Cell phones put in lockdown at FHS

Escambia County (Fla.) School Superintendent Keith Leonard, along with Cody Strother, the district’s coordinator for communications, visited Flomaton High School this past Friday to see first hand how Flomaton’s new cell phone lock policy worked and Leonard immediately said he was going to ask his school board to spend the money and implement the policy.

Flomaton students, along with students at W.S. Neal High School and Escambia County High School, must now have their cell phones secured in a locked ‘Yondr’ pouch when they enter the building. The pouch is sealed with a magnet and larger magnets are placed at exit doors for students to unlock the pouches when they leave school. The goal of the program is to keep students off their cell phones while in school.

So far, FHS Principal Mark Harbison said it has worked great and the school has had less discipline problems since the pouches were implemented at the first of the year.

“I’d say 90 percent of our discipline problems started with cell phone drama,” Harbison.

Assistant Superintendent George Brown and Harbison visited Stanhope Elmore High School last May to the see how the Yondr pouch system worked at a school with 1,500 students. They saw it and were impressed.

“We saw what they did and we knew we wanted it in Escambia County,” Brown said.

Superintendent Michele Collier said she loves the program and expects grades to improve since students are now concentrating on classwork and not chatting on their phones.

The lock pouches are used in grades six through 12. With students in seven through 12 taking their pouches home each day. Students in the sixth grade leave their pouches at school and place the phone in the pouch when they arrive each the morning.

The locked pouches give no students access to their cell phones while at school. The system does allow for medical pouches that are secured by velcro for students who need to check their blood sugar levels, but that’s all.

FHS Assistant Principal Leslie Sellers said there was a “huge buy in” from the teachers once the program was implemented, noting now students are engaged in conversation and not texting on their cell phones.

FHS teacher Amy Dullard walked up as Leonard and administrators toured the high school, and said she could see a difference from day one with students not being distracted with cell phones.

Brown also pointed out that if a student is able to get a cell phone out the teacher immediately calls the principal’s office and the principal is instructed to go immediately to the classroom to address the issue.

Harbison said the first offense for using a cell phone is one day in on campus suspension and the student will get the phone back at the end of the day. On the second offense the student gets two days in on campus suspension and the parent must come to the school to pick up the cell phone and penalties go up after the second offense.

“There’s been a lot of success and the teachers love it,” Sellers said. “I won’t work in another school without them.”

Some students and parents voiced concerns over students not having access in the event of a school emergency.

Harbison said every staff person on campus has a Centesix device around their neck and if they need help they push it once and the front office is notified. If a teacher holds it down continually, it not only sends an alert to the front office, but also the sheriff’s office and the police department.

The Escambia County School System spent about $50,000 to implement the program and if a student damages his or her pouch they must pay $20 for a new pouch or not be allowed to bring a cell phone to school.

Harbison and Sellers say the students have bought into the idea.

While visiting one classroom Brown asked the students their thoughts and told them to be honest. One said “so, so”.

Leonard said he was very impressed with his visit to Flomaton and will ask his board to put the Yondr pouch program in place at all high schools in Escambia County, Fla.