No cell phones at growing number of Bay Area campuses

CONCORD, Calif. - Thursday marks the first day of school at the Mount Diablo Unified School District.  Thousands of high school students at two of the district's high school campuses will discover what it feels like to be cell-phone free, all day. 

A cellphone-free policy goes into effect on the first day of school at Mt. Diablo, and Ygnacio Valley High Schools in Concord.

When they come to campus, students will have to use something called a Yondr cell-phone pouch.

Dorian Solis, a senior at Mt. Diablo High School, demonstrated to KTVU how it works.

"I already have my phone inside here... you just put it in and just lock it," he said. 

The Yondr pouch is a small bag that locks away cellphones, which can only be unlocked at the end of the school day using a special device.

"I'm not that crazy for my phone, so I'll live," Solis said. "It is going to be a hard adjustment, for other kids, especially the ones who are less mature and just don't want to be here."

The new pouches mean no calls, texts, social media, or even music. Students must also lock away their earbuds for the entire school day.

"It's alright, I wasn't going to be on my phone all day anyway," said RJ Davis, a student at the school.

"We think it's fine. I think it lets us focus more," said student Julissa Martin.

Other students felt the policy was too restrictive. 

"It's too much, too sudden," said high school senior, Omar Lopez.

"There are so many other problems they can solve, but they focus on this," said student Melissa Nguyen. "If anything, they're just as addicted to their phones as us."

Yondr, founded by Graham Dugoni 10 years ago, now has its pouches in more than 2,000 schools across the U.S. and in 27 different countries.

"Having social interactions that can be awkward—that's part of growing up. That's what builds character," Dugoni said about the benefits of fewer devices and more in-person interaction on campuses. "When everyone is fully 'there' and they're not worried about what's happening in other places, and texting and taking pictures of each other, it completely changes the environment." 

The cost was about $114,000 for the two schools at Mt. Diablo Unified, the school board agenda shows. 

Mt. Diablo Unified is not the first Bay Area district to use them. 

San Lorenzo High started using them in 2018, and high schools in the San Mateo Union High School District have also been using them since 2019.

The school board at Tamalpais Union High School District began studying the issue last week. 

Erin McFerrin, school board president at Mt. Diablo Unified, said the district piloted the pouches during summer school classes at the district's Olympic High School last year. They were so happy with the results, the school board decided to make the rule permanent at Mt. Diablo, Ygnacio Valley and Olympic. 

Every student will be assigned a pouch and even though it's considered school property, it will be each student's responsibility to bring it to school with them, according to the district's school policy. 

At the end of the day, the students can have their phones unlocked by a teacher or staff member. They will hold onto their pouch for the next day. If students damage or lose their Yondr pouch, it will cost $50 to replace it.

Some students said they understand the reasons behind the policy, but are not happy about the change.

"Some people really depend on it," said Lopez. "If there's an emergency, they won't be able to see or answer any calls."

But Gavino Webb, Mt. Diablo High cafeteria manager and a parent of a student at the school said if there's an emergency, students can go to the office.

"We still have landlines," he said. "Your kid is supposed to be in school. Being a parent, I think it's great. It makes kids interact more."

School administrators told KTVU every classroom will a device to unlock the pouches, so teachers could choose to unlock the pouches in case of an emergency.