Cell phone management starts January 6, 2025
Only affects WCMS, WCHS, and WECHS
Students will keep all smart devices locked in their assigned smart pouch and cannot use them during school hours
CELL PHONE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
for Middle and High schools
Our middle and high schools will implement a cell phone management system beginning Monday, January 6, 2025. The Warren County School Board voted October 8, 2024 to manage cell phone use during the school day in order to return classrooms and instructional time to our teachers and students.
Students will keep all of their smart devices locked in a smart pouch and cannot use them during school hours.
We appreciate your full support and cooperation in this initiative to return our classrooms and instructional time to teachers and students, so they both can focus on teaching and learning.
We recognize that phones are useful at the right time and place. We also know that students’ learning, behavior, and mental health all improve drastically when they interact in person with their teachers and classmates.
Smart pouches have been used in thousands of schools across 27 countries to help minimize distractions in classrooms so teachers and students can focus on learning.
How it works
When students arrive at school they will secure their phones and all other smart devices, such as watches and earbuds, in their assigned smart pouch.
Students will keep their smart pouches with them throughout the day with their smart devices locked inside. The smart pouch prevents students from using their cell phones and smart devices while they are locked inside.
Students will unlock their smart pouches at the end of the school day to remove their smart devices.
If you need to contact your student during the school day, call the school’s front office. The receptionist will ensure your message is delivered to your student.
Why we need to manage cell phones
We had more than 500 disciplinary referrals involving cell phones in Warren County Schools last school year. Even if each incident only took 15 minutes to resolve, that’s a minimum of 125 hours cell phones took time away from teaching and learning in our schools.
In annual surveys of more than 1,200 schools using smart pouches, administrators reported these positive results:
84% saw a change in student engagement
72% saw a positive change in student behavior
68% saw a positive change in academic performance
In the most recent survey of more than 370 schools, 86 percent saw a positive impact in student safety and wellness.