FCPS Cell Phone Ban - Bell to Bell - the time is now

[Anonymous]

The tide is turning. Smoking, asbestos, seatbelts....we'll look back in dismay at how long we let kids carry a device during their school day that was designed to interfere with the most critical formative experiences of their developing brains. Cell phones possessed by a student at school (even just in their pockets/backbacks) impair concentration in the classroom, inhibit face-to-face engagement and communication with peers and teachers, and change an adolescent's brain, permanently.

Those terrible impacts outweigh the convenience of being able to disturb your child during the school day. Instead, we can allow our children's brains to develop as they are hard wired to do, not as tech companies would prefer.

The current FCPS policy is inadequate and not enforced with fidelity. The FCPS school board has approved motions to consider new strategies to enforce the current policies that are in place (https://www.fcps.edu/news/student-rights-and-responsibilities-srr-updates-cell-phone-use-schools) and are considering alternatives for the 25-26 school year, to include a bell to bell ban.

FCPS should implement a bell to bell cell phone ban NOW.

One parent can take away their child's phone during the school day, but that's a difficult position for that child to be in. We must act together - regarding phones in schools and regarding phones in our children's lives.

A multitude of schools around the country are implementing bell to bell bans, with some anxiety and pushback but with overwhelmingly positive results - smaller public and private schools, but also large school divisions like LA United School District, NYC Schools and Florida's Orange County School System, whose bell-to-bell policy started at the beginning of this school year and has produced "overwhelmingly positive results".

Is this hard to do? Yes. Are there organizations willing and able to assist schools in this transition? Yes. https://www.phonefreeschoolsmovement.org Do schools and families need to partner together with humility and an openness to the recommendations of professionals all over the country? Yes. Do we need to do this now? Yes. We very much do.

Please show your support by signing the petition below. Access resources under the petition that address common questions/concerns re: why this is so important, questions about school security, etc.

This petition is a combined effort of advocates in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington counties as well as DC.

https://www.change.org/p/phone-free-dmv-schools - PETITION

https://www.afterbabel.com/p/phone-free-schools - The Case for Phone Free Schools

https://catherineprice.substack.com/p/resources-for-kids-smartphones-social?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web - Ultimate Guide to Kids, Smartphones and Social Media

https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/ The Anxious Generation - website for Jonathan Haidt's best selling book

https://schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell-phones-and-text-messaging-in-schools/ - Does your kid need a cell phone in school to be safe?

Thank you. We've got this.

[Anonymous]

https://www.change.org/p/phone-free-dmv-schools - PETITION TO BAN CELL PHONES IN DMV SCHOOLS

[Anonymous]

Sounds great. But as a HS teacher in FCPS, I am not paid enough to fight your children and their constant habit to be on their phones. I am not their parent, and you're obviously not giving them parameters at home. The smart kids aren't on their phones. The dumb ones are. Even dumb ones with good grades.

[Anonymous]

We are holding off on phones for our kids as long as we can....but we are noticing that the real pressure towards getting phones is less the peer pressure and more that adults (teachers/ club leaders) assuming they have access to one and assigning things/ communicating accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are holding off on phones for our kids as long as we can....but we are noticing that the real pressure towards getting phones is less the peer pressure and more that adults (teachers/ club leaders) assuming they have access to one and assigning things/ communicating accordingly.

Wrong. Don't blame the teachers. FCPS gives laptops to every student -- teachers can communicate through Schoology. The "real pressure" doesn't come from teachers. Parent up.

[Anonymous]

Ok. I will add it to my list of things to accomplish.

[Anonymous]

HS teacher. I appreciate your efforts, OP, but your petition is defective. We already have this policy in the SR&R and a policy without consequences is worthless. Your petition needs to advocate for real consequences that hurt for being caught with a phone out. Maybe not as harsh as being caught with drugs, but real consequences. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

I echo the teacher above who said she doesn't get paid enough to deal with phone disruption. I'm teaching. Your kid prefers Tiktok to learning? Your problem.

[Anonymous]

I support a bell to bell ban. Phones should be in backpacks and away for the full day. I do need to be able to reach my kid after school though.

And agree the main problem is enforcement. Teachers need to know they can send the kid to the office and the admin will confiscate the phone until the parent comes to pick it up. That is what needs to be automatic and everywhere for it to work in practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds great. But as a HS teacher in FCPS, I am not paid enough to fight your children and their constant habit to be on their phones. I am not their parent, and you're obviously not giving them parameters at home. The smart kids aren't on their phones. The dumb ones are. Even dumb ones with good grades.

We now need to also offer unlimited retakes.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-and-reporting/secondary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher. I appreciate your efforts, OP, but your petition is defective. We already have this policy in the SR&R and a policy without consequences is worthless. Your petition needs to advocate for real consequences that hurt for being caught with a phone out. Maybe not as harsh as being caught with drugs, but real consequences. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

I echo the teacher above who said she doesn't get paid enough to deal with phone disruption. I'm teaching. Your kid prefers Tiktok to learning? Your problem.

THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are holding off on phones for our kids as long as we can....but we are noticing that the real pressure towards getting phones is less the peer pressure and more that adults (teachers/ club leaders) assuming they have access to one and assigning things/ communicating accordingly.

Wrong. Don't blame the teachers. FCPS gives laptops to every student -- teachers can communicate through Schoology. The "real pressure" doesn't come from teachers. Parent up.

I am parenting up. My kids don't have phones even though a LOT of their peers do. I stand by what I said. The biggest pressure comes from adults who assume they do!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher. I appreciate your efforts, OP, but your petition is defective. We already have this policy in the SR&R and a policy without consequences is worthless. Your petition needs to advocate for real consequences that hurt for being caught with a phone out. Maybe not as harsh as being caught with drugs, but real consequences. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

I echo the teacher above who said she doesn't get paid enough to deal with phone disruption. I'm teaching. Your kid prefers Tiktok to learning? Your problem.

+1

We have a toothless “rule” about cell phones. Admin, gatehouse, and SB have NO CONSEQUENCES for not following the rule. Kids aren’t stupid. If they won’t “get in trouble”, then 95% of them will just do whatever they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are holding off on phones for our kids as long as we can....but we are noticing that the real pressure towards getting phones is less the peer pressure and more that adults (teachers/ club leaders) assuming they have access to one and assigning things/ communicating accordingly.

Wrong. Don't blame the teachers. FCPS gives laptops to every student -- teachers can communicate through Schoology. The "real pressure" doesn't come from teachers. Parent up.

I am parenting up. My kids don't have phones even though a LOT of their peers do. I stand by what I said. The biggest pressure comes from adults who assume they do!!

You think kids have cell phones because THE TEACHERS expect them to? What kind of delulu land are you living in? If it’s the teacher’s fault then why did 21 of my 25 5th graders have cell phones in their backpacks? They can’t use them at school. I’m certainly not contacting them on it. And almost all have a better iPhone than I do.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think teachers need to fight kids but someone does. Admin? I really think this is an issue that schools have created due to a complete lack of consequences. Teens at summer jobs don’t have an issue with staying off their phones because employers would never put up with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are holding off on phones for our kids as long as we can....but we are noticing that the real pressure towards getting phones is less the peer pressure and more that adults (teachers/ club leaders) assuming they have access to one and assigning things/ communicating accordingly.

+1 I have to agree. In MS, we had teachers allowing students to use their phones to take pictures of stuff in their biology class for their lab. That left my child out. Phones were also allowed on field trips. Again my child was left out. We finally relented and got a phone for them in the fall of 8th.