Salem Schools To Expand Cell Phone Classroom Ban For 2023-24 Year

SALEM, MA — More Salem Public Schools students will be forced to put away their phones for the upcoming school year as the district expands its cell phone pouch program.

The district began the program at Collins Middle School, New Liberty School and Saltonstall School for students in grades 5 through 8 last fall with Superintendent Steve Zrike saying on Wednesday during his Facebook Live session that the program will expand to include Salem High School when students return next month.

The program involves individual magnetized "pouches" that students are required to place their phones in at the beginning of the school day that then lock shut until the end of the school day.

Zrike said new and improved pouches will be available this fall both for students who participated in the mandatory program last year and for new students at Salem High School. As an early adopter of the program, he said the district was able to secure grant money to expand it.

He said it was determined that while there were some issues with the initial rollout of the program last fall it was ultimately successful and the learning experience across the schools was improved with the elimination of smartphone distractions.

Zrike said last year that the no-phone policy itself is not new in Salem Public Schools, but that the pouches help enforcement.

"Our policy hasn't changed," Zrike said. "We expect cell phones will not be seen during the school day. But that has proven to be challenging for young people who are very addicted — and that includes adults too — to their phones."

In the case of an emergency, parents and guardians are asked to call the school office and someone there will then find the student and communicate the message.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)