possible cell phone policy change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher and parent of kids in elementary and middle school. I read the policy and didn’t think it would change much. Phones are not allowed to be out in my children’s schools in elementary or middle school during the day. My MS kid often complains about “off and away” so I know it’s enforced.

I have not had issues with students and cell phones in high school in many, many years. They just are not a problem anymore. If someone is on it a lot and I give a reminder, they put it away. Phones aren’t the problem.

The huge problem in high school is the laptop. This is what they are using now as a distraction. I don’t use them often in my class because they are constantly on anything except what we are doing. Every since class I have a minimum of 5 students arguing with me that they need to have it open for notes because they work better than that than one paper. It’s the rare case this is true. Often they are watching YouTube or doing something else online.

My middle schooler often tells me stories of how they are all doing similar there on the laptops.

Not sure what parallel universe you live in but I'm also a HS teacher and phone use at our school is just catastrophic.
I try to police the underclassmen who need my class to graduate but it's very, very difficult and frankly, just exhausting to constantly have to interrupt what you're doing to tell someone to put their phone away, only to have them pull it out again a minute later. Multiply that by 25-30 students.
I've completely given up with the upperclassmen in my elective class. Let them fail, see if I care.

Yes, parallel universe indeed. I’ve worked at my school for a long time and they really push the laptops and would like teachers to have paperless classes. This was well before covid. There were years where we were told we had to incorporate them into a certain percentage of lessons. That has loosened up a lot after a big backlash from parents and teachers. Many of us are back to using paper and trying to limit the tech to when it’s absolutely necessary. But for a lot of students, they have grown up being used to being on these laptops and are completely addicted. They are easier to hide behind in class instead of their phones. It’s a similar issue, although different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in a 504 meeting for my HS daughter a few months ago and in the narratives every teacher commented about her being on her phone all the time in class. I was appalled and made it clear to her that I expect her phone to be put away in the classroom, and we have been enforcing that by monitoring her usage and, if we see she's on it when she's in class, shutting it down using our parental controls. But I was also shocked that it was happening at all, because I had been under the impression phones weren't allowed to be out in class. The counselor told me it's a rule with no teeth and that teachers don't want to waste time enforcing it because it just makes their lives harder.

It's unfortunate that most parents probably don't know their kids are doing this and assume it "the other kids" that do.
What do you use to "monitor usage and shut down with parental controls"? We are about to get our 12 year a phone and I'm starting to research these things.

I’m the PP and we use Verizon’s parental controls (I think it’s called smart family). There’s a five dollar a month fee but right now it feels like an investment that. I can see the times she’s using data or is online and I can shut her down completely with a click. She has the companion app on her phone in order to make it work but she knows that if she removes it, I’m removing the phone. I am not a parent who tracks what specific sites she’s on or who she’s contacting, I feel like that crosses a line in our relationship, but I absolutely monitor when she’s using her phone and for how long during school hours. In order for her to be successful in the long term, this is something we have to do in the short term. I wish the school was partnering with me on this but ultimately I’m going do what I have to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in a 504 meeting for my HS daughter a few months ago and in the narratives every teacher commented about her being on her phone all the time in class. I was appalled and made it clear to her that I expect her phone to be put away in the classroom, and we have been enforcing that by monitoring her usage and, if we see she's on it when she's in class, shutting it down using our parental controls. But I was also shocked that it was happening at all, because I had been under the impression phones weren't allowed to be out in class. The counselor told me it's a rule with no teeth and that teachers don't want to waste time enforcing it because it just makes their lives harder.

It's unfortunate that most parents probably don't know their kids are doing this and assume it "the other kids" that do.
What do you use to "monitor usage and shut down with parental controls"? We are about to get our 12 year a phone and I'm starting to research these things.

I’m the PP and we use Verizon’s parental controls (I think it’s called smart family). There’s a five dollar a month fee but right now it feels like an investment that. I can see the times she’s using data or is online and I can shut her down completely with a click. She has the companion app on her phone in order to make it work but she knows that if she removes it, I’m removing the phone. I am not a parent who tracks what specific sites she’s on or who she’s contacting, I feel like that crosses a line in our relationship, but I absolutely monitor when she’s using her phone and for how long during school hours. In order for her to be successful in the long term, this is something we have to do in the short term. I wish the school was partnering with me on this but ultimately I’m going do what I have to do.

Thanks, we use verizon and iphones so I'll compare the two options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher and parent of kids in elementary and middle school. I read the policy and didn’t think it would change much. Phones are not allowed to be out in my children’s schools in elementary or middle school during the day. My MS kid often complains about “off and away” so I know it’s enforced.

I have not had issues with students and cell phones in high school in many, many years. They just are not a problem anymore. If someone is on it a lot and I give a reminder, they put it away. Phones aren’t the problem.

The huge problem in high school is the laptop. This is what they are using now as a distraction. I don’t use them often in my class because they are constantly on anything except what we are doing. Every since class I have a minimum of 5 students arguing with me that they need to have it open for notes because they work better than that than one paper. It’s the rare case this is true. Often they are watching YouTube or doing something else online.

My middle schooler often tells me stories of how they are all doing similar there on the laptops.

This is a very accurate description of what is happening in a HS classroom. Students are also messaging on their laptops via iMessage and Google Hangouts or in a shared Google Docs file. That being said, phones don’t need to be out in the classroom, they are just fine in a backpack.