According to reporting by Peter Vo at Rocky Mountain PBS, teachers in Aurora no longer have to compete with small, rectangular screens vying for their students’ attention.
This school year, Mrachek Middle School implemented a no cellphone policy for students, one of eight pilot schools in the Aurora Public Schools system testing new phone policies to finalize its district-wide cellphone policies by the summer.
Last year, state lawmakers passed House Bill 25-1135, requiring all Colorado school districts (except non-district charter schools) to adopt, implement, and publish policies concerning “communication devices” during the school day. School districts must meet this deadline before July 1, 2026.
The Boulder Valley School District voted in November 2024 to ban cellphones during school hours at its high school campuses, as school districts across the state have been working on banning phones or putting restrictions on phones in schools since 2019.
Aurora Public Schools implemented Yondr pouches at three schools in the district last school year: Murphy Creek P-8, Columbia Middle School, and Aurora Hills. These magnetic pouches lock up phones to reduce distractions and create phone-free spaces. They are popular at comedy shows, concert venues, and schools. Although the New York Times reported last month that the pouches are no match for teenage ingenuity.
At the beginning of this current school year, all six middle schools in Aurora Public Schools, including Mrachek, started using the pouches. Two P-8 schools are participating as well.
Aurora Public Schools received $50,000 from a grant awarded by Attorney General Weiser to help schools test their cell phone policies, and they paid a total of $123,564 to implement the Yondr pouches in its middle schools, enforcing bell-to-bell cellphone bans. Students come to school with a Yondr pouch. When the school day starts, they slip their phones into the pouches before staff members lock them with magnets. The phones stay in pouches throughout the school day, and staff members unlock them when students leave school.
While many parents have concerns about reaching their children in emergencies if students can’t access their phones throughout the day, it is actually safer for students to pay attention and follow protocols put in place by building leaders in emergency situations rather than to utilize their phones, according to Marissa Vasquez, operations director for middle schools at Aurora.
Lawmakers and school districts alike point to many studies, indicating that with the rise of social media usage, adolescents are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, or loneliness.
Until the end of the year, Aurora Public Schools will continue to develop and solidify its policy for the next academic year.
