Cell phone use disrupts education, this much is clear.

However, with so many options available to us, Yondr is not the way to go. Yondr pouches lock students phones in small, magnetic pouches from the beginning of the day until the very end, cannot be unlocked during the day, and cannot just be simply unlocked after school until students can access the few magnetic bases that will be in the school. While the data may seem convincing, Yondr is only beneficial on the surface.

Let's start by assuring that there is a proper, effective, and agreed upon solution already in place. At RHS, starting in the 24/25 school year, we implemented a policy to have students turn mobile devices into calculator pockets at the beginning of class, which were then hung where students could see them but not access the phones during class time. This system, while at first not appreciated, came to be quite successful in improving focus, and many students who at first were uncertain agree that they were happy to follow the policy. There will always be outliers, people who don't follow the rules, and people who don't like such system either. In a time where our phones contain our entire lives, this is bound to happen. But the important part is that this was effective, relatively appreciated by both students and teachers, and an easy and affordable solution.

As of August 26th 2025, the Ridgefield School Board voted to implement the Yondr pouches, with little regard to opinion from school staff or students. At RHS, there is an emphasis on treating students with respect and giving them opportunities to be seen as more than just children. We have a highly intelligent, strong, and devoted student body; this is part of what makes Ridgefield schools so desirable. However, despite all of this, students were not given the opportunity to discuss their concerns or displeasure for this policy. Most of us agree, phones ARE a problem. Few of us disagree with that. But when did we get to speak out about what works for us? Why phones have gotten to this point? Which solutions would matter to us, what we think would work? Considering that these policies affect us the most, don't you think its fair that the school board takes the time to talk to us, face-to-face, to learn about who we are, what we care about, and what we actually need?

Yondr is frustrating for more reasons than its disregard to a completely viable solution, but because it is also expensive, timely, and dangerous.

Implementing Yondr will cost our school around 40,000 USD. In a time where we haven't passed bonds in YEARS, where we have lost many staff, and where we have students in all schools being taught in makeshift classrooms because we have no space to teach them, why is this what we are putting money towards? If we want to continue having bragging rights because of our beautiful, smart schools, then we need to be able to provide students quality education. If we have to lose staff, clubs, classes, combine bus routes, and even lose students because we can't afford it, where is this money going to come from? Our students themselves? On top of the hundreds upon hundreds of dollars students spend per school year on activities, lunch, ASB, yearbooks, etc.? In their meeting, one board member said that the $30 being spent per student for Yondr is a 'cheap' investment. When you look at it induvidually, sure, it could seem cheap. But multiplied by the 1,300 students at RHS, how can you call this 'cheap'?

Yondr pouches also require students to spend time waiting to have their pouches locked/unlocked before and after school. Multiple buses arrive with very few minutes before class starts, and leave within a few minutes of class ending. What will this mean for these students? What about the students who have to go to clubs straight after school, who have to go home ASAP to take care of their family, who have requirements where they can't afford the minutes upon minutes they will have to wait in line to get their pouches unlocked?

Yondr has plenty of room for danger, too. There are supposed protocols for staff to handout unlocking devices in case of emergency, but in a true emergency, where will the time be to hand these out? Students in any case of emergency will simply no longer have access to their devices, which means the inability to report danger, call for help, or alert family or guardians if something is happening. In a true emergency, staff will not be focused on handing out unlocking devices, and truthfully we should hope they wouldn't be, they should and likely will be focused on survival.

And disregarding all of this, Yondr will simply be ineffective. As many people say, the more something is forbidden, the more people will work to get what they want. Pouches will be tampered with, destroyed, and dismantled. While this is unfortunate, this is the simple truth. Yondr, on paper, might 'increase' focus. But below the surface? Yondr will only increase the lack of respect students hold for school authority, will increase tardiness and absences, and will only frustrate students and staff to the point of damaging their own learning. There are already so many ways to bypass these pouches and systems, implementing Yondr at RHS is simply throwing money down the drain.

Our students are not children. We may not have our frontal lobes developed, but we're not dumb. We have the capability to make our own decisions, to make our own choices when it comes to our learning. No matter what, some students are going to make poor choices, this is simply bound to happen in any school around the world. But we can discover the consequences of our own actions, we do not need board officials to make decisions that do not even affect them if they can't be bothered to look at our feelings.

Our solution from last year wasn't perfect, but it was effective. We have hardly even given it a chance to be great, we just threw it away after one year without a second thought. THAT solution was widely agreed upon, simple, and many many many students and staff have said that it made a difference.

This is what we want. Listen to the people who your decisions affect.

STOP Yondr from reaching Ridgefield High School.