UPDATED MISSION AS OF NOVEMBER 30TH:

The Board of Education in Linden, New Jersey, despite much pushback from students and families alike, has not faltered in their resolve to implement Yondr Pouches into Linden High School - Going as far to even change the student handbook to align with the new policy. However, the critiques and grievances from the community at large have not stopped.

We recognize the benefit that cutting down on screen time can bring, and understand that phones can definitely be a distraction in class. However, applying the same blanket policy to a student body of nearly 2,000 students with differing needs, backgrounds, and care plans is a full-proof way to only cause more issues and more distractions. 

Social Workers are overworked and understaffed. Mental health programs within the high school are either nonexistent or are detrimentally inefficient for students in need. Vice Principals are so busy to the point that they are often unreachable. All of these cumulative issues cause both the student body and the faculty to feel more disconnected from the school than ever before. But despite all these problems, the Board of Education fails to address them. 

Why not make the Pouches a disciplinary action? Why not implement Social/Emotional Learning Days back into the Curriculum if we care so much about "student mental health"? Why not provide clear guidelines as to how they will be enforced?

The Yondr Pouches aren't just a phone policy, but a precedent for the Linden Community as a whole. It will answer the question: Will the Board of Education respect and work for the voices that they are tasked to listen to, or will they work against them? If they don't address our problems now when we bring them to their doorstep, whose to say they ever will?

We understand the nobility of the policy being put into place, but we also acknowledge the injustice that will come if the Board of Ed. fails to take note of the revisions being proposed. 

If you care about students using their voices for positive change, aid us in our effort to raise them up. If we care about preparing students for the real world, then we must support them as they fight for a democratic tomorrow. 

PREVIOUS MISSION:

In case of emergency, high school students must be able to have access to communication devices at the ready - especially in todays harsh and dangerous climate. 

Despite this, the Linden Public Schools Board of Education has now implemented a new policy come January that will require all students to lock their phones in devices called Yondr Pouches. Under this rule, students would be unable to access their personal devices completely unless in arbitrarily designated areas of the building where faculty will be "supervising students".

Students and families of Linden High School greatly disagree with this underdeveloped decision. Let alone a clear privacy violation, this new involuntary enforcement greatly contradicts student safety. If something happens to a student during the school day, especially in the era of constant school disasters, how will they connect to the outside world? How will students stay in touch with family members? For a school that cares so much about student safety (to the point of implementing metal detectors), this is quite the contradictory action. Arguments in support of this policy argue that it will improve student safety in regards to fights that go on at LHS. However, to many others it seems that this stance is a quick and ineffective fix in the face of grander issues - like treating a symptom of instead of formulating a solution to the greater disease. And this quick fix is not a cheap one, seeing as a single Yondr Pouch can cost anywhere from $15-$30 per student; this adds up for a school with nearly 2,000 students.

In addition, majority of students in the LHS community have unavoidable responsibilities outside of the LHS campus. By locking up phones, necessary communications in regards to student obligations would be entirely disrupted. 

It seems greatly that this new change has been instated purely to amend a sullied reputation in a purely cosmetic manner. If you want to help us get ready for life after high school, then treat us like the young adults we are.