High school district releases its plan for a phone-free school day

The district has created a multi-layered plan aimed at eliminating personal devices, including cell phones, on campus. The plan will be implemented next school year, which starts in August

Image by Lawson Gaylord

The Analy school year just wrapped up, but the administration is already putting the finishing touches on a plan that will radically reshape students’ school experience when they return in August. A plan to implement a phone-free school day has been in the works for months, and Analy leaders are now prepared with a three-tiered approach to get distracting devices like cell phones turned off and put away during school hours.

In January, the West Sonoma County Union High School District school board discussed a resolution to ban cell phones and other personal devices for the entirety of the school day—from the first bell to the last bell. They directed Analy leaders to create an implementation plan for a complete phone-free school day. This plan will go into effect in the three high schools overseen by the district—Analy, Laguna, and the Academy of Innovative Arts—next year.

Since this discussion took place, Analy leaders have been working on the best way to implement the new policy. In March, the district created a cell phone policy committee to give feedback on possible implementation plans. This committee included teachers, students, parents, and staff. It met three times—once in March, once in April, and once in May—to discuss options on how to enforce the new policy. In between each meeting, administrators worked to develop an implementation plan based on committee feedback.

Analy leaders have at this point created a multi-layered system for next year. They combined strategies to make the transition to a device-free day as smooth as possible. The primary tool keeping students off their phones will be The Commons App. Students would download the app onto their phones, and it would disable access to social media and other apps while on school grounds during the school day.

The app uses technology known as geo-fencing to create a virtual “fence” around the school. As soon as a student walks onto campus during school hours, the app will detect this and disable access to most apps on the student’s phone. Analy admin can choose apps that they want to allow students to access, although they say that this is not likely given their effort to keep students off their devices. This means that the majority of apps on a student’s device would be blocked during the school day. The Commons App also allows administrators to see which students have the app downloaded on their phones and which students don’t. If a student deletes the app, administrators can see the deletion and follow up with the student. (You can see the Sebastopol Times coverage of The Commons App here).

Schools cannot legally require students to install an app or software onto their personal devices, so Analy is offering a second, “lower-tech” option for families that don’t want to install the app. If a student opts not to use The Commons App, they can turn in their phone at the office every day at the beginning of the school day. Their phone would be securely stored in the office until the end of the school day.

The third and “last line of defense” against cell phones will be a limited number of locking pouches for students who don’t comply with the rules. These pouches, such as ones made by a company called Yondr, magnetically seal so that students can lock their phone in it, only unlocking it at the end of the day at a special station in the office. Analy admin say that staff will be equipped with a supply of Yondr pouches. If they see a student with a phone during the school day, the staff member will hand the student a pouch, and the phone will be locked up. The benefit of Yondr is that even after the device has been locked in a pouch, it stays with the student. They would then unlock and return the pouch at the end of the day.

It’s important to note that this three-tiered approach doesn’t just apply to phones. Officially, it requires all personal digital devices to be put away during school hours, including personal computers, smartwatches, and Bluetooth-connected headphones like AirPods.

Analy Principal Chuck Wade wrote over email about the reasoning behind the district’s new policy. “This shift is about providing young people with an educational environment free of the pernicious effects [of] devices and algorithms designed to manipulate them…It’s also about improving mental health, eliminating online bullying, and reducing the risk of suicide.”

Jason Carpenter, a social science teacher who is one of the main advocates for a phone-free school day, seemed to agree with this sentiment. In January, when the new policy was being considered, he told the board, “In a classroom without phones, without the constant distraction that they offer, we can talk to each other; we can listen to each other.” He recently echoed his sentiment in an email: “I’m convinced that a well-constructed no-phone-use-at-school policy will positively impact the lives of our students.”

Some students seem to agree with him and are open to the idea of a phone-free school day. “I actually think it’s kinda good,” one freshman said. Another student, a junior, said that they “didn’t think it was a bad thing,” even if they didn’t fully support it.

Other students remain apprehensive about the new policy, and despite a formal plan for next year, are doubtful it will actually go into effect. When asked about their thoughts on The Commons App, a group of sophomores laughed, saying, “There’s no way this actually will work.” Some questioned if it was even legal and wondered if the app could track their texts. According to the privacy policy of The Commons App, it does not: “We do not track student location, browsing history, or personal messages.”

Though some students remain apprehensive, the school sentiment on a phone-free day is very different from late February, when almost every student seemed uniformly against the idea of a cell phone ban.

Wade explained that the new policy is not about control. “It’s about restoring genuine agency and creating a space where students can connect deeply with each other, collaborate meaningfully, and think authentic, original thoughts,” he said.