How a North Texas school is breaking students' phone habits using "phone lockers"

CBS News

14-04-2025

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Educators know that capturing students' attention in the classroom is harder than ever — and they say it's in part because of phones.
One school in Willow Park has seen success through a pilot program that's getting students to forget about their mobile devices using what they're calling "phone lockers."
Trinity Christian Academy said it's on the forefront of a nationwide movement. Students start their mornings with a quick pit stop to phone lockers.
"We were definitely upset about it. We were like, they are taking our phones away our senior year," Anna Nelson, a student at TCA, said.
The school's new initiative kicked off this year: All students must leave their phones in their cars or locked up outside the classroom, where no chimes, dings or any alert can be heard.
Slowly but surely, students learned to live without their devices.
"I had a habit back in the day where I was just constantly like every day after class, grab my pocket, check my phone, and then like scroll and look at everything. Now, I never even have the instinct to. Even at home, it's gone away mostly," Jonas O'Dell, a junior at TCA, said.
And in the classroom, teachers said they've seen a drastic change.
"It's just night and day difference. They are engaged. Grades have gone up 2-3 points overall. It takes a lot of the battle between student and teacher off the table," TCA teacher Candice Gables said.
Another teacher, Christy Creasy, agreed.
"They're not trying to make TikToks in the hall or wanting to make them in the classrooms," Creasy said. "I've seen more laughter. I'm seeing a lot more talking going on this year than I have in the past."
TCA leaders also believe this is more than about battling phone distractions.
Social media can stir anxieties and insecurities in children. Secondary principal Jesse Whiteaker said this is about being proactive.
"I think it's the way of the future. I think a day of reckoning will be coming sooner rather than later, where the adults will look back and say, 'Boy, we really didn't nail this one, and how did we let this happen?'" Whiteaker said.
What's the most unexpected benefit from getting off the screens? Newfound friendships.
"Our entire grade now, we used to sit at like three different tables all around the lunchroom. Now our entire grade sits at one table together. Everyone does. We're just growing in unity together," O'Dell said.
For other schools thinking about implementing a program like this, principals told CBS News Texas' Lacey Beasley that the best way is to be clear with students beforehand.
This is also a means to an end. The end goal is to return students' phones to them, but this time, with less dependency.