It’s the third day of school at Doherty High in Colorado Springs. 1,700 teenagers stream through the doors while security guard Lonny Barrett checks IDs.

This year he’s also checking cell phones. A new policy requires students to keep their phones in special bags throughout the day.

Barrett checks each bag individually. Just minutes into the morning rush, he spots a suspicious bag.

“What is that?” Barrett asks a student. “It’s not a phone. It’s a pack of extra gum.”

He hands the student the gum, stuffed in place of a phone. Barrett said this happens a few times each morning.

“They put in things like empty cases or even an old broken phone that doesn’t even work anymore. They try to put that in there and smuggle it past us,” he said. “It was entertaining.”

Many children simply tell him that they left their cell phones at home. He has his doubts. He reminds them that if they are caught with their cell phones there are consequences – from confiscation to expulsion from school.

Near the entrance stands the principal, Hillary Hienton.

She explains how the system works. The gray cloth bags are designed by a company called Yondr. Purchasing a bag for each middle and high school student cost the district more than $300,000. The bags are magnetically closed, so phones are locked inside throughout the day. At the end of the day, students walk through special magnetic stations at the office to open their bags.

Hienton said that after students returned from home-based classes during the pandemic, rampant cellphone use in schools reached new levels. It seemed necessary to do something.

“They were just so attached to them,” she said. “There were a lot of power struggles in the classrooms. Students wouldn’t put their phones down or give them up.”

A church pew Opinion poll Last year, 72% of high school teachers nationwide said that student distraction from cell phones was a major problem in their classroom.

In deciding to implement a cell phone policy this summer, Colorado Springs district leaders also cited a wealth of research showing that phones and social media harmful to the mental health of young peopleand can lead to cyberbullying and sleep disorders.

Many districts in the region have reached a similar conclusion. This year, schools in City, Las Vegas And Boise Areas declare campus grounds and classrooms phone-free.

Others dropped them last year.

“This is the best policy change we have ever made in my 28-year career,” said Jim Foudy, superintendent of the Blaine County School District in Idaho, who Cell phones banned in classrooms last yearbut without the bags.

He said the first year went smoothly. The district did not have to confiscate as many cell phones as expected and there were fewer instances where schools had to intervene in cyberbullying cases. Teachers reported higher class participation.

“We actually had a teacher hired who had several different job offers and said he chose to work for Blaine County because that policy was in place there,” Foudy said.

At Doherty High School, students in Erin Ahnfeld’s English class passed around a ball of yarn to teach a lesson about connections – between each other and the books they read.

Ahnfeld says he feels like he did when he started teaching, before smartphones were everywhere.

“I think it’s a bold move,” he said.

In the first week, he says, he noticed a difference. Last year, when he gave students a break between classes, they reached for their phones. This year, it’s different.

“They just talk to each other,” he said. “It gives the classroom a much stronger sense of community.”

Some students see it differently.

“I really hate this new phone system,” said Eli Howard, a third-year student. He doesn’t think the policy will make students pay more attention in class – those who were already distracted by phones are now putting their heads on the desks.

Howard is also concerned about safety. Earlier that morning, classes were “suspended” due to a possible emergency. That means students are asked to stay in their classrooms and out of the hallways to avoid causing a commotion, which is usually the case with medical emergencies. Everything went well, but in that moment, Howard was scared.

“I thought to myself, ‘Dude, what if there’s someone there and I – my mom and dad – can’t talk to them,'” he said.

Many parents who oppose cellphone bans say they have similar concerns about how to reach their children in an emergency. Doherty High said staff is fully trained in emergency protocols and the district will continue to communicate with parents through mass communication systems.

On the other hand, some students, like Dante Click, say they understand the school’s motivation for restricting cell phone use.

“I don’t think adults are crazy about it. Kids are definitely on their phones too much,” Click said. “But I think it’s going to come back to haunt them.”

Click said some children get frustrated and break the bags.

Many ask Principal Hienton why the school does this.

“I say, ‘I care about you, I care about your education, and I want to make sure you have the tools, skills and competencies that will help you succeed in life,'” she said.

Hienton said cell phones would distract from that success, so the solution for now is to remove them from the equation.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from partner stations throughout the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Society for Public Broadcasting.