Yondr pouches changed the culture at Poughkeepsie High School last spring.

With their cell phones locked away through the course of the day, student attendance and engagement – both within the classroom setting and socially in the school’s halls – improved after the program was launched in April.

This fall, district officials are expanding the program to Poughkeepsie Middle School.

“The success rate in the high school is outstanding,” Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dr. Charles Gallo said. “That’s what we want to bring to the middle school.”

The program was announced to middle school families this week. Each morning, the students will be required to lock their phones away in a Yondr pouch, a padded bag that seals with a magnetic lock. The pouches can only be unlocked when they leave at the end of the day, or in the event of an emergency with the help of an assistant principal. Unlike the high school’s program, in which students are issued their own individual pouches and are required to return with them each day, the middle school students will receive their pouches at the start of each day and return them as they leave the building.

The district has had a policy forbidding the use of phones within classrooms, but teachers still widely report instances in which students’ attention is pulled to their phones and away from lessons or engaging with fellow students face-to-face. The pouches allow schools to prevent phone use without taking the device out of the student’s possession.

“Teachers can tell the kids – and we tried this – ‘OK, you know the rule, turn them off, put them away.’ It doesn’t happen,” Gallo said. “Kids are still texting kids across the room. It creates a distraction. It also disrupts the educational process and sometimes it leads to disciplinary action when the use of the cellphone is inappropriate.”

He noted students are allowed to keep their phone on silent mode within the pouch, which maintains a parent’s ability to check on their location and send them messages. If a parent needs to reach their student immediately, they can contact the main office. Parents will be contacted if their student attempts to use their phone and fail to use the pouch within the building.

“The goal is to foster a more engaged and interactive classroom/school environment, where students can fully participate in their education,” the school’s administrative team said in a letter to families. “We are confident that this change will have a positive impact on the overall learning experience.”