardized academic achievement test.
Texas Officials Push for Statewide Cell Phone Ban in Schools
Luke Stultz, a Yondr representative, told DPA that RISD is “really what I would consider the flagship district for Texas.” He said other districts should look to them as the “gold standard for how to create a phone-free space.”
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The campus is ahead of the curve as Texas lawmakers consider a statewide ban.
During testimony at Sept. 25 Senate Education Committee hearing, Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath encouraged lawmakers to implement a ban in all K-12 public schools, noting cell phones are “extremely harmful” to student progress, the Texas Tribune reports.
“If it were in my power, I would have already banned them in all schools in the state,” he said. “So I would encourage you to consider that as a matter of public policy going forward for our students and our teachers.”