Youngstown City School District students will have to lock up their cell phones during the school day with the start of the 2024-25 school year, the school district announced Wednesday.
The district is joining others in Northeast Ohio, including Cleveland and Akron, in using Yondr pouches to temporarily seal phones in pouches that are left with homeroom teachers. Youngstown said in a press release that the district will be using the pouches for grades 5 through 12. The district said it already had a policy prohibiting cellphone use, but use of Yondr pouches "strengthens the existing procedures."
“Research has shown that cell phone use has negative effects on mental health and student performance,” district superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said in the release. "Implementing Yondr pouches will help decrease distractions and increase engagement, which is why we are here; for scholar-centered academic success.”
Governor Mike DeWine earlier this year signed a bill into law requiring school districts to adopt policies limiting cellphone use by next summer, citing similar research on the distraction caused by phones in classrooms.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District's board approved a similar ban on student cellphone use in May, with some schools using Yondr pouches. After piloting the program in several schools, Akron Public Schools rolled out the Yondr bags to all middle and high schools in August 2023.
