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Students, staff report early adjustments to Guilderland’s phone-lock program; art students flag camera access issues
Summary
Guilderland High School students and staff say the new phone-lock pouch program has largely worked through the first days of school, but art teachers and AP portfolio students asked the board for supervised exceptions or classroom solutions to capture high-resolution images required for College Board submissions.
Guilderland High School’s new phone-lock program, using Yondr-style pouches to limit phone access during the school day, is producing mixed but mostly positive early reports from students and staff, while some specialized classes — notably advanced art and AP portfolio students — say the system is disrupting long-standing classroom workflows.
Student report and early results: The district’s ex officio student member, Parth Sorecha, told the board the pouches are installed with multiple unlocking stations across the building and that, from his observations, the system has not caused major dismissal delays. “They have the pin over here, and you push it in… students put them in, and they’re not allowed to unlock them until the end of the day,” Parth said, and he listed unlocking-station locations he counted: two in the Math Wing, six in the main lobby, and two by the Language Wing. District staff reported a roughly six-minute dismissal time on the first day and said that unlocking times have shortened as students learn the process.
AP art and portfolio concerns: Art teachers and AP art students asked the board to consider an exception or a supervised temporary-unlock arrangement for students who must create and submit high-resolution photographic documentation of multi-step artwork for College Board portfolios. An AP art teacher and students reported Chromebook cameras produce low-quality images; some students are using older digital cameras and transferring images manually but said that process is time-consuming and can interfere with limited studio time. Parents and students asked for a secured, supervised unlock station inside the art room so students could capture high-quality images and immediately return devices to the pouch.
District response and alternatives under review: District technology and school leaders said they are exploring several options: purchasing dedicated digital cameras, creating a supervised unlocking procedure for specific classes, evaluating third-party phone-lock systems that allow classroom-level unlocking, and testing Chromebook-camera workarounds with instructional technology staff. The district warned against a series of piecemeal exceptions that could undermine the policy’s intent and said staff will work with art teachers to find a solution that preserves both classroom learning objectives and the phone policy.
Why it matters: Students and teachers said the policy has helped social interaction at school and reduced distractions, but educators seeking to meet external portfolio submission standards said technical limitations of Chromebooks are a real barrier for AP portfolio work that requires high-resolution imagery.
Next steps: The administration asked the policy committee to examine requests for targeted academic exceptions and to return proposed procedures or pilot solutions. Staff said they would consult the art teacher and technology specialists and report back to the board.
Ending: Board members encouraged a careful, documented solution that preserves the schoolwide policy while addressing class-specific technical needs.
