Westfield wants to keep kids focused on the classroom, but also prepare them for the workplaces and college classrooms they\u2019ll head off to in a few years, said Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski.<\/p>\n
\u201cCell phones are a reality,\u201d Czaporowski said in an interview Monday as the new technology was being implemented. \u201cI think responsible use has to be our goal. We\u2019d like to make this a teaching opportunity and not something punitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Andrew Joseph, an assistant principal at Westfield High School, said the school is not making students download the app.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are plenty of other ways to do this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But making students put their phones in a box doesn\u2019t really teach them anything. With Doorman, their phones are still with them, just in a less capable and less addictive state.<\/p>\n
![\"Doorman\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CLPCS5MHMNBOJJ6RSDPY4455UA.jpg\")
Westfield High School Assistant Principal Andrew Joseph has been in charge of the introduction of the app Doorman. Doorman blocks high-dopamine apps like Tik-Tok and Snapchat while a phone’s owner is in class. (Douglas Hook \/ The Republican)Douglas Hook<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids have to exercise some choice,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cThey still have to decide how they are going to handle a situation. Whereas locking their phone in a box robs them of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The communities of West Springfield, Chicopee and elsewhere use Yondr pouches to keep student phones inaccessible during the day. <\/p>\n
But Czaporowski said students can thwart the Yondr pouches by putting in an old, unused phone. And Yondr pouches cost $25. The school is paying Doorman $5 a student.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a significant cost savings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Monday was only the second day of the Doorman experiment, said Joseph. So far, 200 students had tapped into the system as of Monday and 13 classrooms are enabled with the technology.<\/p>\n
A big job Monday was getting the high school\u2019s scheduling software to communicate with the Doorman app. That\u2019s how the app knows a student is in class and not in a study hall, lunch or another place where full cell phone use would be allowed.<\/p>\n
![\"Doorman\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7MKO6SOO5NGITA7M6WVNSJWJTM.jpg\")
These cards are placed near the entrance of a classroom at Westfield High School for students to scan as they enter. Doorman is an app that will block high-dopamine apps like Tik-Tok and Snapchat while in class. Feb. 2, 2026. (Douglas Hook \/ The Republican)Douglas Hook<\/p>\n
Czaporowski said cutting off all connectivity is impractical. Doing so interferes with some educational programs, like Google Classroom. And some students depend on their phones to help manage medical conditions, for example by checking their blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n
On top of that, parents object to total phone blackouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey still want to be able to contact their children during the school day,\u201d Czaporowski said.<\/p>\n
Doorman, a New York startup founded last year by a pair of California-trained tech entrepreneurs, offers educators the ability to block what it calls the \u201chigh-dopamine\u201d apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. <\/p>\n
It works by creating a VPN, or virtual private network, said Brian Dutko, Westfield schools\u2019 instructional technology coordinator.<\/p>\n
Doorman works through an NFC, or near field communication tag, on the wall of the classroom. Students tap into the system as they enter.<\/p>\n
The Doorman blocks web-based applications inside the classroom but not in all school areas, including lunch periods. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is something loaded on the phone, it will work,\u201d Dutko said. \u201cBut then if it goes to load something new, it just stops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s iMessage won\u2019t work. But SMS, or the short message service texts that use cellular networks, will go through.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tested it out Friday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And how are the kids doing?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think they are super happy,\u201d Dutko said. \u201cThey understand this is a compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Doorman\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ERW3EKXOSNFNPAZSDHML2ZR55M.jpg\")
Westfield High School is piloting an app called Doorman to help students better focus while in class. (Douglas Hook \/ The Republican)Douglas Hook<\/p>\n
Students at Watertown High School are also adjusting to the use of Doorman, said Joel Giacobozzi, the school\u2019s principal.<\/p>\n
Watertown was the first high school to use Doorman starting this fall for the 2025-26 school year. Today, there are only about 10 schools with Doorman, Giacobozzi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were piloting it while they were building it,\u201d Giacobozzi said.<\/p>\n
Since starting use of the app, the 750 students at Watertown High are more engaged in the classroom. Not everyone uses it. Some students don\u2019t have phones and others turn them in at the office every morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s given us the ability to focus on instruction and not on monitoring cell phone use,\u201d Giacobozzi said. \u201cAll we ask for is 56 minutes of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
And they are getting it.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids are talking more in the classroom,\u201d Giacobozzi said. \u201cKids feel it\u2019s a healthy balance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WESTFIELD \u2013 The hottest TikTok video? A shoutout on Snapchat? The Instagram post with the funniest meme? Blocked,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[214083,5021,214084,214085,165,12074,74,28783,214086],"class_list":{"0":"post-458222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-andrew-joseph","9":"tag-application","10":"tag-assistant-principal","11":"tag-doorman-app","12":"tag-mobile","13":"tag-phones","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-the-republican","16":"tag-westfield-high-school"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}