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A Massachusetts high school's policy of locking up students’ phones is reaping benefits.
City on a Hill Circuit Street Charter Public School in Roxbury, Mass., launched a program at the start of the school year in which every morning, students turn off their smartphones and place them in Yondr pouches to be locked and stored safely for the remainder of the day, WCVB Channel 5 Boston reports.
At the end of the day, the students can retrieve their phones using special sensors that unlock the pouches.
Principal DeOtis Williams, Jr. said that the school decided to implement the policy due to concerns that students were more engaged in their cell phones than they were "being in the present moment."
"We noticed in previous years that there has been an increase of cell phone use in students, whether it’s cyberbullying, whether it’s using cellphones in class under the table. And they’re just being more engaged in cell phones than they are being in the present moment," said Williams.
Spanish teacher Erica O'Mahony told WCVB that she’s noticed a huge difference in her students' ability to focus since the school began the program.
"I have less problems losing students to their phones, texts, whatever," Mahony said.
She said that compared to last year, kids have been far more attentive.
Even students are noticing positive changes.
“My friends have been talking a lot more to me,” said student Yalena Terrero. “They weren’t on their phones, they were actually conversing and talking.”
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