GDS Phone Ban

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like phone bans for hs. I have a recent grad and there were times we needed to be in touch and going through the school office would have been a pain. If you are just about ready to be in real world then the real world includes phones. I totally get bands for younger years but not hs. I also think it will drive kids to overuse phones after school. I have come to believe being too strict on anything has unintended consequence.

Same way schools and parents and kids functioned before 2000. Just fine. Stop bugging people when they’re at work or school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holton also just adopted this policy.

"Upper School students across all grade levels will not be allowed to use personal electronic devices — including cell phones, smartphones, and smartwatches — during school hours, including academic and extracurricular activities. Devices must be powered off and stored in designated lockboxes. In the event of necessary communication, students may utilize school phones in the Divisional Office. We kindly request families to direct any correspondence about their child by phone or email to the Upper School office."

So happy about this!

I have a rising 4th grader and hope all schools will implement this in the next couple of years. Kids don’t need distractions of a phone during school hours. They need to be locked away, not just stored in your locker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holton also just adopted this policy.

"Upper School students across all grade levels will not be allowed to use personal electronic devices — including cell phones, smartphones, and smartwatches — during school hours, including academic and extracurricular activities. Devices must be powered off and stored in designated lockboxes. In the event of necessary communication, students may utilize school phones in the Divisional Office. We kindly request families to direct any correspondence about their child by phone or email to the Upper School office."

So happy about this!

I have a rising 4th grader and hope all schools will implement this in the next couple of years. Kids don’t need distractions of a phone during school hours. They need to be locked away, not just stored in your locker.

Same. Also a LS parent and so happy about this change!

[Anonymous]

Is GDS going to have lockers for phones? Or yondr pouches? How are they enforcing this?

[Anonymous]

Lots of area schools have already done this. GDS admin can ask for advice.

[Anonymous]

GDS HS parent - I'm a huge fan of this.

Historically, GDS enforcement has been a mixed bag on other things. Will be interesting to see how they do it here. What are the penalties, the warning, etc?

The DCC process is widely written about here as being capricious so perhaps there's another way for repeat offenders

The full policy Q&A is here https://www.gds.org/hs-phone-policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do the other Big 3's do?

lol other big three? GDS is not a big 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do the other Big 3's do?

lol other big three? GDS is not a big 3.

So true. It’s better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like phone bans for hs. I have a recent grad and there were times we needed to be in touch and going through the school office would have been a pain. If you are just about ready to be in real world then the real world includes phones. I totally get bands for younger years but not hs. I also think it will drive kids to overuse phones after school. I have come to believe being too strict on anything has unintended consequence.

Totally agree. Kids need to learn to self-manage prior to college. Phone ban for MS makes sense. HS should be teaching independence.

[Anonymous]

Happy GDS is leading the pack on this issue. Students are losing the ability to connect with each other outside of an app.
The phone ban is an excellent and much needed first step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happy GDS is leading the pack on this issue. Students are losing the ability to connect with each other outside of an app.
The phone ban is an excellent and much needed first step.

Leading? Leading what? Many private and public schools in the area already have this policy. But GDS is sure to catch up eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy GDS is leading the pack on this issue. Students are losing the ability to connect with each other outside of an app.
The phone ban is an excellent and much needed first step.

Leading? Leading what? Many private and public schools in the area already have this policy. But GDS is sure to catch up eventually.

Which ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy GDS is leading the pack on this issue. Students are losing the ability to connect with each other outside of an app.
The phone ban is an excellent and much needed first step.

Leading? Leading what? Many private and public schools in the area already have this policy. But GDS is sure to catch up eventually.

Which ones?

NP, Madeira just enacted a similar ban.

[Anonymous]

Landon has done this for a few years now

[Anonymous]

I suspect that all of the schools will roll out these policies by the start of the school year. It's just a question of when they announce.

I think almost all of these schools ban the use of cell phones throughout middle school (including GDS), so it's really just an extension in most ways.