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Stephen Kent: Manassas should join the “phone-free school” movement 

Stephen Kent

Jul 12, 2024

Stephen Kent in InsideNoVA: Modern solutions for modern problems in public education

Published in InsideNoVA | July 12, 2024


Schools must be a place where kids feel free to learn. This week, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 33, directing the Virginia Department of Education to craft guidance for localities on having phone-free learning environments. Distraction has become a crisis for modern life, eroding productivity in the workplace and educational attainment in K-12 schools.  Adults know it’s a problem in their own lives, and that kids are thumbing through their social media feeds in the classroom instead of engaging with educators. 


Many Virginia school districts are ahead of Richmond on this. Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Winchester are already moving to reclaim their classrooms from distraction, and Manassas City Public Schools (MCPS) needs to get in the game on developing more serious, uniform policies regarding phone use in schools.


Current policy within MCPS has been limited to a Student Code of Conduct, which largely permits phones during the school day as long as they are silenced, out of sight, and not being used to harass others. Students are incentivized to be discrete with phones, not turn them off. 

Administrators can confiscate devices, but why bother? 


Stories of students attacking teachers who attempt confiscation appear in the news regularly, and many teachers rightly opt out of the potential conflict. Between everything else that is laid at the feet of teachers, this should not be their job. 


In June, Manassas’ School Board proposed a “clarification” to the Student Code regarding phones, an unserious approach that does not act on the evidence of how smartphones are eroding educational outcomes and producing anxiety in students. Everyone knows it is not a functional policy. 


The consequences of distraction are serious. Manassas recently saw Metz Middle School report a dismal 30% pass rate for 7th and 8th-grade Math students. All subjects saw declines except for Geometry. Along with performance in English, chronic absenteeism worsened in the 2022/2023 school year. 


Truant students loiter in Manassas shops and disturb both staff and patrons during school hours. It’s led to conflicts, sometimes involving police, who try their best to get students back to school with limited time and officers.


There’s a solution. We could have phone-free schools. It would help with student performance, mental health outcomes, and attendance. Manassas should go the route of Fairfax and schools in now 41 states who are using Yondr pouches for their schools. 


Yondr costs $25.50 per student and uses a mag-seal technology to lock cell phones in a neoprene pouch assigned to each student. Students seal their pouches upon arrival in front of welcoming administrators, and before the final bell, an unlocking device is placed by the exit doors. Students swipe their bags like you would a Metro card, and go home. 


Yondr’s partner schools have seen on average a 14.9% increase in the probability of passing grades for academic courses in grades 6-12. For 11th and 12th graders, a 38% increase. Disciplinary referrals drop by almost half when phones are sealed upon entry to school. 


Students at these schools are being shown to ditch class less. Knowing they can’t unseal their phone until the final bell, and knowing their friends in class won’t be texting them back during the day, kids go to school for face-time with their friends. 


Osbourn High in Manassas was the first school in Northern Virginia to install weapon detection devices at its entrances in 2023. The four-year contract with Evolv costs $104,000 annually as an investment in student safety. What about a direct investment in academic performance? 


For less than the cost of one year on the Evolv contract, Manassas could have Yondr pouches and onboarding support for grades 7-12. We could rededicate classrooms and school hallways to learning. 


With Evolv checkpoints already established at Osbourn, the school is positioned for success in adding Yondr pouches to the mix when students arrive and funnel into school. Students won't love it at first, but our role as adults is to do the hard things, the things that are best for them.


Manassas City schools are not performing at the level our people expect. It drives families out of this city and discourages new ones from moving here. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect better results. Manassas must get with the times, acknowledge the growing body of evidence about phones' effect on education, and restore focus in our city schools. 


Stephen Kent is a candidate for Manassas City Council



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