EPHRATA — Students at the Ephrata High and Ephrata Middle schools will be securing their phones in locked boxes during classes starting this fall. Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray said the move is to help students focus in class. 

“What we are attempting to do is essentially provide our students a tool to be a little bit more successful in following our policies,” Murray said.  

Policies aren’t being updated, but the district has spent about $5,500 to purchase the boxes and get everything set up to protect students’ property and help them focus, a statement from the district said. The district will evaluate how the boxes help students focus and what impacts they have over time before deciding whether to purchase additional phone lockboxes.  

According to a report from the Pew Research Center, about 46% of teens say they are online nearly all the time.  

Another study from Common Sense Media found children 11 to 17 receive well over 200 notifications a day with about a quarter of those received during the school day.  

The district has already tried the lockboxes in a few classrooms and found that the results were promising, Murray said.  

“We did do a pilot at both the middle school and the high school that was really successful (in) just a couple of classrooms at both buildings this spring,” he said. “And from those pilots, decided it would be in our best interest to try to pursue this and see if it’s something that will help our kids be in a situation where some of those disruptions they’re currently experiencing will be minimized.”  

Murray said the district will be listening to feedback from parents and students as the lockboxes are utilized during the upcoming school year.