Parent advocates who lobbied for Away All Day phone policy feel blindsided, ignored by new MCPS phone policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

It’s not “severe” anything if you went to Yale.

Dp. Adhd is not a disorder of inattentive. It's a disorder of attention. People with adhd can easily hyperfocus on a subject for 20 hours a day, months or even years at a time. Even to the exclusion of eating sleeping and self care. People with adhd are very often the most successful people in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The phone absolutists obviously have high school children with perfect memories!

No reminders needed that there's a dentist appointment, the kid has to hurry home to let the dog out, their lunch was left on the kitchen counter, they should pick up a gallon of milk on the way home ... and so on. A text, which can be reviewed during passing or lunch is helpful for these things!

You do understand the phone can still notify you of those things when it's turned back on at the end of the school day.

As for support apps, that's just a matter of synching home/school technology. This ain't brain surgery.
If mcps fixed it's technology problem, phones wouldn't need to be added as yet another layer of frustration.
You Canvas should remind you of your upcoming test on your Chromebook the same way it should on your phone. They're just different interfaces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The phone absolutists obviously have high school children with perfect memories!

No reminders needed that there's a dentist appointment, the kid has to hurry home to let the dog out, their lunch was left on the kitchen counter, they should pick up a gallon of milk on the way home ... and so on. A text, which can be reviewed during passing or lunch is helpful for these things!

You do understand the phone can still notify you of those things when it's turned back on at the end of the school day.

As for support apps, that's just a matter of synching home/school technology. This ain't brain surgery.
If mcps fixed it's technology problem, phones wouldn't need to be added as yet another layer of frustration.
You Canvas should remind you of your upcoming test on your Chromebook the same way it should on your phone. They're just different interfaces

*hardware not interface

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

It’s not “severe” anything if you went to Yale.

Dp. Adhd is not a disorder of inattentive. It's a disorder of attention. People with adhd can easily hyperfocus on a subject for 20 hours a day, months or even years at a time. Even to the exclusion of eating sleeping and self care. People with adhd are very often the most successful people in the world.

Oh ok - so now a “severe disability” is that you are really successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The phone absolutists obviously have high school children with perfect memories!

No reminders needed that there's a dentist appointment, the kid has to hurry home to let the dog out, their lunch was left on the kitchen counter, they should pick up a gallon of milk on the way home ... and so on. A text, which can be reviewed during passing or lunch is helpful for these things!

You do understand the phone can still notify you of those things when it's turned back on at the end of the school day.

As for support apps, that's just a matter of synching home/school technology. This ain't brain surgery.
If mcps fixed it's technology problem, phones wouldn't need to be added as yet another layer of frustration.
You Canvas should remind you of your upcoming test on your Chromebook the same way it should on your phone. They're just different interfaces

+1 multiple texts from home during the school day on a regular basis is unnecessary and distracting. Kids would benefit from parents figuring out how to get their kids to remember these things without a text message. Maybe a note in their backpack if they really need a reminder. As someone who hates getting non-urgent texts during the work day, I'm appalled parents feel they not only want to text their kids during school but have to. Smh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

Has there been a dip in diabetes-related deaths/complications since the advent of the smart phone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

You don't need a phone to use a glucose monitor. There are receivers that tell you your blood sugar. Continuous glucose monitors existed before smart phone apps integrated with them.

NP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

You don't need a phone to use a glucose monitor. There are receivers that tell you your blood sugar. Continuous glucose monitors existed before smart phone apps integrated with them.

NP.

Are you saying kids with diabetes shouldn't have access to phones during the school day because there are other methods to get the information?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this whole phone thread is delulu.

HS kids use their phones for all the same things adults do - arrange meetings, complete work, stay on schedule, arrange transportation, stay connected to work opportunities, and use in emergencies, etc. I would no more expect my kid to go without a phone than I would do myself.

Also, my kid’s school has had 2 serious lockdowns due to shooter threats. I want my kids to have a phone with them at all times in case of emergency - even during the school day.

I'm a teacher. We had an emergency lockdown a year ago, and at no point did I think "ah yes, a bunch of 16 year olds with cell phones would make this situation better right now."

Directing students in an emergency is hard enough without having the distraction of their cell phones and their parents giving them directions that may run counter to what we need to do in the moment. Students (and adults) need to be as alert and vigilant as possible in these situations, and trying to shoot off texts or get in touch with parents, friends, etc. runs very contrary to that. Not to mention the inevitable lit screens, and ringing/vibrating/beeping phones giving away to anyone listening that there are people in the room. We are supposed to turn off the lights, hide, and sit as silently as humanly possible. Cell phones are a hindrance to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

You don't need a phone to use a glucose monitor. There are receivers that tell you your blood sugar. Continuous glucose monitors existed before smart phone apps integrated with them.

NP.

Are you saying kids with diabetes shouldn't have access to phones during the school day because there are other methods to get the information?

I'd be fine with that being the policy, but mostly explaining what they did before smart phones.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a T1 diabetic who uses her smart phone to monitor glucose, and she has it in her 504 plan that she can have her phone on her. It's important. BUT the diabetes rate in the juvenile population is like 0.002% - not even an average of 1 kid per MCPS high school. So, the BuT tHe KiDs wItH DiSaBiLitiEs!!! argument for why phones need to be allowed doesn't hold a ton of water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a T1 diabetic who uses her smart phone to monitor glucose, and she has it in her 504 plan that she can have her phone on her. It's important. BUT the diabetes rate in the juvenile population is like 0.002% - not even an average of 1 kid per MCPS high school. So, the BuT tHe KiDs wItH DiSaBiLitiEs!!! argument for why phones need to be allowed doesn't hold a ton of water.

+1 This. IEP/504 plans can allow exemptions from certain school rules as needed. This is not the reason to ban phones for the other 99% of kids who are using it to snapchat their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this whole phone thread is delulu.

HS kids use their phones for all the same things adults do - arrange meetings, complete work, stay on schedule, arrange transportation, stay connected to work opportunities, and use in emergencies, etc. I would no more expect my kid to go without a phone than I would do myself.

Also, my kid’s school has had 2 serious lockdowns due to shooter threats. I want my kids to have a phone with them at all times in case of emergency - even during the school day.

I'm a teacher. We had an emergency lockdown a year ago, and at no point did I think "ah yes, a bunch of 16 year olds with cell phones would make this situation better right now."

Directing students in an emergency is hard enough without having the distraction of their cell phones and their parents giving them directions that may run counter to what we need to do in the moment. Students (and adults) need to be as alert and vigilant as possible in these situations, and trying to shoot off texts or get in touch with parents, friends, etc. runs very contrary to that. Not to mention the inevitable lit screens, and ringing/vibrating/beeping phones giving away to anyone listening that there are people in the room. We are supposed to turn off the lights, hide, and sit as silently as humanly possible. Cell phones are a hindrance to that.

+1000. I get that parents want to be in contact when a crisis arises, but I don't think there's a lot of benefit there, relative to the cost of the distraction/phone addiction that's becoming so common in teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.

DP.

It was a 4.67 and "severe" case of the zoomies, not level 3 autism.

As someone with severe adhd who went to Yale that PP should STFU—they clearly don’t know that people with adhd can have high IQ. I’m very dependent on my phone as an adult professional with adhd. It was recommended to my kid as part of their accommodations.

I totally believe you, since you clearly couldn’t get focused enough to read that 504 plans are not affected by the new policy. If you child has a 504 plan that includes use of a phone, your child can use it in class. I’m also saddened that a presumed graduate of Yale would write so poorly to not agree the introductory phrase with the subject.

No 504 plan should include use of a phone. FFS.

seriously...what disability requires that a personal cell phone must be used during school hours?

Glucose monitoring, for one. Medication reminders. Visual assistance for low vision and blind students.

How did students manage these things...oh... 15 years ago? Or children without a smart phone?

Sometimes they ended up in a hospital or even dead because their glucose was too low or too high. At the very least, they often had worse and delayed information that meant worse control of conditions like diabetes. By chance, are you Maurice Ronald?

Growing up our school had a few pay phones to call parents. My kid was fed food by a teacher they thought they should not eat and asked and teacher said it was fine. Kid asked to go to the nurse as they thought they were having a reaction and teacher said no because it was too close to pick up. When I picked my child up they were having a full on reaction and it was a long night at the ER getting it under control. So, yes, my kid has a watch to call me.