What you need to know:

• Three Mat-Su schools — Palmer Junior Middle School, Palmer High School, and Su-Valley Jr./Sr. High School — will implement a one-year pilot program requiring students to lock their cellphones in school-issued pouches during the school day. The program will start Sept. 9.
• The pouches, which use a magnet system, will keep phones inaccessible until students exit the building. Phones must remain in the pouches throughout the day, including during lunch and passing periods. Students whose phones double as medical devices will be issued non-locking cases. The pouches can be cut open during an emergency, and parents can contact their students via the school when needed, officials said.
• The program aims to improve student attention, behavior, and engagement by eliminating cellphone distractions, district officials said.

PALMER -- Students at three Mat-Su schools will be blocked from all cellphone access during the school day and required to lock their devices in school-issued pouches as part of a new pilot program aimed at improving student learning.

The program will run at Palmer Junior Middle School, Palmer High School, and Su-Valley Jr./Sr. High School, starting Sept. 9, officials said. It will run for at least one year and impact about 1,500 students. The plan was announced by district administrators to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District board Wednesday during a planning retreat and in an email sent Friday to parents of students at those schools.  

Under the program, students’ phones will be locked in specially designed pouches using a magnet system that can only be unlocked at designated stations near building exits, officials said. Students will be required to place their phones in the pouches when they enter the school building and may not remove them until they leave, officials said.

Students will be allowed to keep their phones with them during the day as long as they remain in the pouches at all times, including during passing periods and lunch, officials said. In an emergency, the pouches can be cut open with a knife or scissors, district officials said. If a parent needs to reach their child during the day, they can call the school, Palmer High Principal David Booth said in an email to parents.

Students whose phones double as medical devices, such as glucose monitors, can be issued non-locking cases, district officials said. It was not immediately clear how the new policy will apply to other student-owned devices, such as smartwatches.

The pilot program will test whether a no-device policy can improve student attention and behavior, Assistant Superintendent Katie Gardner told the school board Wednesday. Other school districts have seen significant improvements in student engagement as a result of similar policies, she said.

“We’re excited to see what we’re able to do if cellphones are put away,” she said. “We know not everyone’s going to love this program, which is why we’re piloting it at three schools.”

The pouches cost the district about $25 each, officials said. Administration officials did not respond to a request for information about the total cost of the pilot program. The pouches are sold by Yondr, a company that provides phone-lock systems to schools and venues, according to the company’s website.

Like other district-issued items, students will be required to bring the pouches to and from school, officials said.

Palmer and Su-Valley schools were chosen for the pilot program because of interest from their administrators, Reese Everett, an associate superintendent for instruction for the Mat-Su school district, said in an interview Wednesday.

Unlocking the pouches at the end of the school day will not disrupt the flow of dismissal because each school will have several unlocking stations, district spokesperson John Notestine said in an email.

“These stations will be strategically placed to prevent congestion and long lines and allow students to unlock their bags quickly and efficiently,” he said.

Most district schools already have rules banning phone use during class time, but students often find ways around them, Everett said. Completely blocking the devices not only solves that problem but also extends the ban throughout the day.

“What this pilot will do is extend that to common times, passing times, lunchtime, break times—all in an effort to mitigate that distraction and provide an opportunity for our young people to do what so many of us did when we were in school, which is have face-to-face conversations without that third piece that could be distracting,” he said.

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.