Starting at the end of October, students can now receive a replacement Yondr pouch if their school-provided pouch was lost, stolen, or damaged. After several months of delays getting the replacement pouches, they can now be picked up from the school bank. 

When the new cellphone policy was implemented at the start of the school year, many students tried to evade the policy by breaking open their pouches, resulting in broken pouches that wouldn’t lock anymore. When a student is found with a broken, unlocked Yondr pouch, the pouch is typically taken away from them.

The administration estimates that around 180 students no longer have their original Yondr pouch, because that is around the number of cellphones typically in the phone lockers – an alternative place to store your phone during the school day.

However, that number could be higher as many students with damaged Yondr pouches choose to leave their phone at home, in a friend’s pouch, or in their car due to excessively long lines to get their phones out of the phone lockers. 

One anonymous senior, who broke her Yondr pouch on the first day of school, said her “Yondr pouch was taken from [her] and [she’s] had to leave [her] phone at home because the lines for the phone lockers were so long it made it hard to make [her] bus.” She was forced to order a new Yondr pouch off Ebay because it was no longer sustainable to continue leaving her phone at home. 

Despite the long delay in getting replacement pouches for students, replacements are now available. In order to get a replacement, students need to fill out the form found on Canvas and pay the $40 replacement fee. Then, students can pick up their replacement from the school bank on Tuesdays or Thursdays by showing their receipt. 

So far, the rollout of the process has been successful. Communications Director Jessica Lawrence estimated that around 28 replacement pouches were ordered in the first week, with 18 already having been picked up from the school bank.

Principal Sah Brown emphasized that ordering a replacement is not a requirement; instead, students can elect to continue placing their phone in the phone lockers. Brown said, “our approach to comply with the cellphone policy is to allow students not to have to pay” if they don’t want to, which is why students were provided with a free pouch at the start of the year. •