Nov. 30 -- It's hard to compete with the addictiveness of smartphones -- especially for Santa Fe educators trying to keep a classroom engaged.

Some say they're fed up, however, with acting as the enforcers of what they call an insufficient new policy and pilot phone pouch program that serves as a disciplinary measure for students who don't stop using their devices.

Several local school districts have made attempts this school year to address cellphone concerns. The Taos Municipal School District has made all high schools phone-free spaces by mandating that all secondary students keep their electronic devices locked in a district-provided, signal-blocking pouch for the duration of the school day.

Santa Fe Public Schools has flirted with the pouch policy, for now adopting it only as a pilot program in some elementary and secondary schools -- and reserving the pouches for students with repeated problems with phone use.

"I think that this has to be a joint effort by parents and students -- they need to meet us halfway in order for this to be successful," said Superintendent Hilario "Larry" Chavez.

The district's policy is partly to appease parents, who have concerns with their children's devices being revoked. But it has left some educators fed up in feeling personally responsible for dealing with an issue beyond their control.

"Over my career, I've watched cell phones ruin the American classroom," Geron Spray, a history teacher at Capital High School, wrote in response to a survey conducted by The New Mexican in November. "It's laughable that district administration is trying to slay this dragon (rather, have teachers slay this dragon) with Yondr Pouches."

Taos pleased with pouches

Cellphone use has gone up dramatically over the last 10 years, with one 2023 study showing 97% of 11- to 17-year-olds reporting using their phone in school, up from 51% of high school students who said the same in 2013. That increase has come much at the chagrin of high school teachers, 72% of whom said phones have become a major problem, according to a survey from Pew Research Center conducted in 2023.

"During COVID, we told our kids, 'Everybody's going to be full-on electronic.' So, how do you undo that? You really can't," said Taos Superintendent Antonio Layton. "You can't go from everybody completely online to nobody online. So when we thought about that process, we wanted it to be a holistic approach."

Layton said the district initially discussed a policy like Santa Fe's, only geared toward repeat offenders, but "we did not want to see this as a punitive measure," Layton said.

"We wanted to use it as a tool to help increase student engagement," he said. "If our kids saw it as punitive in nature, it made [it] a little bit harder to implement. We're not trying to punish you. We're just trying to help you increase your academics."

Layton said the district did hear some concern from parents, but "because of the level of communication we had, and the transition period that we did, we received minimal pushback from parents and community."

That communication included polling community members on their thoughts.

"I think about 80% [of respondents] were parents," Layton said. "What was interesting was the majority said, 'We know phones are a problem. We know there are distractions in the classroom. Just don't take them away from our kids.' "

Following community feedback, the Taos school district determined phones were a larger issue in high schools than elementary schools and moved to adopt the "CellLockED" pouches districtwide as a solution to increase engagement without physically revoking phones. The pouches close and open using a specialized magnetic lock, which students lock at the start of the school day and unlock at the end, with unlocking magnets placed on school buses, in school offices and in classrooms for educators who plan to use phones to aid in instruction.

"For the most part, it has been working," Layton said. "What we were hoping to see and what we have seen is an increase in student engagement, both socially and academically."

Mixed feedback on pouch in Santa Fe

In a social media survey, conducted in November, The New Mexican asked parents, educators and students on their thoughts toward Santa Fe's phone pouches, the Yondr pouch, a different brand than the Taos pouches but with virtually the same function.

Parents brought up familiar concerns about taking away students' property and preventing contact with their child.

"Times have changed, and technology is everywhere in everything we do," said parent Angel Lopez. "... Us parents do fear for our kids safety at school and having that phone on them keeps a sense of security."

Studies show an overwhelming majority of parents agree with Lopez. A 2024 National Parents Union survey reported 78% of parents want their kids to have phones in school because of the potential of an emergency.

Many teachers see it differently, criticizing the pouch policy as one that leaves enforcement in their hands.

"While we teachers are being pounded for not presenting 'engaging' lessons," wrote Capital High teacher Marty Carvlin, "we are competing with the world's best innovators in social media and technology for our students' attention. Students' ambition to advance their skill level and knowledge base is severely compromised by a crippling addiction."

And even some students admit problems surrounding phones.

"I believe the Yondr Pouches could be a good thing," Santa Fe High School ninth grader Emilie Bridges wrote in an email. "Students are always on their phones, even if teachers cannot see them. Students are so disrespectful to their teachers when they ask them to put them away or to give them to them. I think the Yondr Pouches are a good solution, even if you do get a lot of backlash for them."