Alamance-Burlington school officials are moving closer to developing a phone-free schools policy for students.
On Tuesday, ABSS launched two separate surveys that ask staff and families to share their opinions about the impact of cell phones on student learning, engagement, and health. The deadline to respond is Monday, June 9.
The 14-question survey for ABSS families asks such things as: whether they support a “phone-free schools solution” in ABSS; whether cell phones are necessary to support student learning; which adverse effects, if any, do they believe cell phones cause in school; whether students are spending too much time on their phones while at school; whether use of social media on cell phones increases cyberbullying and harassment; and whether cell phone use diminishes the amount of time spent engaging in physical activity, among other areas of concern.
School board members haven’t yet entertained or adopted a policy to limit students’ access to their cell phones, though they did hear a presentation last week from a California-based company, Yondr, that could help lead ABSS in creating phone-free schools.
Absent a state law that would impose mandatory limits on students’ access to cell phones in school, a phone-free schools policy would be based on solely on input from ABSS staff and families, school officials subsequently confirmed for The Alamance News.
[Story continues below special subscription offer.]
NO ONE ELSE PROVIDES THE DEPTH OF LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE YOU GET IN THE ALAMANCE NEWS – in print each week and online every day. Subscribe now for unlimited online access to the latest, most comprehensive local news coverage.
As of Wednesday, ABSS had received 600 responses to the staff survey and 1,400 responses to the student/family survey about the use of cell phones in school, school officials told the newspaper late Wednesday afternoon.
“While we have explored options, we can confirm that a potential decision by the board to move forward with a solution like Yondr would not be contingent on county funding in next year’s budget,” ABSS officials said. “We have identified some savings that could be used. We are committed to prioritizing solutions that best serve our students and staff, and we are exploring all available avenues to fund initiatives that support their success and well-being.”
For their discussion last week, school board members were given three possible price points for a contract with Yondr that would cover the costs for magnetic locking cell phone pouches for students, equipment such as stationary and portable unlocking stations for each school, along with costs for planning and providing training for ABSS staff.
The costs for the contract with Yondr would be: $456,997.50 for system-wide implementation in all ABSS schools; $365,347.50 for middle and high schools; and $215,267.25 to implement the program at ABSS high schools, based on estimates provided to the school board.
One alternative to contracting with Yondr to help enforce a cellphone-free policy could be to have teachers collect students’ phones at the beginning of the school day and return them at the end of the day, ABSS superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming suggested to the board.
“Should the board not contract with an outside vendor for a solution, our approach would focus on multiple strategies,” ABSS officials told The Alamance News Wednesday, while emphasizing that the administration is still gathering information at this point.
“This would involve clear policy communication, staff training and consistency, student responsibility and education, and designated storage solutions,” ABSS chief communications officer Emily-Lynn Adkins elaborated. “We would explore options for students to securely store their phones during the school day, such as lockers, personal bags, or designated classroom areas, rather than a centralized pouch system. We would thoroughly communicate the updated policy to students, staff, and families, ensuring everyone understands the expectations and rationale behind the restrictions.
“We would emphasize student responsibility and integrate digital citizenship education to help students understand the impact of cell phone use on their learning and well-being, both in school and beyond, and our student code of conduct would be updated to reflect the new policy,” Adkins explained.
By comparison, under the contract with Yondr, ABSS students would be assigned a pouch equipped with a magnetic locking device that would be automatically activated when they arrive at school and deactivated as they exit the building at the end of the day.
Report on limiting access to cell phones released Tuesday by governor’s advisory council
During several recent discussions with school board members, Fleming has pointed to studies indicating that cell phones in school create distractions that interfere with learning and lead to negative behaviors, ranging from bullying to false threats of mass violence.
A 2024 study, quoted in a report released Tuesday, June 3, by N.C. Gov. Josh Stein’s Advisory Council on Student Safety and Wellness, suggested that limits on access to cell phones in school have yielded positive results in student achievement and behavior.
“Specifically, they found that student academic success rates increased up to 6.25% and average monthly referrals decreased by 44%,” the report from the governor’s advisory council stated. (The advisory council, established by an executive order that Stein issued on April 7, includes an ABSS school counselor, Anne Goldberg, who is employed at Broadview Middle School and is the 2025 North Carolina School Counselor of the Year.)
“We don’t want to take something away,” Fleming told the board last week. “We’re giving them something: a distraction-free education.”
Chris Johnson, an account executive for Yondr who oversees Virginia and North and South Carolina, told the board last week that, with the magnetic locking pouches, students could switch their phones to airplane mode, enabling parents to track their child’s movements throughout the day.
School administrators would be the only people with access to magnetic stations that would activate and deactivate the magnetic locks on the Yondr pouches, school board members were told last week. Students would swipe their phone pouches against the magnetic device to unlock them at the end of the day. Yondr representatives would go through every school building to determine the best location to install the magnetic locking stations, Johnson said.
“We have found over 11 years that students handle the pouches more responsibly if it’s assigned, just as a Chromebook would be,” Johnson told the board. Students would be assigned pouches bearing what Johnson described as an ID badge. “With folks having them labeled and being on their person, or in their backpack, it goes with them for the entire day,” he said. “Folks are very adamant about being protective of their phones.” Schools would have a portable station where a school secretary can unlock the phone if a student forgot to unlock his or her phone at the end of the day, Johnson added.
Yondr would work with ABSS on implementing every aspect of a phone-free policy – from training school staff to holding information sessions for students and families, and working to optimize the program once it took effect – Johnson assured the board last week. Violations of the policy (through theft, etc.) would be addressed similar to the way that other policy violations are under the school system’s code of student conduct, he said. “If a kid was to snatch someone’s Chromebook, what would happen then?” Johnson asked, adding, “It’s the same policy and procedure.”
The Yondr system tends to speed up the exit process because people are usually eager to get their phones back, Johnson said. “We set up exit points,” he explained. “We also do entertainment; we do this at Madison Square Garden with 25,000 people leaving a concert. We set that up so leaving is not a problem; [we] look at where the buses are, where the car riders are, so there’s not any problem with the normal logistics of the day.”
School board member Avery Wagoner asked, “As a parent of two former students who could literally tear a tank up, what is the average life span of these pouches?”
Johnson responded, “We say four years; we prepare for about 10 percent where kids lose them, destroy them, or [they] malfunction. They’re pretty heavy-duty.”
Pending bills would require schools to have phone-free policy but remain silent on enforcement
Meanwhile, companion bills filed earlier this spring in the state house and senate would require North Carolina school systems to create policies that limit students’ access to cell phones in school. The senate bill would prohibit students from using any wireless device, including earbuds, during class; the house bill would allow students to have access to their cell phones if required for instruction and/or to manage a health condition, such as continuous glucose monitors linked to cell phone apps that are used to manage diabetes.
State’s largest school system adopts cell phone policy Tuesday night
This week, Wake County’s school board voted unanimously, 9-0, to approve a policy restricting students’ access to cell phones during the school day. The policy requires students to silence and keep their cell phones out of sight (in a locker, backpack, or bag), as well as to disconnect smart watches from their cell phones, but does provide exceptions similar to those outlined in the house bill.
Meanwhile, Johnson recalled for school board members some positive feedback he’d receiving about placing limits on students’ cell phone use. “I had someone tell me, ‘I finally saw the whites of my kid’s eyes [because he’s no longer glued to a cell phone screen].’”
