New Harwood cellphone routine takes hold; school board eyes a formal policy
September 9, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti and Gordon Miller 
The 2024-25 school year is now in full swing. Students at Harwood Union High School used the main entry for the first few days to learn the new cellphone protocol to keep devices locked and away during the school day. Photo by Gordon Miller
As the new school year settles into a routine, students at Harwood Union Middle/High School are getting accustomed to having cellphones away during the school day.
Meanwhile, some school board members have registered their discomfort with the decision to spend $21,000 in federal funds for the phone pouches in use and even more say the district should consider creating a formal policy addressing cellphones in all schools.
At the start of the school year, Harwood’s administration rolled out a new protocol aimed at making classrooms and all school spaces cellphone-free during the school day. Students are required to store their mobile phones, smartwatches and Bluetooth headphones away in their backpacks or lockers for the day, or alternatively they could leave them at home or in their vehicles, for those who drive to school.
To ensure phones do not make appearances in class, students were issued individual pouches that lock with a magnetic closure that they open at a special station when they arrive and then seal. At the end of the day, students do the steps in reverse, opening the pouch at the magnet station to remove their devices as they head out of school.
High school students are allowed to have their phones in their locked pouches in their backpacks for the day. Middle schoolers in grades 7 and 8 must store them in their lockers.
The pouches and the magnetic base stations cost $21,000 with the California company Yondr. The purchase was funded with the final allocation of federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funding known as ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief). Schools across the United States received funding through the program over the past several years. Harwood’s share was $4.8 million and the funding had a Sept. 30 deadline this year to be spent.
Harwood is one of multiple schools across Vermont joining a growing number of schools to limit cellphone use and the distractions it brings to learning, socializing and the overall school environment.
Each pouch has a nametag and is issued to a student to use for the whole school year. Harwood seventh- and eighth-graders are to keep their phones in their lockers during the day. High schoolers may keep their phones in the pouches in their backbacks. Photo by Gordon Miller
School leaders so far have remarked on increased engagement among students with phones no longer available. At last week’s school board meeting, student representatives to the board said they thought the new routine was going smoothly. “The Yondr pouches have been working. People aren’t taking their phones out in class,” junior Grady Hagenbuch said. “People are playing cards in study hall.”
Last spring, school leaders announced that the new routine would begin with the new school year but details on how the process would work, consequences for not following it, etc. were not shared until this summer. The decision to purchase the Yondr pouches was made during the summer and the school board did not have a chance to discuss the matter or vote on it as part of the school’s ESSER plan until its Aug. 28 meeting. School officials said they requested and received special permission from state education officials before going ahead with the purchase.
At the Aug. 28 board meeting, however, several school board members questioned the expense and the apparent new policy in place without any formal action by the board.
“It seems a very significant issue that should have some clear guidelines,” said Fayston board member Danielle Dukette, who serves on the board’s policy committee. “I feel as though it should be elevated to the point of policy for the school district, because not just high schoolers, not just middle schoolers, have cell phones in school. …I feel like it should be codified in a more significant way.”
Fellow Fayston board member Mike Bishop, who chairs the board’s finance committee, brought up the expense as a concern.
“The problem that I have, or that I keep going back to, is spending $22,000 on it,” Bishop said, adding that he looked at cellphone policies in other districts that stop short of purchasing any equipment. “They were all able to come forward with a policy without spending any any taxpayer money or any money that could go to other things.”
Directing his question to the superintendent, Bishop said, “How would you justify spending 22 grand on this, on this procedure, policy, or whatever we're calling it, when we just laid off teachers last year and we're facing another budget – let's call it a crisis, I guess. Don't you think there was other things we could have spent $22,000 on?”
Leichliter explained that the issue bubbled up “as a grassroots issue” among staff at Harwood that resulted in the new guidelines that have been implemented with the start of this school year.
“I think it's important to remember this was not the superintendent issuing a dictate, it was not even the high school principals. It was an ongoing faculty discussion and our teachers who are the professionals in the classroom have determined [cellphones] are a distraction to the educational environment. I’ve heard that since I interviewed for the position,” said Leichliter who joined the district in mid-2022.
School leaders could have used other supply funds for the purchase, he pointed out. “It was a building-based decision, and we had remaining funds,” he said.
Dukette added that she understood the need to use the federal funding and the desire to address cellphone use. But she offered an example of another way the funds could have been used, noting that students had raised issues in the spring around the need for better-furnished quiet study places in the building.
“I wish in the future we would take a step back and see are there things on the table” to consider for such opportunities, she said.
Not all feedback was critical. Multiple board members praised the new cellphone rules including the use of the pouches. Moretown member Ben Clark was amont those who said they liked the suggestion to create a district policy around the issue.
“I want to say thank you for finding a novel way to cover the expense of the cellphone pouches,” Waitsfield member JB Weir remarked to school administrators at the table.
1-2-3: Opening and closing a Yondr pouch (click to enlarge)
In the board’s two meetings since the school year began, only one community member has spoken during public comment about the cellphone changes. Former board chair Caitlin Hollister from Waterbury attended on Aug. 28 and said she applauded the school administration’s leadership “to try something new” on the issue.
Leichliter told board that it would be appropriate for the board to addressed the issue with a district-wide policy. He also suggested that all of the board read the best-selling book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt that documents research into the harmful impacts of cellphones, social media, etc. on youth mental health.
The board needed to take a vote on the amended ESSER plan to reflect final adjustments to how the funding was allocated including the Yondr pouch purchase. The measure was approved 8-4. Based on the board’s weighted voting process, however, the yes votes represented just 53.55% in favor.
The Yondr pouch shipment arrived late for the start of school. For the first few days, students stored tbeir phones in manila envelopes. Photo by Gordon Miller
Voting against the measure were Bishop and Dukette and Waterbury members Elizabeth Brown and Dan Roscioli. Waterbury member Victoria Taravella was absent, and board Chair Ashley Woods of Warren did not vote. Student members’ votes are not counted in the board tally. Two of the four student members – Hagenbuch and Ellie Bunkingham – abstained; students Celia Wing and Cashel Higgins – voted in favor.
Despite the discussion, the school board has not charged its policy committee yet with drafting a policy to address cellphone use across the district.
At the Sept. 11 meeting, student representative Ellie Buckingham said the student board members have drafted a survey to collect data from students about the new protocol and that they would present their findings at an upcoming board meeting.
The short survey would ask students if they actually are using the pouches, she said. It also was to ask if they felt more connected with peers and if their learning environment has improved as a result of the change and to share. Another question was to ask students to share a positive experience related to the cellphone rules. Several board members suggested rephrasing the question to solicit a wider range of responses.
“The survey looks a little biased when you say ‘what’s a positive experience’?” suggested Moretown member Steve Rosenberg. He suggested “neutralizing” the language to ask students about their overall experience.