Hill-Murray School in Maplewood is joining other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis by making its school a cellphone-free zone for middle and high school students.
School administrators are implementing a new cellphone policy with an item known as a Yondr pouch to prevent the students from using their phones during class or in the hallways. To support no-cellphone policies, Catholic schools including Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul and Our Lady of Grace in Edina also use Yondr pouches.
At Hill-Murray, students are responsible for their own Yondr pouch, and upon arrival at school, place their phones in the pouch. Closing the pouch locks it. The only way to unlock the pouch is by tapping it on an unlocking base component placed outside the phone-free zone.
At Our Lady of Grace, the Yondr pouch bolsters the school’s previous cellphone policy that allowed students in grades five through eight to have phones at school but required them to keep the phones in their lockers. OLG’s middle school principal Jim Dahlman said the Yondr pouches add a new layer to removing the temptation.
“They know they can’t access it,” Dahlman said. “Just that simple act of removing that thought of access to their device actually leads to greater attention, greater focus and less discipline issues.”
Father Kevin Finnegan, the pastor at Our Lady of Grace, said, “There’s some very dark sides to it (cellphone use). Whether it is just being consumed by it, or bullying and cyber bullying, it can happen undercover that no one knows about. People can really get caught up in it, especially when it also causes problems with comparison. … Every piece of research that comes out about cell phone use, none of it is positive. All of the dangers and the health risks in terms of mental health in particular, I have yet to see a report that says, ‘Wow, teenagers need a cell phone.’”
Dahlman and Father Finnegan said the school’s policy is done in partnership with parents.
“We’re trying to build this culture where you don’t need a device to interact with your classmates,” Dahlman said. “It’s also going to help them with their executive functioning and planning ahead. Oftentimes, kids will say, ‘I want to come to the office and text my parents if I can go to Jerry’s after school.’ Well, that’s maybe not something you should use your school day or class time for. Let’s start planning ahead a little bit and having that conversation beforehand.”
Hill-Murray President Melissa Dan said school administrators are implementing the Yondr pouch this school year after serious consideration and research. Hill-Murray administrators want to base their decisions on what is best for the students, even if it is difficult, Dan said. Staff are readying for a difficult transition, initially, but expect student dependency on phones to decrease through the school year.
“We’re proud that our Catholic schools are taking the lead in putting technology in its rightful place,” the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education said. “Catholic schools have a special obligation to help students become whom God created them to be, which can be more challenging in our digital age. By implementing prudent policies around the use of cellphones and other devices during the school day, our schools are allowing students to learn and grow in a healthy environment and setting them up for success in and out of the classroom. We are grateful for our schools’ partnership in this important work to provide the best Catholic education possible to students and their families.”
In St. Paul, Cretin-Derham Hall principal Mona Passman said the consensus from teachers and parents was that students were overusing their cellphones. The school also is adopting Yondr pouches this school year.
“Ninety percent of the people thought that it was impacting the classroom,” Passman said. “Even in the hallways or at lunch, they were on their phone. … Getting somebody’s attention was difficult. … I see a group sitting next to each other, and they’ll all be on their phones. Oftentimes, if there was an incident, if there was something happening behaviorally, we could often tie it back to phone use — and maybe not in the school — but social media use, that type of thing at home. We saw it all the time.”
Even with a relatively strict cellphone policy in place before this year, in which students could only use their cellphones in the hallways, Passman said it became an issue of teachers having to remind students to put their phones away. “They put them in the pouch first thing in the morning and that’s the only time that teachers have to remind them, and it creates a better environment and relationship with the teachers and the students.”
Having been in education for more than 20 years, Dan said she has seen social media and smartphones impact teenagers in real time.
“We know, even with the recent surgeon general warnings about social media, it’s linked to depression and anxiety in teenagers. Just like we do with our math curriculum, if it was linked to bad results, we’d switch our math curriculum, and that’s what we’re doing with cellphones. We’re taking a stance. We believe in our kids and their mental health, and this is going to keep some of those outside influences out during the school day, which is our role as a Catholic school.”
Hill-Murray administrators reviewed a recent survey of over 1,200 schools that use the Yondr Education Program. According to the study, schools experience an 84% increase in student engagement, a 72% positive change in student behavior, a 68% positive change in academic performance and an 86% positive impact on student safety and wellness.
The statistics convinced Hill-Murray administrators to change the school’s previous cellphone policy, which allowed high school students to utilize cellphones in hallways, during breaks and at lunch, while prohibiting cellphone use in the middle school.
“All of the research has pointed to the fact that social media and the addictive nature of these platforms are not healthy for children and teenagers,” Dan wrote on the school’s website. “Like other significant growth periods in a child’s life, there is a developmental age/period that is more appropriate for students regarding technology and connectedness. We know you send your children to Hill-Murray to learn and grow academically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. … Children and teenagers are hardwired for struggle, and the role of childhood is to learn some of the most essential lessons in life with grit and resilience that hopefully set us up for success and a life of purpose later in life.”
The technology used to unlock the Yondr pouches at Hill-Murray will only be available before dismissal and will be monitored by the school’s director of security. There are, however, unlocking stations that will remain in the principal’s office and the main school office.
“Let’s just say a student was struggling or a parent was sick, and they needed to have access to their phone, so we have a balanced approach,” Dan said. “But for most of our kids, they will not be able to look at their phone(s) and that will build the muscle of being present during the day. Present for their friends and their teachers. …
“Cellphones and social media, this is something we all have to figure out how to have our own boundaries with. I’m always very open and authentic and vulnerable with the kids. I’m still figuring things out. I can get sucked into my phone just as easily as they can. It’s about helping model healthy boundaries for our kids.”
