CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public School students are now required to magnetically lock their cell phones in pouches all day.
CPS says the new Yondr pouch policy — which most high schools in the district have implemented — is about cutting out distractions and improving academic performance.
"I think there's a lot of students who are actually going to benefit from being free from distraction," said Brandon Craig, a CPS board member.
Dr. Kareem Moncree-Moffett, a CPS board member, said Hughes High School experienced a 38% decrease in 9th grade failures.
Despite the board's enthusiasm behind the policy, one Walnut Hills student thinks there will be unintended consequences.
"There's just so many things that could go wrong," said Aidan Mollohan, a junior at Walnut Hills High School. "Kids can miss their buses, they'll miss extracurriculars."
Mollohan started a petition for CPS to ban Yondr pouches. As of Monday, it has more than 2,800 signatures.
"The only way parents can contact their kids is through multiple people at the school," Mollohan said. "It's too slow, like you got to have forms of communication when you have an emergency, especially if you're like alone in school. They'll need their phone to call their mother, to text their mother, their father when they have anxiety attacks, when they have panic attacks."
He also brought up how the pouches would play a role during a potential school shooting, such as the one last week in Winder, Georgia. Colt Gray, 14, is accused of killing two teachers and two students, and injuring several others.
"What if there's no faculty member to call 911? What if kids want to say their last words to their parents? And again I hate to bring this up, because it's a really harsh subject, but what if it's your kid?" Mollohan said.
During Monday's CPS board meeting, Vice President Mary Wineberg started the meeting with a moment of silence to honor and remember the victims in last week's fatal shooting at Apalachee High School. Minutes later, Mollohan spoke over Zoom during public comments, trying to persuade the district to reconsider the new cell phone policy.
While no members brought up school shootings, Craig said every school needed to have a contingency plan in place.
"With like emergency plans, because that is a legit thing to think about, as we want to make sure our folks are safe," Craig said. "Some of our schools, especially our high schools do face issues of overcrowding."
Amy Randolph, CPS's interim assistant superintendent, updated the board on where the district stands implementing the new cell phone policy.
"As of today, other than Walnut, all schools should've started their implementation, so many rolled out last week," Randolph said. "... Walnut is expecting to start on September 30, but we are still working with them around just the amount of students and entrances and exits."
Randolph said CPS requested each school create an initial implementation plan, but acknowledged the district may need to adjust the new policy. Part of the implementation plan includes a time a student may use the phone to speak to a parent or family member in the office.
"We've also talked about working in collaboration with counselors, school social workers and mental health partners to provide support because there have been some addiction, cell phone addiction needs, so we've talked about that, and also talking about my piece about how to support that," Randolph said. "We're still going to continue to grow and learn, because that's the best part, is we know that we have to evaluate how this is going."
Mollohan suggests CPS use Yondr pouches as a punishment only and not as a mandatory district-wide policy.
"First time, second time offenders, even just put your phone in a pouch, and you can get it when the day is up," Mollohan said.
CPS wants to have some uniform policy in place regarding the new cell phone policy when it comes to who can lock and unlock the pouches. However, the district did acknowledge every school won't be exactly the same for how it implements the new policy.
