SAGINAW, MI — Say goodbye to cellphones while attending school in the Saginaw Public School District. The district is implementing a phone-free learning environment.

Though students can still bring their phones to school and the classroom, they will not be able to access them.

That is because, upon entrance into the school, their phones will be locked inside of school-supplied pouches that are secured by powerful magnets.

The technology called Yondr will not allow students to access their cellphones until they exit their schools for the day.

The district paid $27,000 for the technology and have unlimited access to pouches.

According to Superintendent Ramont Roberts, the new policy is a means of establishing a learning environment that is conducive to student achievement.

“We found the phones were a distraction,” Roberts said. “We are hoping to eliminate the distraction and increase student achievement in our learning environment.”

The district has been under scrutiny in recent years for low test scores and under-achieving students.

Roberts said the new policy is designed to help boost student achievement while taking away the instruction-time interruptions.

“We feel that cellphones have been a distraction,” Roberts said.

Distracting technology

Jasmin Brookins, a junior at Saginaw High School, is not happy with the changes that are expected to be implemented within the next few weeks.

Brookins, daughter of Jeffrey and Kimberly Bulls, called the policy unsafe.

“I don’t like it at all,” she said. “Because I use my phone to call my mom a lot when something is wrong and there has been a lot of times where I needed to call her off my phone but now that it is locked away, I don’t have that option.”

Brookins did agree with Roberts about reducing distractions but placed that responsibility on students.

“If you are not responsible enough to not let your phone distract you, then that’s on you,” 17-year-old Brookins said. “It is a distraction, but it does not have to be a distraction.”

Brookins’ father said he has no problem with the new policy but thinks the district should embrace the technology that consume students’ time rather than push it away.

“We should be implementing the phones into the lesson plan,” Bulls said. “Our schools don’t have enough technology. They need to be going the other way. We should be adding to, not taking away.”

Roberts said that Bulls had a point, while pointing out that the district does have other technology available to students.

For each student the district has a Google Chromebook laptop, Roberts said, adding also that it was difficult to police which student were using their phones for appropriate reasons during class time.

Roberts said the district faced trouble with its cellphone policy which said students had to put their phones away upon entering the building and not bring them out until they left.

“We had a very difficult time in getting students to comply,” Roberts said.

By not being able to strictly enforce the policy, officials ran into several problems including students viewing social media, texting and making calls during class time and recording inappropriate things in school.

“All the above were occurring during the instructional day, not to mention teachers constantly having to tell students to put their phones away,” Roberts said.

‘The office phones are always available’

What happens if a student violates the new policy or finds a way around it and is caught?

Roberts said his staff has had several discussions about many of those issues surrounding the new policy.

Students can receive in-school suspensions and out-of-school suspensions as well as not being able to bring a cellphone to school with them at all.

Students will also be responsible for replacement fees for any damaged pouches, Roberts said.

Letters are going out to parents and principals are scheduling meetings with parents and students to explain the new process.

Roberts said that any parent or guardian who has to reach a student in an emergency should call the school office.

“The office phones are always available,” Roberts said.