Westfield High School Assistant Principal Andrew Joseph and Instructional Technology Coordinator Brian Dutko informed the School Committee on Jan. 5 that the pilot program for a new schoolwide cell phone policy for Westfield High School will begin later this month.
The pilot program the school will be implementing is an app-based solution called Doorman, a start-up by young entrepreneurs that allows the use of the core functions of a student’s cell phone along with educational apps and medical tools and blocks social media or “high-dopamine” apps such as Tik-Tok, Snapchat and Instagram. “It allows everything to work except what we don’t want it to,” Joseph said.
“Doorman is a startup, very nimble and responsive. We worked with them to develop an approach that will make this work,” Joseph said. The pilot will begin in 15 classrooms at the end of the month, and if all goes well, will roll out to the school community by the end of the school year.
Students in the pilot will download Doorman and tap into it as they enter and exit their classrooms, which will be equipped with an NFC tag on the wall. During passing periods and lunch, students will have full functionality of their phones.
Joseph and Dutko said students use medical applications to check their blood sugar and use Google Classroom and Google Suite all the time on their phones, all of which will still be permitted. They will also be able to use a calculator and flashlight, which are core to the phones’ functions.
Families feel it is a safety issue and have indicated a strong desire for students to retain their phones for safety and emergencies. Students will be able to make and receive phone calls while in Doorman, and although texting will be disabled in the classroom, students will be able to receive SMS messages if their parents want to reach them.
Success at the end of the year will be measured by a reduction in disciplinary referrals related to devices, teacher feedback and feedback from the community regarding students’ experiences. The pilot will run through the end of the school year.
Dutko said Doorman is fully implemented in Watertown, and when he and Joseph visited that school in December, he saw no students on their cell phones. Joseph said there is a long waiting list of hundreds of schools that want to pilot Doorman.
Patrick Cui, one of the founders of Doorman, will speak to faculty this week about the pilot program, and Joseph will be presenting the program to students. “It’s super important that they’re involved. The big thing for us is making sure the kids understand the environment we’re introducing this in,” Joseph said, referring to a state law to ban cell phones in schools bell-to-bell that is expected to pass this year. He said Doorman is essentially a digital lock, and with it, the school will be in compliance with the new law.
There will also be an informational session on Doorman for families of students at WHS who have questions about the whole process on Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium at Westfield High School.
“We’re excited to try this out. It’s going to be a great balance between limiting what takes kids’ attention away in class and giving them a chance to responsibly use something that’s ingrained in modern life,” Joseph said.
At the School Committee meeting, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the cost per student of Doorman is one-fifth the cost of supplying students with a Yondr locked pouch. “Pouches don’t work. Students bring an old phone and put it in their bag,” he said, adding later that there are now smart watches, smart rings and smart glasses. “You have to keep up with the technology.”
Westfield High School Principal Charles Jendrysik said using Doorman will help with consistency in cell phone policy among all teachers. “This levels the playing field,” he said.
After the meeting, Czaporowski said taking phones away from students puts the school in a position to be financially responsible for them. He said this solution is a way for kids to learn responsible cell phone use in the same way as during college classes and at work.
“This is just a pilot; we hope it’s successful. Once we do our survey and collect the data, we’ll see if there are fewer disciplinary incidents. This takes the responsibility off the teacher. They can still use their pouches, but it’s one less thing they really would have to worry about. The biggest concern of parents and students is being able to get in touch,” Czaporowski said.