University Academy just started using Yondr pouches, and students and teachers have different opinions on them.
At the start of the school year, one of UA’s big announcements was that it is now a phone-free campus. Phones are not to be used during the school day at UA. Any electronic device in use that the school does not provide is confiscated by administration and given to security. A parent or guardian then has to come pick it up.
The Yondr pouches, which store and lock students’ phones, airpods, apple watches, etc. until the end of the day, are meant to help with this policy.
According to the UA handbook, “The shift to Yondr pouches will promote: more focused learning opportunities, fewer negative interactions with students during the school day, enhanced collaboration and communication between students/peers and staff and fewer disruptions.”
Yondr pouches have brought huge changes to the school. One of them is students’ inability to be in contact with their parents during the day. Normally, when something like a lockdown happens at school, students contact their parents and tell them what they know about the story. Students usually do not have all the information, though, making it hard to communicate with reliability. Yondr pouches help to address this issue.
Ms. Susie Jackson, the Manager of Upper School Operations, said, “It allows the school to send accurate information.”
With that being said, Ms. Jackson said, the Yondr pouches “benefit the students” and parents.
She said Yondr pouches will become more and “more normal” in the school as UA continues to utilize them.
Ms. Jackson said, “I think [students] need to use them more.”
Another benefit of the pouches is that students’ focus in class could change. There are always some students who are prone to continually check their phones and are eager to look at them anytime they ring or buzz. The Yondr pouches help with this because if someone’s phone does go off during class, that student won’t have the ability to grab it, which puts focus back on class.
Ms. Jackson said, “[Students] are focused on what’s going on in their phone, and they need to be focused on the education and what’s going on in class.”
Yondr pouches also help teachers. Because of the Yondr pouches, teachers don’t have to stop their lessons to tell students they need to get off their phones.
Constance Mutai, a sophomore at UA said, “It eliminates people from sneaking on their phones or touching it when it goes off.”
However, most students’ takes on Yondr pouches are different from staff’s. In fact, students’ opinions seem to be the opposite. When students first heard about Yondr pouches, they were not very fond of the idea.
Most of the students don’t care for them because the pouches take away their access to phones.
Mutai said, “I think it’s just the feeling of giving up your control to the school.”
Yondr pouches might also have an effect on some students physically and mentally. Mentally, students’ lack of access to their parents can be hard to adjust to. Physically, some students work better when they’re able to use electronics to listen to music or some type of background noise.
On the other hand, students who can go without their phones have no problem with the Yondr pouches. While they still might want the access to their phones, some have easily adapted.
All of the students will express their feelings differently, but there will be no change of Yondr pouches until further notice.
