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Albany board hears update on implementation of governor’s device‑free mandate; Yonder pouch pilot to shift to daily pickup
Summary
Superintendent briefed the Albany City School District Board of Education on a pilot of the governor’s device‑free school mandate, changes to Yonder pouch distribution, translation needs, and next steps including testing language‑line capacity and exploring text‑based translation tools.
The Albany City School District Board of Education received a progress report on district implementation of the governor’s mandate that schools be device free this school year, including changes to how students will use Yonder phone pouches and plans to test translation capacity for family communications.
Superintendent Harkrider told the board the district piloted the device‑free approach in secondary summer programs to get feedback and had responses from roughly 150 students and staff. “Students will pick up a Yonder pouch as they enter the school building, and they will return it at the end of the day,” Harkrider said, describing a shift away from students taking pouches home after each day.
The superintendent said the change responds to pilot feedback and vendor recommendations: giving students a pouch to take home led to many lost or…
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