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Students and parents press district over phone "pouches," alleged staff conduct and safety concerns
Summary
Multiple students and parents told the Montoursville Area School District board that the new phone-pouch policy and its rollout have caused anxiety, disciplinary actions and, in at least one case, an allegation that the superintendent forwarded a parent's email to the parent's employer; administration defended the policy as part of an effort to create cell-phone-free schools.
Several students and parents used the board's Jan. 14 public-comment period to criticize the district's recently implemented phone-pouch policy and to raise related complaints about staff conduct and implementation.
Haley Weaver, who identified herself as an eighth-grade student, said she had experienced years of what she described as staff bullying and that, after her father emailed the superintendent, "the superintendent ended up emailing the owner of the company my dad worked for." Weaver said the forwarding of that email caused worry about her father's job and described teachers' conduct as adding to her anxiety at school.
Julia Mathis, who said she was speaking as an older sibling, stressed emergency-access concerns: citing national figures, she argued that middle-school students should be able to keep a phone nearby in case they need to contact family in a crisis.
Emily Gladue, a Montoursville High School student, told the board she needed her phone to confirm she was safe when leaving school early for a mental-health day after what she described as a scheduling mishap and said a vice principal later disclosed private information about a student. "If I didn't have my phone, I would have been missing for hours," she said, adding that her mother is considering removing her from the district.
Parent speakers raised operational concerns: Tanya Schafer urged the board to revisit the middle-school backpack policy because students with special needs can be slowed getting to lockers; Devin Weaver said two of his children have left the district and criticized the abrupt roll-out of the pouches, saying students were suspended for refusing to place phones in pouches and that forwarding parents' emails to employers was "wrong."
Administration and board members defended the implementation while acknowledging it had been difficult. The superintendent said the administrative team has "listened to feedback," pivoted where needed and that the goal is a "cell phone free school" facilitated by pouches. "The goal is a cell phone free school. The pouch gets us there," the superintendent said, adding that the team expected some short-term challenges during implementation but noted early signs of positive effects.
Board members and staff indicated the situation remains fluid and said further conversations about backpacks, discipline and messaging to families will continue; the board also scheduled a public hearing on an unrelated elementary-school closure for Jan. 21.
The meeting record shows no immediate policy reversal; the district said it would continue to respond to public feedback and refine the rollout.
