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District debates strict enforcement, and possible purchase, of phone-locking pouches for students
Summary
Board members and principals reported early success enforcing the district—ell-phone policy but debated whether to buy locking pouches; the district will track compliance data and return with a report in November.
The Kiona-Benton City School District board spent extended time discussing enforcement of its student telecommunication-device policy and whether to pay for locking pouches that would keep phones inaccessible during the school day.
Superintendent Peterson said the district is initially enforcing existing policy more consistently and has asked principals to report back, but he left open the option of buying devices if enforcement "becomes a losing battle." "We spent a solid 90 minutes negotiating this contract," he told the board when talking about bargaining earlier, and later added of phones: "If we find that we're fighting a losing battle, I would recommend taking that next step." (Mister Peterson)
Board members described phones as a classroom distraction and a driver of mental-health concerns. One board member said phones are "just toxic for our students," linking increased anxiety and bullying to unrestricted phone use and urging stronger action. Several members expressed concern about instruction time being lost when staff must confiscate devices and asked for data on repeat offenders.
Principals reported mixed early results. The high school principal said teachers and students are adapting to increased enforcement and noted many phones are only confiscated once and not repeatedly. The middle school principal described existing disciplinary steps (warnings, then parent pickup) and said repeated offenses are a small minority.
Board members and staff discussed a commercial solution — described in the meeting as a product called "Yonder" — that would issue a pouch students keep on their person, which can be unlocked only with a magnetic release. Board members noted the cost is not insignificant and asked staff to continue strict enforcement first and return in November with compliance figures and any recommendation on purchasing pouches.
The board directed staff to collect implementation and compliance data and report back in the November meeting; the board did not make a purchase decision at this meeting.
