Cellphone ban gets good reception at Uniontown school
Lafayette students pilot Yondr pouch program
Lafayette Middle School students were given an early taste of what life might be like for all Pennsylvania students soon.
For the last two months of the school year, the school tried a pilot program where students could not access their cellphones during the day, Superintendent Daniel Bosnic said at Monday’s Uniontown Area School Board meeting.
Bosnic said through a grant, the district had purchased Yondr pouches, lockable fabric cases for electronics that can only be unlocked by school staff. Students placed their phones in the pouches at the beginning of the day and got them back after the final bell rang.
“It was a great opportunity for us to really pilot those and see what it could look like on a small scale at Lafayette Middle School, and I’ve been very pleased with the results,” Bosnic said.
Students, after early skepticism, responded well to the change, Bosnic said. And a survey of staff conducted at the end of the year was overwhelmingly positive.
“We felt like there was more engagement with our students as a result of those cellphones being in those pouches,” he said after the meeting. “…It felt like there was a positive impact on student learning, so that was exciting.”
The Pennsylvania House and Senate both passed bills this year that would restrict students’ access to cellphones and other mobile devices during the day with minimal exceptions, such as students with medical conditions. The bills still need to be reconciled into a final version that would go to Gov. Josh Shapiro for his signature.
Shapiro has signaled he would back the bill. He called on the General Assembly to send a bell-to-bell ban to his desk earlier this year, saying it would “get distractions out of the classroom and create a healthier environment in our schools.”
Also Monday, the district approved the final version of its 2026-27 budget. The district planned for $59,243,048 in revenues versus expenditures of $61,903,874. The fund balance is projected to be $2,726,560 at the end of the coming fiscal year.
In May, the board approved an increase in next year’s millage rate from 18.76 mills to 19.64 mills.
Revenues were about 3.6% higher than in the preliminary budget approved last month, while expenses were up by 0.4%.
Bosnic said the numbers would continue to be in flux.
“We’re sitting at a $2.7 million fund balance right here, but we recognize we have a lot of challenges ahead, we have a lot of obstacles in front of us … the debt that’s in front of our district is significant, and so every day it’s looking at those different things to become solvent as a district financially,” he said.