With Gov. Kathy Hochul having approved a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban starting in the fall, East Hampton High School is looking into begin using Yondr pouches, similar to those already employed in the Sag Harbor School District, to ensure that the school is in compliance.
Sara Smith, high school principal, spoke to the school board about the program at its meeting Tuesday night. Adam Fine, the district superintendent, whose contract was extended by five years at the meeting, said that he supports the policy on the whole, but is “not thrilled” about the timing.
“We have to have this policy in place by Aug. 1,” Mr. Fine said, “and we have one board meeting between now and then.”
The board needs to approve a districtwide policy by then so that it can pass it on to the middle school and the John M. Marshall Elementary School to also implement it. The two lower schools are already in compliance based on their current polices, however.
If the high school decides to go with Yondr, the pouches would hold cellphones, or any other smart devices, for the entire school day, and then would need to be unsealed by a magnet. Another option is to implement a “no show” policy, where students would be allowed to have their phones on them, but not allowed to have them out at any point during the school day.
Ms. Smith believes that a no-show policy is a “high ask ” of students, who have practically developed muscle memory when it comes to checking their phones. “Even students,” Ms. Smith said, “when we were talking with them about the idea of no show, they said ‘yeah, no, we can’t do that.’ ”
The high school’s current cellphone policy consists of “shoe pockets” in every room that students have to put their phones in when entering a class. This does not fit with New York State’s policy, which mandates that students not be able to access their phone at any time during the school day.
The board had a few big questions, primarily regarding safety. If there is an emergency, however, Ms. Smith indicated that there will be unlocking magnets in each classroom and learning space.
“And an emergency is not ‘I forgot my lunch, can I unlock my phone,’ “ Ms. Smith told the board. “An emergency is, God forbid, a true school emergency.”
On the other side, Christina DeSanti, the board’s vice president, said that “everybody forgets their cleats once in a while,” and if students needed to reach out to parents, or vice versa, how could they do that?
Ms. Smith said the district would make phones available for students to make outgoing calls as needed, and if parents or guardians need to reach students they would need to call the district office.
The cost to the district, according to Ms. Smith, would be $50,000, but there would be no subsequent charges in following years unless pouches or the magnetic keys need to be replaced. The district had previously budgeted for a program such as this when it learned that the ban was coming.
J.P. Foster, the board president, shares Mr. Fine’s displeasure at how the bellto-bell ban was implemented, but commended the administration for working on a solution. “I applaud you guys,” he said. “You’re stuck with a mandate that you have to deal with, and you guys handled it very, very well.”
With the time crunch in mind, the district will begin to do outreach on several fronts to communicate the requirements of the new policy to parents and students. This will include parent meetings and mailers, and talking to students in class meetings and at ninth-grade orientation.
The board will discuss it again at its reorganizational meeting in July.