DCPS Banning Cell Phones at all Schools for SY25-26

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a system where phones and watches are turned in or put in touches. Otherwise there will be no enforcement.

I think it will also be an adjustment for the teachers, many of whom rely on the kids’ having phones to do work in class (as reported by my JR kid).

Agreed there needs to be a system, agreed it should be schoolwide and not put on the teachers.

And one of the millions of reasons COVID set this generation back -- teachers and schools forgot how to teach without technology and think it is necessary for everything. Teachers should not rely on kids having phones to do work in class. We learned things before smart phones, and schools/curriculum designers etc. need to figure out how to do it again. Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

What kind of work are they doing that phones can even help with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to enforce at JRHS? I assume yonder pouches or essentially no enforcement.

Yonder pouches have already been ruled out - to expensive for that many kids and they break them. No official decisions yet but I would go with the no enforcement along with the way they deal with tardies, assault, marijuana use, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a system where phones and watches are turned in or put in touches. Otherwise there will be no enforcement.

I think it will also be an adjustment for the teachers, many of whom rely on the kids’ having phones to do work in class (as reported by my JR kid).

This is so insane to me. I was a teacher 15 years ago, before smart phones were ubiquitous. The kids learned very well without having to use their phone!!

How quickly did teachers and parents forget how to teach/parent without phones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of work are they doing that phones can even help with?

DP but I could see it as a replacement for the old TI-82's we used to have to buy in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to enforce at JRHS? I assume yonder pouches or essentially no enforcement.

Yonder pouches have already been ruled out - to expensive for that many kids and they break them. No official decisions yet but I would go with the no enforcement along with the way they deal with tardies, assault, marijuana use, etc.

They’ve already ruled out Yonder pouches for JR? Why? They work at Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a system where phones and watches are turned in or put in touches. Otherwise there will be no enforcement.

I think it will also be an adjustment for the teachers, many of whom rely on the kids’ having phones to do work in class (as reported by my JR kid).

I work at a school (not DCPS) that banned phones/watches a couple years ago. It was a huge relief and not hard to adjust.

The key points are that the ban is absolute (allowing phones in some spaces/times and not others is a nightmare to enforce) AND that teachers are fully backed up when they enforce it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a system where phones and watches are turned in or put in touches. Otherwise there will be no enforcement.

I think it will also be an adjustment for the teachers, many of whom rely on the kids’ having phones to do work in class (as reported by my JR kid).

I work at a school (not DCPS) that banned phones/watches a couple years ago. It was a huge relief and not hard to adjust.

The key points are that the ban is absolute (allowing phones in some spaces/times and not others is a nightmare to enforce) AND that teachers are fully backed up when they enforce it.

Both my DCPS kids are already in environments with quasi “bans” and there is no enforcement at the teacher level. One is in ES: watches are “banned,” but my child’s teacher told the class they were permitted as long as they were in Do Not Disturb mode. Stupid. My HS student (JR): some teachers don’t allow and some do. Essentially phones are everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a good idea, although I'd rather see them ban all devices and eliminate learning on computers. Bring back text books!

+1. Banning phones doesn’t seem super impactful when a lot of kids sit on Chromebooks all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to enforce at JRHS? I assume yonder pouches or essentially no enforcement.

Yonder pouches have already been ruled out - to expensive for that many kids and they break them. No official decisions yet but I would go with the no enforcement along with the way they deal with tardies, assault, marijuana use, etc.

At the middle schools they find them with metal detectors and they get the pouches (which are not too expensive for MS) or they have carts they put them into and can be picked up at the end of the day.

Kids find a way around them—Hardy MS admins, if you're reading, watch the front door, they get the office help to let them in the front, claiming they're running late, while security searches the side entrance!—but its' drastically reduced and not very hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a good idea, although I'd rather see them ban all devices and eliminate learning on computers. Bring back text books!

+1. Banning phones doesn’t seem super impactful when a lot of kids sit on Chromebooks all day.

100%. Both my kids now attend private schools, and even there, with the designated tech team, can't stop kids from being on games and social media. It's insane. These are smart technicians. I can't figure out why they can't ban this stuff. Still, though, yay to no cell phones. I bet fights will go way down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a good idea, although I'd rather see them ban all devices and eliminate learning on computers. Bring back text books!

^^^ THIS THIS THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be a system where phones and watches are turned in or put in touches. Otherwise there will be no enforcement.

I think it will also be an adjustment for the teachers, many of whom rely on the kids’ having phones to do work in class (as reported by my JR kid).

Tell me your kid lies to you without telling me your kids lie to you.

[Anonymous]

I personally am good with banning all screens at school and at home until HS. Clutch your pearls - trust me this is actually better and doable.

My kids don't have devices and they are fine and social. When they get access to our devices they are fine too. No devices in bedrooms; and hours and hours of disengaging from reality.

But chrome books is 100% different than kids with phones.

1. School issued devices operate with the school wifi so guess what you can't access PORN; violent videos etc
2. Your darling kids with their phones are looking at porn. They do it on the bus; they do it in class; they show other kids.

No no my child is using the phone to watch Roblox, and cat videos and texts with their friends. No they are watching violent porn.

You must mean the poor east of the park; no your kid; west of the park with a two car family HHI family.

You give them a data plan, you put no controls on the phone and they do what kids do.

BTW saw the saddest thing; Mommy lugging DS' backpack to the car so he could sit in the front seat with his device after school. He couldn't be bothered to carry his own backpack, he had to get to his drug super quick. Pathetic.

But but I need the devices so I can work, do calls etc. 1. You don't. 2. You have trained your kid to be addicted to devices and you need to get them and you rehab.

Child survived for centuries without devices. They were bored; they figured out how to fix their boredom without their parents micromanaging them.

[Anonymous]

Please learn what HHI means. Every family is an “HHI family,” even if their household income is negative.