New cell phone policy

[Anonymous]

Same old as always. There will be a “ban” but it won’t be enforced. Some teachers will try some won’t be successful (no admin back up), some won’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If phone pouches are going to be used in classrooms, they will need to be purchased. Who is going to purchase them - MCPS, schools, teachers, PTA, each family?? If you're going to come up with a policy, follow through -- give the resources to make it happen.

Teachers often don’t want to use the pouches for liability. Phones are expensive. If a phone goes missing, are the teachers held responsible?

The pouches end up holding burner phones anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

DP.
At my school, refusal to handover a phone is an automatic referral. An admin shows up to take the phone.

No exceptions are made for texting parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

DP.
At my school, refusal to handover a phone is an automatic referral. An admin shows up to take the phone.

No exceptions are made for texting parents.

OP here. This is the answer. You tell me no and you can answer to admin. You hand them to me and you avoid admin consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the teachers and staff also follow the ban and set a good example.

It’s a bit more complicated for teachers. We don’t have classroom phones at my school and most of us aren’t issued a walkie. Our intercom system has gaped. The quickest way to get ahold of a floating staff member is by text. If a kid pukes in my classroom, I’m texting building services to come clean it up, not sending an email in the hopes they are at a computer in the next 10 min.

We also use our phones for a variety of administrative tasks ranging from email to scanning work samples for quarterly reports.

Wut? FERPA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

Some teachers have phone setup where they ask the kids to put it in and give points if they do. My kids have texted me if its something important from class or a schedule change I need to know about. Both after school activities regularly change the times and don't email parents so the only communication is through the kids. If you asked for my kid's phone and they didn't hand it over there would be consequences at home, all you'd have to do is let me know or ask if they were texting me.

I just wish the schools would not allow outside access to the wifi outside school computers. I put heavy restrictions on the phone and they have to do a request for social media but they can get around it by the school's wifi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

DP.
At my school, refusal to handover a phone is an automatic referral. An admin shows up to take the phone.

No exceptions are made for texting parents.

That's a bit unreasonable if its something a parent needs to know, like I have to stay after school, don't pick me up, etc. They need to give some kind of access to kids, even if its a pay phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the teachers and staff also follow the ban and set a good example.

It’s a bit more complicated for teachers. We don’t have classroom phones at my school and most of us aren’t issued a walkie. Our intercom system has gaped. The quickest way to get ahold of a floating staff member is by text. If a kid pukes in my classroom, I’m texting building services to come clean it up, not sending an email in the hopes they are at a computer in the next 10 min.

We also use our phones for a variety of administrative tasks ranging from email to scanning work samples for quarterly reports.

If its an emergency, its ok but you shouldn't be doing those admin tasks during class time which is the point. Don't give kids busy work while they see you on your phone. Email can be done from the computers. If you do your email or take pictures for work, why shouldn't the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a clear set of lockers i can hold up to 20 devices in behind my desk. If i see your phone or airpods i take them and lock them in the box. You can get them at the end of the day

What happens when a kid says no, I’m not giving it to you. Or they say, I’m texting my Mom (which is sometimes very true).

I don’t want to get into a power struggle in front of the whole class.

Some teachers have phone setup where they ask the kids to put it in and give points if they do. My kids have texted me if its something important from class or a schedule change I need to know about. Both after school activities regularly change the times and don't email parents so the only communication is through the kids. If you asked for my kid's phone and they didn't hand it over there would be consequences at home, all you'd have to do is let me know or ask if they were texting me.

I just wish the schools would not allow outside access to the wifi outside school computers. I put heavy restrictions on the phone and they have to do a request for social media but they can get around it by the school's wifi.

Let's see how long mcps takes before addressing this workaround

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If phone pouches are going to be used in classrooms, they will need to be purchased. Who is going to purchase them - MCPS, schools, teachers, PTA, each family?? If you're going to come up with a policy, follow through -- give the resources to make it happen.

Teachers often don’t want to use the pouches for liability. Phones are expensive. If a phone goes missing, are the teachers held responsible?

The pouches end up holding burner phones anyway.

There are actually teachers who think they are so saavy. They also enjoy boasting in front of parents at back to school that they have it "figured out" re: cell phone issue in their classroom. "parents should try this at home" (taking phones from kids at home). But the same teachers are one step behind the next student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If phone pouches are going to be used in classrooms, they will need to be purchased. Who is going to purchase them - MCPS, schools, teachers, PTA, each family?? If you're going to come up with a policy, follow through -- give the resources to make it happen.

Teachers often don’t want to use the pouches for liability. Phones are expensive. If a phone goes missing, are the teachers held responsible?

The pouches end up holding burner phones anyway.

There are actually teachers who think they are so saavy. They also enjoy boasting in front of parents at back to school that they have it "figured out" re: cell phone issue in their classroom. "parents should try this at home" (taking phones from kids at home). But the same teachers are one step behind the next student.

Some teachers are very engaging and teach and that helps a lot. Most of those reward for phones away.

[Anonymous]

MCPS says consequences and enforcement is outlined in the new 2025-2026 student of conduct - which hasn’t been published yet….

I feel like they probably had 26 people working full time on this. Why is it not ready?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS says consequences and enforcement is outlined in the new 2025-2026 student of conduct - which hasn’t been published yet….

I feel like they probably had 26 people working full time on this. Why is it not ready?

They're probably working on the translations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be realistic. What is actually going to change inside classrooms? Are teachers in each class going to start using those phone pouches? Having students place their phones in the pouches at the beginning of the class?

In our middle school, they simply confiscate phones. Parents have to come pick them up. Seeing other kids have their phones confiscated was good motivation to keep phones away.

Any warnings before confiscating?

No. They are told the policy and the policy is enforced.