Quincy Middle School credits Yondr pouches with fewer phone referrals and a drop in fight-related suspensions

Quincy Middle School administrators told the board they distributed 730 Yondr pouches to students this school year and described the pouches as a "game changer" for classroom management.

A Quincy Middle School staff member said the school saw substantially fewer phone violations after the pouches were issued. The presenter described earlier figures for phone referrals and said staff estimated the change translated into hundreds of referrals avoided across the school year. The staff member also told the board that school suspensions for fight promotion were much lower so far this year than in the previous year: "Over the entire school year, we had 36 suspensions for fight promotion. That's been using their phones and either videotaping a fight or shipping it on to somebody else. And so far this year, we've had 4. And those 4 incidents happened prior to the implementation of the pouch," the presenter said.

Sal Mancini, the school's safety officer, said his presence and a range of interventions are part of the district's work to reduce disruptive behavior and that staff reported an overall improvement in atmosphere and fewer high-level incidents. Mancini said first-semester fight incidents declined from 34 last year to 28 this year.

Administrators noted a recurring replacement cost for pouches and said the vendor and district budgeters estimate about a 10% annual replacement rate for damaged or lost units. The district also described follow-up conversations with the vendor about next steps in program implementation.

Board members asked about the long-term plan for the pouches and whether the district intends to continue them; staff said the plan is to sustain the program based on the observed reductions in classroom referrals and the perceived benefits to instruction.