LPVEC sees benefit of sealing phones away during dayDate: 1/3/2024 WEST SPRINGFIELD — Teachers at the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative no longer have to debate or banter with kids about using cellphones. Students now must store the devices during the school day.
LPVEC — the latest school in the region to prohibit student cellphone use — has required its nearly 700 students to lock up their phones since Dec. 4. Alvin Morton I, the school’s executive director, said the regional vocational and special education school on Brush Hill Road in West Springfield became a phone-free space to improve teaching and learning.
In a teacher survey conducted last year, he said one of the things that kept coming up was cellphones: “Looking at discipline data prior to my starting in July, some of the bigger offenses, or more frequent offenses, was cellphone use at inappropriate times,” he said.
Teachers reported students weren’t focused on classroom work and weren’t participating the way they should be in class. Morton said there were also some issues because of what students were watching on their phones.
“Like most districts, we had to deal with TikTok challenges and things like that last year, with kids doing devilish tricks and then filming it,” said Morton, who believes young people and many adults became reliant on cellphones during the coronavirus pandemic. “They became the connection to the outside world — a lifeline or support system — during periods of isolation.”
That behavior “trickled back into schools” when students returned to in-person learning. “Kids were used to pulling out cellphones anytime they wanted to,” said Morton. “They could go on to any type of social media platform or go to Netflix whenever they wanted. There was no structure during remote learning.”
In 2021, Chicopee became the first district in the area to ban student cellphones. It prohibited the devices to keep students from being distracted by their phones.
Similarly, Morton said LPVEC is trying to get students “refocused on learning, to have a routine and to establish some type of decorum so teachers can get back to the business of teaching and kids can get back to the business of learning.” Morton said the only positive thing from the pandemic was that districts were able to introduce “one-to-one” technology, ensuring all students had access to devices increasingly used for instruction and schoolwork.
“That was the biggest thing districts had to do to implement remote learning,” Morton said. “We carried that over after the pandemic. Now, all kids have technology in their hands.”
While in the past, cellphones often were the only technology available to students in classrooms, Morton said that educational need no longer exists, “but TikTok challenges, social media challenges and other stuff now permeates throughout schools through cellphones.”
LPVEC — which provides education programs and services to the Agawam, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Hampden-Wilbraham, Longmeadow, Ludlow, South Hadley, Southwick-Tolland-Granville and West Springfield school districts, including the CTEC vocational-technical program — was already on the track toward banning cellphones when Morton arrived.
It happened quicker because the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education offered grants to districts interested in banning student cellphones. Morton said DESE realized cellphones were becoming a hindrance to learning.
The $20,000 grant covered the entire cost to purchase magnetic locking pouches. Morton said LPVEC bought the pouches from San Francisco-based Yondr, a leader in phone-locking technology since 2014. Teachers and administrators all have Yondr pouches to model the behavior for students.
“When we’re in classrooms, our phones are locked up,” he said.
Phones are secured in simple, secure, locked pouches assigned to each student. While students maintain possession of their devices, they can’t use their phones until their pouches are unlocked at the end of their school day. Students are required to bring their pouch to and from school each day and are responsible for it at all times.
Every electronic device — from phones to smartwatches to Bluetooth earbuds — goes into the pouches. Students also must power down their phones before putting them in a pouch.
“We don’t want kids leaving here and having battery issues with their phones — especially if they’re going to be at home by themselves, and things of that nature,” said Morton. “We want to make sure they have usable phones when pouches are unlocked.”
If students come in after their school day starts, they must go to the main office for the locking process.
Morton said if discipline starts to improve, the ban could be modified as an incentive. Students might be allowed to use their phones at certain times, such as at the end of class periods or during lunch.
Since the ban is a protocol and not a policy, Morton said he didn’t need approval from LPVEC’s board of directors. However, the directors were given advance notice before the ban became effective. Parents, guardians and caregivers also received a notification letter. During a question-and-answer period at an open house in November, parents asked questions about the phone ban.
Morton said that meeting addressed concerns about students needing their phones in an emergency. He said it’s usually better if students don’t use cellphones, since they could give away their location or clog up emergency channels fire, police and emergency services need. Additionally, teachers have cellphones that could be used.
Another issue was reaching kids during the school day.
“We have phones in the building for kids to call home or for parents to call to talk directly to a particular student,” Morton said.
The executive director said the ban will be reevaluated every year, but “will start strong” every academic year when new students start. However, as the year progresses, Morton said there probably will be a review to see “how students are carrying themselves, how are they’re behaving and how they’re acting when it comes to their peers and their teachers.” The review could lead to some loosening of restrictions.
“Our kids need to get back to socializing and learning things about their fellow students, having those conversations, working together and collaborating,” he said.
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