Princeton middle school students now lock their cell phones inside magnetic security pouches made by Yondr. Courtesy Photo

All 2,200 Princeton ISD middle school students must now lock up their cell phones during the day. 

The PISD Board of Trustees voted Monday, July 15, on the new policy using magnetically sealed security pouches made since 2014 by Yondr of San Francisco. 

The next month, trustees approved spending $64,390 for the pouches, which arrived in Princeton this month.

Superintendent Donald McIntyre said elementary pupils must put their phones in their backpacks and place their packs in their cubbies. High school students may retain possession of their phones but only use them outside of class time.

“Our kids have become so overly dependent on their phones that they can completely derail our whole day,” Mattei Principal Jerry Quinton told the school board as it adopted the policy.

Under the new policy, every student will be assigned a personal Yondr pouch to take home with them and bring back to school the next day.

When arriving at school, middle school students must turn off their phone or place it on airplane mode, secure the phone inside the pouch before entering the building and then store the pouch all day in their backpack.

At the end of the day, students will unlock the pouch at designated stations, remove their phone and take the pouch home in their backpack. 

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