Two Seattle schools ban cellphones

Beginning in the fall, students at Seattle’s Hamilton International and Robert Eagle Staff middle schools will have to lock their cellphones in little pouches when the school day starts.

The two schools join a growing list across the country that are creating cellphone-free zones to cut down on distractions and disruptions in the classroom, strengthen students’ emotional well-being and improve discipline.

The cellphone bans come amid a growing backlash against technology use in schools and concerns about the negative effects of social media on students’ mental health and well-being. In Seattle, Hamilton International’s PTSA led the push for that school’s new policy.

Florida passed a law requiring districts to craft policies to prohibit cellphone use during the school day. And Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom threw his support behind a ban, saying he planned to work with the Legislature to restrict smartphone use in schools — the same day the Los Angeles school district voted to ban cellphone use during the school day beginning next year.

Newsom’s statement came a day after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times that schools “should ensure that classroom learning and social time are phone-free experiences.”

Murthy said he supported adding warning labels on social media platforms, with the caution that “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.” Such a label would require action from Congress.

In Seattle, schools get to decide how cellphones and other personal devices will be used in the buildings. That policy will remain in place, Bev Redmond, the district’s spokesperson and chief of staff said Tuesday. Hamilton International and Robert Eagle Staff are among the first to move forward with a ban.

Those involved say they are hoping to create safe spaces for students for the six or so hours they are in school. Teachers, too, will have more time to focus on teaching.

Zac Stowell, Robert Eagle Staff’s principal, said teachers lose five to 15 minutes of instructional time in each class every week because of disruptions caused by students using their cellphones. 

“It’s just to give the students an opportunity to fully focus on their classroom studies and make meaningful connections with their peers,” Stowell said in a video over the weekend announcing the policy.

Each student will be assigned a pouch by California-based Yondr. The students will put their phones and smartwatches in the pouches at the beginning of the school day, store the locked pouches in their backpacks or lockers, and retrieve them at the end of the day. A special device will be available in classrooms, hallways, or other designated areas to unlock the pouches. These pouches are also used at some concerts and comedy shows.

The pouches cost $30 per student, according to Yondr. The PTSA at Hamilton International is covering the cost, at a discounted rate. Robert Eagle Staff will use funds from the PTSA, along with donations from a campaign it’s launching to pay for the pouches, Stowell said in the announcement.

Yondr says that about 2,000 schools in the country use the program. The company is seeing tremendous growth amid a “sea change” in how people perceive cellphones in schools, said Graham Dugoni, Yondr’s CEO.

“I think there was a belief that more technology everywhere was going to lead to endless positive results,” he said. “My belief then, and belief now, is that technology does have incredible utility. But there are a lot of unanticipated consequences, and in certain contexts, it has some pretty negative impacts on students: on their development of critical thinking, social development, engagement in the classroom, privacy issues, all those things.”

He pointed to the pandemic as a turning point, as students spent hours online each day for classes.

That period, he said, led to the realization that “so much of growing up or just being a person is predicated on physical community and the people you interact with, and focusing on what’s in front of you.” 

Dugoni said Yondr is not just selling pouches but also programs that help schools develop new cellphone-use policies and connects them with districts that have used the pouches to discuss challenges, expectations during the rollout and how to communicate with parents, teachers and the local community. The Yondr team includes former educators, he said.  

The company said schools that have used the program reported an increase in engagement, student behavior and academic performance.

The cellphone-free push has been more than a year in the making at Hamilton International Middle School.

Molly Branson Thayer, the school’s PTSA president, said the movement started when Lori Dennis, now the group’s technology lead, asked about the PTSA’s approach to handling tech issues. Cellphone use, along with students wandering the hallways and misbehavior in the bathroom, was one of the issues on which the group briefed Eric Marshall when he started as the school’s principal in August.

Even with an “away for the day policy,” where students put their phones in their backpacks, educators were still spending significant time dealing with students using their devices, Branson Thayer said.

“Kids could reach into their backpacks, they could go in the bathroom, they could film under the table,” she said. “The phones are built to be addictive. They’re built to ping you and say, ‘You have a new notification.’ ”

The PTSA settled on technology use as its goal for this school year and started researching the issue. Seattle Public School’s head of technology, the school’s staff and local law enforcement were also consulted, Branson Thayer said.  

One of the sticking points with moving to cellphone-free schools is often parents’ concerns about reaching their children during an emergency. Branson Thayer, Dennis and others acknowledged that concern, but added cellphones could potentially do more harm than good in some of these situations.

Stowell, the Robert Eagle Staff principal, said in his video that parents can call or email the school’s main office, which is always staffed, like they did a decade or more ago. The staff will obtain a pass for the student to speak with their parents. Each classroom also has a device to open the pouches, he said. The staff will work to meet everyone’s needs, he said.

“I’m a parent of three kids. I totally understand,” Dennis said. “However, there is an epidemic of mental health, suicide and other issues around social media, cellphones, etc.”

Dugoni, from Yondr, said districts and schools should ensure parents know the best ways to communicate and receive information during emergencies.

Branson Thayer and Dennis urged SPS to adopt a more holistic approach to cellphone use in schools.

The district said in a statement that it is “committed to educating every student to use technology in ways that augment their learning experience, leading to analysis, evaluation, reflection, and enhanced skills of expression.”

SPS sued several social media companies, including those behind Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, in 2023, accusing them of contributing to the youth mental health crisis. This lawsuit remains in the courts.

“We all should be teaching our kids to use technology responsibly,” Dennis said. “The issue right now is that it’s falling on the teachers to do that.”