Maya McFadden Photos
Senior Lily Gonzalez: "Just had to get used to" not texting mom or friends as much.
NHA's wall-mounted locking and unlocking devices near school exits.
New Haven Academy’s hallways and cafeteria have gotten louder — now that the high school has become the first in the district to adopt Yondr pouches, leading to students spending lunchtime talking to each other instead of looking at their phones.
Students and staff noticed that in-school volume change last week, which was the first full week of the small magnet high school’s rollout of the phone-storing pouches that schools hope will keep students distraction-free in the classroom.
New Haven Academy (NHA) is the city’s first high school to pilot the Yondr pouches before the public school district expands their usage district-wide for high schools next school year.
Alders approved a nearly $371,000 contract last month between New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) and Yondr to bring pouches to all K‑8 schools, and to all high schools starting next year. NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent that while the school district ordered Yondr pouches for K‑8 implementation in January, the district has yet to receive the pouches, and they are now expected to arrive for rollout during the first week of March.
NHA students are asked to lock away all personal devices that fit in the pouch, including their phone, AirPods, and smart watches.
Meredith Gavrin — a co-school leader at NHA, along with Greg Baldwin — said that, almost immediately, she saw and heard more social interactions happening in the school’s hallways and cafeteria.
Students have been complaining that they’re bored now that they’re off their phones, according to staff. So the school’s leaders have purchased board games, puzzles, and Rubik’s Cubes to give the students something fun to do during their lunch periods. The school has also offered students yarn to learn new skills like crocheting during the day.
“Kids are playing and talking and laughing, even first thing in the morning,” Gavrin said.
In classrooms, teachers are seeing new levels of attention and discussion by students, she added.
Gavrin and Baldwin agreed that they thought students’ redeveloping of soft skills would be gradual, but instead Gavrin said it was like “pulling up the window shade and the light just came in.”
Baldwin and Gavrin reflected on the school’s sixth day using the Yondr pouches during an interview Thursday morning.
On that day, three NHA seniors returned to the Orange Street school at around 10 a.m. after spending their free study hall period outside the school. Their phones had been unlocked before they left the school building. Upon their return, the students seamlessly slid their phones back into their Yondr pouches and locked them through the magnetic device kept in the building’s front office.
While the students did so, Baldwin and the office secretary watched to make sure the devices were stored away properly.
“Airplane mode, guys,” Baldwin reminded them.
The school had begun considering the pouches last spring. Baldwin volunteered NHA to be the pilot high school and began the process of securing enough pouches for the school’s 320 students.
Baldwin said the school’s goal with the pouches has been to add a tool to maintain the school’s “off-and-away phone policy,” and to recommit to keeping students from being distracted by their personal technology.
The school’s leaders notified staff that the pouches were “on order” at the start of the school year, then families and students were invited to town meetings and school-wide conversations to hear why the pouches would be used and how, and to ask any additional questions.
“The policy wasn’t up for discussion, but rather how we can do it best and how to do it well,” Gavrin said.
Baldwin and Gavrin explained that before the Yondr rollout, educators would occasionally have to repeat the school’s already existing phone-free policy to students throughout the day.
Now, when students enter the school on Orange Street, they pass through the existing metal detectors and then use two of the school’s five wall-mounted magnetic locks for their pouches, which they bring back and forth to school with them everyday. Staff are required to verify at the start of the day that students have locked their devices up correctly.
If students don’t bring their pouches, security, staff, or admin will place phones in an envelope to be stored in the front office for the day.
“It’s just clarity for this idea that has been in place a while,” Gavrin said.
"Now It's Just A Lot Louder"
A cafeteria now stocked with board games to keep non-scrolling students from being bored.
While in study hall Thursday morning, senior Lily Gonzalez told the Independent that she was initially “genuinely upset I wasn’t going to be able to use my phone.”
But she said that once the pouches were implemented, she realized the transition was not as difficult as she thought it would be.
“I thought it was going to be horrible not being able to text my mom as much or friends, but I just had to get used to it,” she said.
She added that as a senior, it helps that she can leave school during a study hall period and check her phone then. NHA allows seniors with no discipline issues and a 2.7 GPA or higher to be allowed the senior privilege of leaving the school for study hall — with parent approval — and unlocking their phones for that time.
She said it also helped to learn more about the impacts of addiction and over-reliance on cellphones.
“Even going to the office is reassuring during the day,” she said.
She concluded that she appreciates that the school listened to students and offered board games after they said they were now bored during lunch periods.
Sophomore Kimberly Kurtz offered a different perspective Thursday. She said she thinks the Yondr pouches are a “waste of money” that could have been spent on other school materials.
Still, while the pouches are inconvenient, she said the transition wasn’t as hard as she expected it to be, and it’s not that big of a deal. Since the rollout, she said she has had to receive updates about her mom’s work schedule changes from the front office rather than a simple text message directly from her mom.
She said she most often would use her phone during the day when she finished her classwork early, needed to check the time, or when she wanted to write her homework down in her phone’s notes app.
The main difference she’s noticed is “now it’s just a lot louder.”
Gavrin and Baldwin agreed that while students aren’t completely happy about the transition, cooperation has been very high. No students have resisted securing their phones in the pouches or turning them over to admin, but there has been one confirmed incident where a student snuck in a second phone and another where a student found a way to open their locked pouch.
The school’s phone policy states that if a student is caught having their phone twice, a parent is called to pick it up.
The school has used advisory groups to teach students in advance about the impact of relying on cellphones, and of social media on mental health and academic performance.
Baldwin and Gavrin also sat at the school’s entrance before rollout and offered students the chance to try out the pouches and their locking mechanism early last week.
On Thursday, Gavrin was told by a student that they had a job interview to look out for on their phone and asked to keep it unlocked for the day. The student’s phone remained locked in its pouch, and instead, they were encouraged to visit the front office any time they needed to check in with their parents or for personal matters.
NHA has five locking and unlocking devices mounted on exits around the school. This allows for students to unlock their pouches during dismissal. The magnetic part of the device is not available throughout the school day and is attached at the end of the school day. The school also purchased handheld locking devices to keep with security, admin, and the front office.
Baldwin noted that before implementing the pouches, the school made sure to be intentional about its own access to academic technology — like Chromebooks — to be sure all students have access to helpful classroom technology.
English teacher Susan Ellwanger said since the implementation of Yondr pouches at NHA, she’s seen a “surge of energy” in students and more “togetherness” among the school, knowing all students have their phones secured away.
She was told by one student that since not having his phone as a distraction during the day, over just the past week he’s seen his grades and focus in classes improve.
She added that even when students weren’t directly using their phones in class, things like a vibrating phone were simply distractions that impacted their focus. “It’s a secret relief,” she said.
“Phone are addictive and designed that way, so it’s like school has to save them from themselves,” she said.
The magnetic unlocking tool is removed from the device during the school day.
