Miller’s students are among the roughly 2,100 in the school district who are a part of the district’s new device policy for MSGA and Marietta Middle School.
Instead of keeping cell phones and smartwatches inside their backpacks, as the students who came before them had for years, Marietta students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade are locking their tech in personal pouches throughout the day.
The pouches are locked by the time the school day begins, and opened with special magnets retained by staff shortly before the final bell rings. Those magnets are stored in safes that sit inside each classroom.
The new policy was approved by the Marietta Board of Education in June, at the request of Superintendent Grant Rivera. The board’s unanimous vote allocated $100,000 to purchase the pouches and magnets.
MSGA Principal Keynun Campbell said just three days into the school year, the pouches have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from staff, parents and even the students.
“The students, I’m very proud of them, because I think they understand the need to be able to put those distractions away and focus on the purpose of being here at school ... My hope is that this will be an opportunity for our students not just to refocus here at school, but also refocus outside of school,” Campbell said.
One of those students is Sloane Ford, who has attended school in Marietta since kindergarten.
When Ford first heard about the new policy, she was worried about being able to reach her mom in case of emergency without her smartwatch. But after her mom, Ella Ford, assured her that staff would be ready to assist, the sixth grader relaxed.
“I had kinda mixed feelings. I was sad because I wouldn’t have my Apple Watch on me if I needed to contact my parents, but my mom told me I could go to the nurse’s office and ask if I could call my parents if I needed my mom,” she said.
Some perks of the new policy, Ford said, is less need for discipline in the classroom related to phones and a renewed focus on real, face-to-face socializing. Instead of sneaking glances at their devices during lunch and other breaks, Ford said, students are forging new friendships.
“I met a new friend at lunch,” she said, smiling. “It was nice to meet somebody new for the school year.”
Positive social change is just one of the benefits that MSGA teacher Tiffany Samimi has noticed so far this year. Samimi, who teaches English and Language Arts to students who are not native English speakers, has been an educator in the district for six years.
“I would say the social interaction from day one was better than it has been. Participation, focus on me. It’s nice to know I don’t have to compete with Instagram,” Samimi said.
Samimi, Miller and Campbell all said they hope grades and test scores rise at MSGA as a result of the policy. They all also said they believe restricted access to social media will help students’ mental health.
Improved mental health was one of Superintendent Grant Rivera’s goals when creating the policy. When the superintendent first pitched the pouches to the school board in May, he presented some alarming statistics.
The average middle school student receives a median of 240 notifications a day and spends roughly 43 minutes on their phone during the school day, according to a study from the University of Michigan.
The U.S. surgeon general released data showing in children aged 12 to 15, the risk of depression and anxiety doubles when they spend more than three hours a day on social media.
“Cellphones and social media have become a catalyst for other types of things that, from a safety and security standpoint, we don’t want in our schools,” Rivera said in May. “... I don’t want any child comparing themselves to an Instagram or Snapchat filter.”
Miller said without a phone in their pocket or backpack buzzing throughout the day, she has already seen an improved focus among her students, who are still working to academically recover from COVID.
“We really struggled in school, especially after COVID, when kids were on social media ... We knew in our classrooms that (students) were being notified even if (devices) were (away). They could hear the buzzing, or feel it in their pocket, and they were just anxious to go see what somebody sent them or what came on social media,” Miller said.
Miller, who has been a teacher for 34 years, 17 of those in Marietta, said when she heard about the pouches she was more than ready to see them in action.
“Not soon enough,” she said.
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