SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Yankton’s Superintendent praised students’ use of phones after the officer-involved shooting on school grounds last week during a school board meeting Monday.
On Dec. 5, police shot Andrew Hondahl, 40, multiple times in the high school parking lot after a wrestling triangular between Yankton, Watertown and Beresford/Alcester-Hudson. At the time, there were still students and attendees in the school.
Superintendent Wayne Kindle said students were gathered in the theater before being allowed to leave. During Monday’s school board meeting, he commended students who used their phones to communicate with their parents.
“One of the first things I told them was ‘Get your phones out and I want you to either text or call your parents and tell them that you’re safe and tell them where you’re at.’ We won’t release you until we’re able to do so. We will update you and you can update them as we move along,” Kindle said.
He acknowledged that phone use in schools is a controversial topic right now, but added that “if you teach kids when to use them and the right way to use them, they’ll do that.”
Schools throughout South Dakota have begun cracking down on phone use in the classrooms, some even requiring students to put their phones in locked, magnetic pouches during the school day.
In July, KELOLAND News spoke with Gettysburg Superintendent Amber Mikkelsen about why her district opted for the locked pouches. She said the goal for the phone policy is to help minimize distractions, improve mental health and encourage students to interact with one another.
During an emergency situation, Mikkelsen said the lack of phones would help create less chaos for students.
“That way we don’t have to have unnecessary panic and things until we know exactly what the situation is that we’re dealing with,” she said. “… As soon as we know what the situation is or what’s going on, then we will make sure that those pouches are unlocked as when we feel it’s appropriate.”
It’s worth noting that the Yankton shooting happened at 8 p.m. in the parking lot after a sporting event and most no phone policies are for school hours when students are in class.
According to the South Dakota Department of Education’s student enrollment data from fall 2023, Yankton School District had 3,086 students. Yankton High School made up 962 of those students. Gettysburg School District had 220 enrolled students; 123 of those were middle and high school students.
“I give a lot of credit to our students that night for them communicating with their parents,” Kindle said. He added that the students “shared their phones with others that didn’t have [one]. It was a great, quick way to communicate.”
Yankton School Board President Sarah Carda mentioned during the Monday meeting that she “thinks its odd” she learned about the shooting from her “daughter who heard it from a friend who heard it from her grandma that was in there.”
Carda still thanked the staff and law enforcement involved in keeping “the safety of our students and community first at hand.”
