Pittsburgh-area schools continue pursuit to keep cell phones out of classrooms

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Some Pittsburgh Public Schools paid big money for pouches to keep devices locked away, but this first week back in the classroom will bring big changes for students and parents.
Inside a massive Pittsburgh magnet school, 700 students across seven grade levels walk the halls. That’s 700 kids holding the internet in their hands.
Yolanda Colbert, principal at the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies, told KDKA-TV that battling cell phones, bullying, and fights became a full-time job.
“There are only two administrators, so we are not staffed the way we were when we first started responding to our phone and tech issues,” says Colbert. “It takes a lot on the administrative part to really investigate what’s going on, help students calm down, [and] inform parents. It’s just a vicious cycle.”
She invested money in Yondr pouches in 2021, the first Pittsburgh Public School to try the lockable phone pouch that has become popular with comedians and musicians.
It didn’t end up fixing the problem.
“It is costly to maintain, and in addition to that, when you don’t have a lot of staff to be at those checkpoints, things slide by.”
Social media videos show students slamming them on the ground to pop open the pin, and even share the link to magnets on Amazon that open them.
“This coming school year, 2024-25, we are doing something different, not only because of cost, but also because of staffing, and also because I do listen to my students,” Colbert added.
While Obama’s middle schoolers will keep the Yondr pouches, the older kids will go old school with a bubble mailer pouch.
“The goal is not about punishment. It’s about creating a healthy habit.”
Principal Colbert will let students use their phones at lunch but says if the older students can’t fight temptation, the pouch comes back.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Do you want to be seen as a high schooler, or do you want to be seen as a middle schooler?’ That’s kind of where we’re at.”
Another Pittsburgh high school has been taking things even further. This is Brashear High School Principal Christina Loeffert’s third year in charge of the district’s specialized tactic.
“We use bins and file folders, and then we take the bubble envelopes and tape them into every file folder.”
She said gone are the days of Brashear fights circulating the internet.
“Our school has changed so much since we started collecting phones,” Loeffert said.
She told KDKA-TV that fights are down, bullying is down, and attention is up.
“It’s changed the morale of the staff; they are excited to teach again because students are paying attention, and they really want to be involved in the class.”
Principal Loeffert says there has been some pushback, mostly from parents.
“There would be students out in the hallways on the phones, talking to their parents, and they were not necessarily in an emergency,” Loeffert said.
KDKA-TV reached out to Yondr, who said districts average about $30 per student in the first year. For 700 students who don’t break pouches, that’s about $21,000.
Yondr tells KDKA-TV that its partner schools “experience a dramatic reduction in disciplinary issues, more engagement in the classroom, happier and less stressed teachers, and more enriching peer-to-peer engagement that is necessary to healthy childhood development.”
Principal Loeffert says she’s going to try to break the phone addiction on a budget first.
Loeffert: The bins were about $300 because we have about 45 to 50 ninth-period homerooms, and then file folders are not expensive, and the envelopes are very inexpensive as well.
Schiller: How much money did you save not buying the pouches?
Loeffert: Like $20,000!
Parents are pushing back.
At Brashear, two students were pulled by their parents when this cell phone policy was first enacted. One of the students will return this year.
Parents express safety fears. They want constant access to their child, given the world we live in now.
School shootings and security threats are a real concern. School administrators understand this can be jarring for parents.
They want parents and students to know teachers have phones. Every room has a landline, and with no phones, bullying is down, which they say, impacts students’ day-to-day safety, too.