Last year, Milken started to require students to put their phones in magnet locking pouches called Yondr pouches. This policy, as we all know, is called the Milken Phone-Free Initiative.
According to a survey taken last November, approximately 44% of the student body had positive views on this policy, while 56% did not.
In the subsequent 12 months, however, these views may have changed. While we do not have a new survey, we do have a few student opinions.
“I’m firmly for Yondr pouches,” said Jack Berkett ‘29. “I think they’re amazing and I think they’re helping the school.”
Jack pointed out that the students at Milken have amazing opportunities, and it’d be a shame if people wasted their time on their phones instead of taking advantage of all that Milken has to offer.
On the other hand, Elan Esmaiozadeh ‘28 said “These Yondr pouches are a complete waste of money.” He also said “they should allow you to keep it (your phone) in your backpack, as long as students don’t take it out during school hours.”
That said, Elan does ultimately understand the Phone-Free Initiative: “the reason why they’re doing this is to help people be more social, and I feel like it definitely has done that. I feel it’s a lot better without phones, because you got to be more social.”
Another student, Charlotte Zack ‘29, said that “not having the Yondr would benefit us because… if anything happened… like a fire or a large earthquake… what if we wouldn’t be able to update our parents that we’re okay?”
Through the course of the last school year, Milken seemed to have become less strict with the phone-free policy. But this fall, according to many students, school administrators are taking a stricter approach.
“They’ve been checking more,” Elan, referring to the faculty and administrators who check students’ Yondr pouches every morning. According to Elan, they want “to put more pressure on you to do it (put your phone in your Yondr)”.
School officials, however, feel differently.
“It’s not that it’s stricter, it’s just that we are enforcing the policy more this year,” said Mr. Rainer, Division 11-12 Dean & House Leader.
Milken isn’t the only school with a phone-free policy. Many other schools have different approaches for getting rid of phones on campus.
Geffen Academy at UCLA, a 6-12 school, has a cellphone policy that’s very similar to Milken’s. Geffen students use Yondr pouches, but seniors are allowed to use their phones at school. The logic? Seniors will have cellphone access in college and need to learn to use their phones in a professional environment.
Would Milken ever consider an approach like this? According to Mr. Rainer, probably not.
“I think they’re gonna stay right where we are,” he said, referring to Milken’s cellphone rules.
Shalhevet High School, another area school, takes a different approach: it requires students to check their phones into lockers at the beginning of the school day instead of using Yondr pouches. This would most likely not work at Milken since there’s no clear way to enforce a policy like this, especially with the amount of students at Milken.
Many other smaller schools, like Pressman Academy middle school, also use phone lockers.
“I prefer Milken’s policy, because that way I can actually have my phone on me.” Charlotte, who attended Pressman last year.
As for how Milken will deal with the Phone-Free Initiative in the future, it is still unknown whether the rules will become less strict or stay the same. It seems, however, that faculty is trying to keep the strictness of rules at the same level throughout the year, and possibly even for the years to come.
“If we start getting a lot more phone infractions, meaning students have their phones outside their Yondr pouches,” said Mr. Rainer, “then it might get to a point where we’re, you know, having to be a little more strict about it.”