How does your ES deal with smart watches?

[Anonymous]

4th grade son put it powered off in his backpack and turned it on when walking home.

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader has an Apple Watch that is set to automatically go on school mode during school hours. She has it bc she walks 1 mile to/from school and I feel better knowing she can reach me if there are any issues. We’ve had no issues w/ her having it at school.

[Anonymous]

Wait, so some of your schools require the watches to be off and away? At our school we (teachers) were told that we aren’t allowed to require that smart watches stay in backpacks, due to district policy. (“They’re expensive and if they get stolen out of a backpack the teacher will be held responsible.”) They’re a huge problem with the 5th and 6th graders.

We aren’t supposed to confiscate either. So it’s just “Don’t do that” when we catch them texting with them, and they tell us “I was checking the TIME!” and resume texting as soon as we look the other way. It’s ridiculous.

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who keep them in school mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so some of your schools require the watches to be off and away? At our school we (teachers) were told that we aren’t allowed to require that smart watches stay in backpacks, due to district policy. (“They’re expensive and if they get stolen out of a backpack the teacher will be held responsible.”) They’re a huge problem with the 5th and 6th graders.

We aren’t supposed to confiscate either. So it’s just “Don’t do that” when we catch them texting with them, and they tell us “I was checking the TIME!” and resume texting as soon as we look the other way. It’s ridiculous.

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who keep them in school mode.

These phones have GPS. They aren’t being used by firefighters or doctors. They should automatically go into school mode when in a school. And can’t be turned off except to call 911 or maybe their parents.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so some of your schools require the watches to be off and away? At our school we (teachers) were told that we aren’t allowed to require that smart watches stay in backpacks, due to district policy. (“They’re expensive and if they get stolen out of a backpack the teacher will be held responsible.”) They’re a huge problem with the 5th and 6th graders.

We aren’t supposed to confiscate either. So it’s just “Don’t do that” when we catch them texting with them, and they tell us “I was checking the TIME!” and resume texting as soon as we look the other way. It’s ridiculous.

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who keep them in school mode.

These phones have GPS. They aren’t being used by firefighters or doctors. They should automatically go into school mode when in a school. And can’t be turned off except to call 911 or maybe their parents.

These *watches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

A dumb watch is a Casio. A watch that makes calls is a smart watch.

Whatever. It is the most basic functionality "smart watch" then vs say, an apple watch. And school mode is always on. We need it mainly to ensure kid makes the bus on the occasion my spouse and I both need to be at work early. I have no plans to get rid of it.

If your kid is not capable of coming back home and telling you they missed the bus, you shouldn’t be leaving them home alone in the morning.

So don’t be surprised when the school takes away your budget smart watch.

Um the watch is how they would get in touch with me. Not everyone has a landline in 2025.

[Anonymous]

Our school doesn't have cell service so it's not an issue, but my child's Apple Watch is in SchoolTime mode all day.

[Anonymous]

DS had an Apple Watch in 6th grade and just wore it at school. We disabled communication on it except for with us, but we never called him and he did not call us. He wore it at school in 7th grade and did not have any issues with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has a dumb watch. It's basically texting, calls, and stopwatch. The rest I put in school mode for the entirety of school hours. Despite that, it was taken away during the last few weeks of school during lunch.

If just one kid has a device at lunch, then many kids gather around to quietly watch his screen. It ruins socializing. So, that's probably why the watch gets taken away at lunch.