RICHARDSON (WBAP/KLIF) – Richardson ISD is scaling back a proposed policy surrounding cell phone usage in class.
The school board was scheduled to vote Thursday night on a proposal to require students to store their phones in magnet-locked bags during the school day.
“The overwhelming takeaway from the feedback is that parents almost universally agree that cellphones are a distraction for students and a problem in the classroom,” said RISD Interim Superintendent Tabitha Branum in a letter to parents. “I can tell you that our principals and many secondary teachers strongly agree with this as well.”
However, Branum explained in the letter that not every parent is sure that the Yondr pouch system is the right solution to assist with enforcement of cellphone-free campuses.
“Some parents cited concerns with the cost of implementing it districtwide, others cited concerns about being able to reach their student in a potential safety situation, and others questioned whether the program would be effective as some students work to circumvent the pouches,” Branum said.
In a revised direction, the district will continue to enforce cellphone-free hallways and classrooms, but will scale back the Yondr system implementation to one pilot campus, Forest Meadow Junior High, instead of districtwide.
“The advantage of a pilot program is that it will allow RISD to gather more data to see how effective the Yondr system is before investing in a districtwide solution,” Branum said. “We will be able to track and compare teacher feedback and data of both phone-related classroom incidents and overall student discipline situations that involved the use of a cellphone to see how the pilot Yondr campus compares to campuses that will re-emphasize enforcing the policy in traditional ways.”
RISD’s current cellphone policy, in place since 2012, already prohibits student cellphone use in classrooms without permission.
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