Not every middle and high school student in Killeen ISD has received a cell phone case yet, but that day will come soon, KISD officials say.
According to Susan Buckley, an assistant superintendent at KISD, all campuses have received the sealable bags since last week and “distribution is currently underway.”
For years, the school district didn’t allow students to use personal cell phones during class, but that didn’t stop students. The bags are designed to help with that, and students are required to keep their phones in their bags from the time they arrive at school until the end of the school day.
KISD Superintendent Jo Ann Fey described the introduction of the new procedure at all secondary schools as follows:
“Each school principal will have different priorities when it comes to allocating the bags and implementing the new program,” Fey said.
According to Buckley, all bags will be allocated by September 3, with appropriate procedures being implemented on all secondary campuses.
“Officially, after Labor Day, we expect all students to follow the rules and ensure that phones, smart watches, and AirPods/earbuds are not used during school hours,” Buckley said.
The plan was presented to Killeen School Board members at a meeting on May 28, and the board supported the new procedures.
A magnetic closure accessible to school staff allows the bags to be opened quickly so students can retrieve their phones.
KISD purchased about 20,000 bags from Yondr, a California company, for about $500,000 in federal Title I funds that must be spent on new programs.
Buckley said some schools give out the bags when students arrive and collect them at the end of the day, while others assign them to students through a barcode system, similar to how one receives a textbook at the beginning of the school year. And like with a lost textbook, if the cell phone bag is lost, KISD will charge a fee to replace it. That cost is $25.50 per bag, the same cost KISD pays for them, officials said.
Regardless of the approach, there is agreement among school officials that the rules will be followed and that students who decide to break the rules will face consequences.
According to the district, students were proactively educated on the new expectations and practiced school-specific procedures from day one. School leaders are already reporting increased student engagement in class and more positive interactions during lunch periods.
“While enrollment numbers are still fluctuating and not all students bring phones to school, we are ready to support our more than 20,000 secondary students in KISD as they transition to this new policy,” Buckley said.
Locally, a mother who attends a middle school is not convinced that the program will work.
“But we’ll try,” said Cindy Burke. Her 16-year-old son Trevor thinks it’s too easy to cheat.
“Children are already being given disposable cell phones with the promise that they will put them in their pockets rather than in the phone they are using,” Trevor said.
Killeen ISD administration says while there are ways to get around the system, the idea is to make sure phones aren’t used during the school day. This year’s KISD student handbook includes the procedure, which also comes with consequences.
“I’m not thrilled about leaving work to go to school and get my kid’s phone if he gets caught,” said the mother of a Chaparral High School student. “But at the same time, he knows he shouldn’t be taking his phone out at school anyway.”
Buckley has asked the community via email and other KISD communications to “give this some time.”
“We will be monitoring the use of the bags and some of the issues with the implementation of the program,” Buckley said. “In a few months we will see what progress has been made and what we need to focus on.”
