School officials laud success of restricting cellphone use

Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education members received an update on the effectiveness of the newly implemented cellphone pouches during Monday's meeting.

After 10 weeks of utilizing the product at the high school, Cape Central principal Nancy Scheller provided data pointing toward a positive change in the classroom because students aren't being distracted by their phones. The pouches prevent students from accessing their cellphones during the school day.

"This, for me, is my favorite part. If you come to our cafeteria, if you walk in our hallways -- if you had seen it prior -- the amount of eye contact, the amount of conversation and laughter (has increased)," Scheller said. "Our noise level is louder in the cafeteria and the hallways, which is fabulous."

According to survey results from 53 of Cape Central's 79 staff members, 52 (98.1%) "agreed" or "strongly agreed" the program -- YONDR -- helps reduce classroom distractions and has enhanced the level of teaching and learning in their respective classrooms. Furthermore, student-to-teacher and student-to-student social interactions have been positively impacted.

The survey also showed 50 (94.4%) staff members have noticed an improvement in student engagement, feel their overall effectiveness in the classroom has increased and believe the program has helped create a more focused and conducive learning environment for students. Overall, 51 of the 53 surveyed believe the program has had a positive impact. One response out of the 53 possible answered "strongly disagree" on every question.

In addition to the staff survey, a YONDR team assessment showed 3% or fewer of students had tampered with the pouches. According to the district's deputy superintendent Dr. Brice Beck, YONDR reported a standard tampering assessment is usually between 7% and 9%.

"They said we had a flawless implementation at CHS in large part due to the support of our staff and our team there," Beck said.

While Scheller admitted it might not be because of the pouches, she reported 96 referrals that resulted in students receiving an out-of-school suspension or in-school suspension through the first 10 weeks of the second semester, which is a decrease of approximately 13.4% from the 146 referrals in 2023.

"That's a big deal. We want our kids in school," Scheller said. "I can't say, obviously, it all relates to the YONDR pouch and a cellphone-free campus, but it is the only big thing that we changed so it is very positive."

In addition to Scheller, two of the high school's educators, family and consumer sciences teacher Kim Newman and chemistry teacher Kelley Dupes, also spoke positively of what they're seeing in Cape Central's phone-free classrooms.

"There's a lot less drama in class because they're not texting each other in class about something that happened," Dupes said. "When we have issues that happened in the hallways, it's not being carried on to class because they're not still talking about it. I have a lot less missing assignments because kids are focused in class."

"I'm loving the face-to-face contact and conversations that my students are having," Newman said. "The first day, we had survived to fifth hour, because at the beginning of the day, some of them literally didn't know if they would survive. I kind of felt panicked for them, because I knew they were oozing the panic. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, are we going to be able to do this?' Anyway, the kids sat down and looked face to face, and I heard two young ladies introduce themselves to each other with their first names, their last names, what grade they were in and why they were taking the class. My heart was just singing."

In other business, board members announced no change in tuition costs for the Career and Technology Center. They also approved a new street law and justice course at Cape Central Academy.