(Yondr)
New Paltz School Board members are going to be looking closely at a product which could get students off their phones during the school day.
It’s apparently not okay to forbid phones on the premises, but trustee Diana Armstead suggested the board consider using Yondr locking phone pouches, which have become common sights recently at concerts, comedy shows, and other events whose organizers would like to avoid recordings being shared on the web. A student would put the phone inside on arrival, it would be sealed inside, and the child could keep it with them all day long but not access it. It would be unlocked as they leave the building.
The company promotes its product for school use on its site, where it quotes a Michigan administrator:
“Yondr pouches are a must for any school trying to reclaim the classroom from the constant distraction of cell phones. Yondr pouches were one small step that has led to big changes in the climate and culture of our high schools and middle schools, allowing teachers to teach, so students can reach their greatest potential.”
The cost for the high school alone would be $21,000, she said. More details will be presented at a future meeting.
Are you serious? Are the New Paltz teachers, administrators, and school board SO emasculated by the left that they cannot ban student cell phones from the buildings? Smoking is banned so why not student cell phones? These are children, why in the world do they have a say in this issue.
Nothing productive comes from having a cell phone in school PERIOD!
But I don’t blame the students at all for this, it comes from an administration that has been totally emasculated!
So, if the problem is that the students are not following the rules now, what makes you think that they are going to follow a new rule about putting the phone in the pouch? Just another waste of $21K. Go to shoprite and buy a box of sandwich bags for 99 cents and have the students put their phones in them instead. The results will be the same and save $24,999.
By the way, it will only be a matter of time before the adults realize that the kids already know how to hack and unlock the pouches. “The key to opening a Yondr bag was posted on YouTube. Simply use the magnetic “key” from a Tot-Lock (securing cabinets and such for kids) in a manner quite similar to your video. They sell a universal magnetic key on Amazon for $6.99.”
The solution is to have some consequence for not following the rules.
An initial cost of $21000 for the high school?..how about a choice proposed to the parents of the students ?
1.family pays the lease of a pouch per student for the year
Or
2. A signed agreement that student’s cell phone stays home…
Put the accountability where it needs to be ,versus another tax bill for the masses!