It's the third day of school at Doherty High in Colorado Springs. 1,700 teenagers file through the doors as security guard Lonny Barrett checks IDs.
This year, he’s also inspecting cell phones. According to a new policy, students need to put their phones away all day inside special pouches.
Barrett checks each one. Only a few minutes into the morning rush, he’s found a pouch that’s suspicious.
“What is this?” Barrett asks a student. “This isn't a phone. This is a box of Extra gum.”
He hands the student the gum stuffed inside in place of a phone. Barrett said this happens a few times each morning.
"They'll put like empty cases, or even like an old broken phone that doesn't even work anymore, they'll try to put that in there and sneak it past us,” he said. “It's been entertaining."
Many kids simply tell him they left their phones at home. He has his doubts. He reminds them there are consequences if they're caught with their phones – starting with getting them confiscated, up through suspension.
Standing near the entrance is the principal, Hillary Hienton.
She explains how the system works. The gray fabric pouches are designed by a company called Yondr. Buying one for each middle and high school student cost the district more than $300,000. The pouches magnetically lock so the phones are trapped all day. At the end of the day, students pass through special magnet stations by the front office to unlock their pouches.
Hienton said after students returned from learning at home during the pandemic, rampant cell phone use in schools reached a new level. Doing something felt necessary.
"They’ve just been so glued to them,” she said. “In classrooms, it turned into a lot of power struggles. Students didn't want to put their phones away or give up their phones."
A Pew survey last year found 72 percent of high school teachers nationwide said students being distracted by cell phones was a major problem in their classes.
When making the decision to implement a cell phone policy this summer, district leaders in Colorado Springs also cited a plethora of research showing phones and social media can be harmful for young people’s mental health, and can lead to cyberbullying and poor sleep.
Lots of districts around the region arrived at a similar conclusion. This year, schools in the Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Boise areas are declaring campuses or classrooms phone-free.
Others ditched them last year.
"This is the best policy change we've ever made in my career of 28 years," said Jim Foudy, a superintendent of the Blaine County School District in Idaho, which banned cell phones in classrooms last year, though without the pouches.
He said the first year went smoothly. The district didn’t have to confiscate as many phones as expected and situations where the schools had to get involved in cyberbullying issues declined. Teachers reported higher classroom engagement.
“We actually had hired a teacher who had a few different job offers and said that he chose to work for Blaine County because this policy was in place,” Foudy said.
At Doherty High, students in Erin Ahnfeld's English class passed around a ball of yarn for a lesson about connections -— between each other and books they'll read.
Ahnfeld said he feels like he did when he began teaching, before smartphones were everywhere.
"I think it's a courageous move,” he said.
In the first week, he said he’s already noticed a difference. Last year, when he gave students a break between lessons, they'd pick up their phones. This year, it’s different.
“They just talk to each other,” he said. “That makes the feel and community in a classroom way more powerful."
Some students feel differently.
"I hate this new phone system a lot,” said Eli Howard, a junior. He doesn’t think the policy will prompt students to pay more attention in class — those who were distracted by phones before are putting their heads down on their desks.
Howard also worries about safety. Earlier in the morning, the school was put on a "hold" during a potential emergency. That means students are asked to stay in their classrooms and clear the halls to limit commotion, typically during a medical situation. It turned out to be fine, but in the moment, Howard was scared.
"I was like, ‘Dude what if there's someone in here and I can’t — my mom and dad — I can't talk to them,” he said.
Many parents opposed to cell phone bans say they have similar concerns about reaching their kids in an emergency. Doherty High said staff are extensively trained in emergency protocols and that the district will continue to communicate with parents via mass communication systems.
On the other hand, some students, such as Dante Click, say they understand where the school is coming from by limiting cell phone use.
"I don't think adults are crazy for this one. Kids are definitely on their phone too much,” Click said. “But I think it's going to backfire on them."
Click said some kids are frustrated and are breaking the pouches.
Many ask Principal Hienton why the school is doing this.
"I say, ‘I care about you, and I care about your education, and I want to make sure that you have the tools and the skills and the competencies that are going to make you successful in life,’" she said.
Hienton said phones are a distraction from that success, so, for now, the solution is to remove them from the equation.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
