By Rita Lemley
Across the Oakland Unified School District, students are experiencing a major change this year: no cell phones on campus during school hours.
This school year, OUSD began implementing the Phone-Free Schools Act (Assembly Bill 3216), a new State law requiring California schools to limit or prohibit phone use during school hours.
The new law requires each district in the State to decide how to implement the policy in its schools. For OUSD middle and high schools, this meant Yondr pouches and a stricter phone policy that began August 10.
Yondr pouches are small fabric bags with a strong magnetic seal on top, meant to lock phones at the start of the school day and unlock them on the way out. This prevents students from using their phones during class time and during breaks in the school day, including lunch and passing periods.
The goal of the Yondr pouches is to encourage more social interaction and focus in class by minimizing the time students spend on their phones.
The strict phone policy is a heavily discussed topic among parents, faculty, and students.
Oakland Tech’s sophomore class president Kynlie Rodgers said she supports them generally, but has concerns about communication during school emergencies.
“The Yondr pouches have the right idea because they aim to help kids focus and connect while in school, but they fail to acknowledge the safety hazards,” she said.
Oakland Tech and other OUSD high schools are also implementing much firmer, more serious consequences for students caught with their phones during school hours. If staff see a student using a phone during school hours, they take it.
The severity of the consequence depends on how many times a student’s phone has been confiscated, ranging from having the student's legal guardians pick up the phone from the school office to having the phone confiscated for an entire week.
Marydaisy Fong, an Oakland Tech teacher of 16 years, thinks enforcement is a required part of the new cellphone policy.
“I like the idea of there being repercussions, because if there aren’t, it won’t happen,” she said.
The OUSD phone ban also affects middle school students. While Yondr Pouches aren’t being implemented in middle schools, the strict phone policies seen in high schools are also in effect.
Students are prohibited from using their phones during school hours, and if a student's phone is seen at school, it will be taken, and consequences will be discussed with the student and the student's legal guardians.
Claremont Middle School parent Jocelyn Wiener said that this year's phone policy is an improvement, noting problems with the previous approach:
“It was a mixed message: ‘don’t use your phone’ but then ‘we want you to have a phone so that you can use it for schoolwork,’” she said.
With only two months into the school year, only time will tell the full effects of the new phone policy in OUSD.
