Screens at Private School

[Anonymous]

I remember when these schools officially became laptop schools around 25 years ago, and it was such a big deal. And so prestigious. I do think we need to shift away from this now, especially with AI.

[Anonymous]

Interested in hearing about phone policies in high school. Not what's on the website, but in reality do kids have access to phones during the day or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Complain to the admin. It's possible they will listen; I've heard there's been a decline in screentime in privates, and a lot of that is due to parental pushback.

2. More immediate and probably more effective: leave for a school with minimal screentime. Classical, Waldorf, Montessori, and Charlotte Mason schools are all likely to be in this category.

Christian and Catholic school, also.

Catholic? Name any Catholic HS that uses Yondr pouches. I can only think of progressive schools that lock up the ones during the school day. Catholic schools have kids filming TikTok’s in the bathrooms

We are at a K-8 that doesn't allow phones to be visible on campus during school hours. I don't think they have the money or interest to invest in Yondr pouches. They just say "Don't take your phone out, or it will be taken."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Complain to the admin. It's possible they will listen; I've heard there's been a decline in screentime in privates, and a lot of that is due to parental pushback.

2. More immediate and probably more effective: leave for a school with minimal screentime. Classical, Waldorf, Montessori, and Charlotte Mason schools are all likely to be in this category.

Christian and Catholic school, also.

Catholic? Name any Catholic HS that uses Yondr pouches. I can only think of progressive schools that lock up the ones during the school day. Catholic schools have kids filming TikTok’s in the bathrooms

Our Catholic banned phones before many progressives. Progressives started using pouches after publics led the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a major problem at some schools and it's a legitimate reason to avoid a school. Walking the halls and common areas of some schools on tours, kids are doing their work during the school day. Others--Potomac was the worst offender--the kids are all staring at their phones in the middle of the school day. Take the phones away!

Same thing at Maret. Every kid in the hallways glued to their phone - admissions saying "we trust the kids to make healthy decisions" LOL you don't trust addicts!

There are US kids at Maret who won’t put their phone down to go outside for a fire drill unless forced to do so.

What are US kids? Like Americans? Fellow kids? or is US an acronym?

US = upper school

Ah, gotcha.

So I've seen Lower School, Middle School, Upper School. Am I missing any? I've also seen Early Childhood as differentiated from older Lower School grades.

PK3, PK4, PK, JrK, K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Complain to the admin. It's possible they will listen; I've heard there's been a decline in screentime in privates, and a lot of that is due to parental pushback.

2. More immediate and probably more effective: leave for a school with minimal screentime. Classical, Waldorf, Montessori, and Charlotte Mason schools are all likely to be in this category.

Christian and Catholic school, also.

Catholic? Name any Catholic HS that uses Yondr pouches. I can only think of progressive schools that lock up the ones during the school day. Catholic schools have kids filming TikTok’s in the bathrooms

St. Anselm's (6-12) has pouches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a major problem at some schools and it's a legitimate reason to avoid a school. Walking the halls and common areas of some schools on tours, kids are doing their work during the school day. Others--Potomac was the worst offender--the kids are all staring at their phones in the middle of the school day. Take the phones away!

Same thing at Maret. Every kid in the hallways glued to their phone - admissions saying "we trust the kids to make healthy decisions" LOL you don't trust addicts!

Maret is phone-free during the day so this is not accurate and not something admissions would be saying.

not phone-free, but computers (with AI integration available) are very much part of middle school, kids are glued on them playing games whenever they get the chance, and parents are expected to monitor usage with limited controls or guidelines during school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a major problem at some schools and it's a legitimate reason to avoid a school. Walking the halls and common areas of some schools on tours, kids are doing their work during the school day. Others--Potomac was the worst offender--the kids are all staring at their phones in the middle of the school day. Take the phones away!

Same thing at Maret. Every kid in the hallways glued to their phone - admissions saying "we trust the kids to make healthy decisions" LOL you don't trust addicts!

Maret is phone-free during the day so this is not accurate and not something admissions would be saying.

correction, YES phone-free, not device-free. computers (with AI integration available) are very much part of middle school, kids are glued on them playing games whenever they get the chance, and parents are expected to monitor usage with limited controls or guidelines during school.

[Anonymous]

we toured Sidwell GDS and Maret for high school a few months ago, so this is what we observed this year - note all upper schoolers:

Sidwell: kids not supposed to use phones "inside the building" but as soon as they poured out onto the courtyard we observed most pulling out their phones, some crowded around looking at one phone others just on their own phones. LOTS of phones "outside the building". I did not see any being used when we peeped into classrooms, and all kids in the library were on their laptops working. Not sure if kids use them in transition or how often a teacher is lax and then kids use them in class. We weren't really invited to observe in a classroom long enough.

GDS: did not observe any phone use, kids were in the atrium area with big bleachers hanging out and talking or in class or on this patio thing or in the art room, I don't remember seeing any student on a phone.

Maret: this is their first year with a no phones policy but like the other two, they don't lock them away they just expect kids not to use them. Not sure what the consequence is and if teachers are in charge of monitoring and more lax teachers maybe allow? But we also got the same "we trust kids to monitor themselves, they know the rules" kind of language from the admissions lady who did the tour.

Overall, I was disappointed that they all seem to leave it up to the kids. Because ultimately that is on the individual classroom teachers to say "remember. no phones" and to manage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we toured Sidwell GDS and Maret for high school a few months ago, so this is what we observed this year - note all upper schoolers:

Sidwell: kids not supposed to use phones "inside the building" but as soon as they poured out onto the courtyard we observed most pulling out their phones, some crowded around looking at one phone others just on their own phones. LOTS of phones "outside the building". I did not see any being used when we peeped into classrooms, and all kids in the library were on their laptops working. Not sure if kids use them in transition or how often a teacher is lax and then kids use them in class. We weren't really invited to observe in a classroom long enough.

GDS: did not observe any phone use, kids were in the atrium area with big bleachers hanging out and talking or in class or on this patio thing or in the art room, I don't remember seeing any student on a phone.

Maret: this is their first year with a no phones policy but like the other two, they don't lock them away they just expect kids not to use them. Not sure what the consequence is and if teachers are in charge of monitoring and more lax teachers maybe allow? But we also got the same "we trust kids to monitor themselves, they know the rules" kind of language from the admissions lady who did the tour.

Overall, I was disappointed that they all seem to leave it up to the kids. Because ultimately that is on the individual classroom teachers to say "remember. no phones" and to manage it.

Also there is the issue on how classes are taught. A lot of screen exposure during classes in Maret. Regarding phone use, my kid can take a Nokia phone to school and I assure you that it won’t be used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Complain to the admin. It's possible they will listen; I've heard there's been a decline in screentime in privates, and a lot of that is due to parental pushback.

2. More immediate and probably more effective: leave for a school with minimal screentime. Classical, Waldorf, Montessori, and Charlotte Mason schools are all likely to be in this category.

Christian and Catholic school, also.

Catholic? Name any Catholic HS that uses Yondr pouches. I can only think of progressive schools that lock up the ones during the school day. Catholic schools have kids filming TikTok’s in the bathrooms

St. Anselm's (6-12) has pouches.

O’Connell does too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we toured Sidwell GDS and Maret for high school a few months ago, so this is what we observed this year - note all upper schoolers:

Sidwell: kids not supposed to use phones "inside the building" but as soon as they poured out onto the courtyard we observed most pulling out their phones, some crowded around looking at one phone others just on their own phones. LOTS of phones "outside the building". I did not see any being used when we peeped into classrooms, and all kids in the library were on their laptops working. Not sure if kids use them in transition or how often a teacher is lax and then kids use them in class. We weren't really invited to observe in a classroom long enough.

GDS: did not observe any phone use, kids were in the atrium area with big bleachers hanging out and talking or in class or on this patio thing or in the art room, I don't remember seeing any student on a phone.

Maret: this is their first year with a no phones policy but like the other two, they don't lock them away they just expect kids not to use them. Not sure what the consequence is and if teachers are in charge of monitoring and more lax teachers maybe allow? But we also got the same "we trust kids to monitor themselves, they know the rules" kind of language from the admissions lady who did the tour.

Overall, I was disappointed that they all seem to leave it up to the kids. Because ultimately that is on the individual classroom teachers to say "remember. no phones" and to manage it.

Also there is the issue on how classes are taught. A lot of screen exposure during classes in Maret. Regarding phone use, my kid can take a Nokia phone to school and I assure you that it won’t be used.

Yes, it's very disappointing.

Maret leaves device and computer usage up to the students... and parents to review and discuss with kids. There are teachers modeling using AI for writing emails, preparing instructional materials, etc. Some of it fits under responsible use. Same observation. Once dismissed you can practically trip over the crowd looking at their phone or school issued computer on school grounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we toured Sidwell GDS and Maret for high school a few months ago, so this is what we observed this year - note all upper schoolers:

Sidwell: kids not supposed to use phones "inside the building" but as soon as they poured out onto the courtyard we observed most pulling out their phones, some crowded around looking at one phone others just on their own phones. LOTS of phones "outside the building". I did not see any being used when we peeped into classrooms, and all kids in the library were on their laptops working. Not sure if kids use them in transition or how often a teacher is lax and then kids use them in class. We weren't really invited to observe in a classroom long enough.

GDS: did not observe any phone use, kids were in the atrium area with big bleachers hanging out and talking or in class or on this patio thing or in the art room, I don't remember seeing any student on a phone.

Maret: this is their first year with a no phones policy but like the other two, they don't lock them away they just expect kids not to use them. Not sure what the consequence is and if teachers are in charge of monitoring and more lax teachers maybe allow? But we also got the same "we trust kids to monitor themselves, they know the rules" kind of language from the admissions lady who did the tour.

Overall, I was disappointed that they all seem to leave it up to the kids. Because ultimately that is on the individual classroom teachers to say "remember. no phones" and to manage it.

Also there is the issue on how classes are taught. A lot of screen exposure during classes in Maret. Regarding phone use, my kid can take a Nokia phone to school and I assure you that it won’t be used.

Yes, it's very disappointing.

Maret leaves device and computer usage up to the students... and parents to review and discuss with kids. There are teachers modeling using AI for writing emails, preparing instructional materials, etc. Some of it fits under responsible use. Same observation. Once dismissed you can practically trip over the crowd looking at their phone or school issued computer on school grounds.

This is almost dystopian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we toured Sidwell GDS and Maret for high school a few months ago, so this is what we observed this year - note all upper schoolers:

Sidwell: kids not supposed to use phones "inside the building" but as soon as they poured out onto the courtyard we observed most pulling out their phones, some crowded around looking at one phone others just on their own phones. LOTS of phones "outside the building". I did not see any being used when we peeped into classrooms, and all kids in the library were on their laptops working. Not sure if kids use them in transition or how often a teacher is lax and then kids use them in class. We weren't really invited to observe in a classroom long enough.

GDS: did not observe any phone use, kids were in the atrium area with big bleachers hanging out and talking or in class or on this patio thing or in the art room, I don't remember seeing any student on a phone.

Maret: this is their first year with a no phones policy but like the other two, they don't lock them away they just expect kids not to use them. Not sure what the consequence is and if teachers are in charge of monitoring and more lax teachers maybe allow? But we also got the same "we trust kids to monitor themselves, they know the rules" kind of language from the admissions lady who did the tour.

Overall, I was disappointed that they all seem to leave it up to the kids. Because ultimately that is on the individual classroom teachers to say "remember. no phones" and to manage it.

Also there is the issue on how classes are taught. A lot of screen exposure during classes in Maret. Regarding phone use, my kid can take a Nokia phone to school and I assure you that it won’t be used.

Yes, it's very disappointing.

Maret leaves device and computer usage up to the students... and parents to review and discuss with kids. There are teachers modeling using AI for writing emails, preparing instructional materials, etc. Some of it fits under responsible use. Same observation. Once dismissed you can practically trip over the crowd looking at their phone or school issued computer on school grounds.

This is almost dystopian.

It is, but I'm at another school and the AI push is coming from the administrators. The latest buzz word to splash all over curricula and communications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a major problem at some schools and it's a legitimate reason to avoid a school. Walking the halls and common areas of some schools on tours, kids are doing their work during the school day. Others--Potomac was the worst offender--the kids are all staring at their phones in the middle of the school day. Take the phones away!

Same thing at Maret. Every kid in the hallways glued to their phone - admissions saying "we trust the kids to make healthy decisions" LOL you don't trust addicts!

There are US kids at Maret who won’t put their phone down to go outside for a fire drill unless forced to do so.

What are US kids? Like Americans? Fellow kids? or is US an acronym?

US = upper school

Ah, gotcha.

So I've seen Lower School, Middle School, Upper School. Am I missing any? I've also seen Early Childhood as differentiated from older Lower School grades.

You will also sometimes see ES for elementary school. That term is more common in public school, but if people moved from public to private or moved from a geographic area where elementary is used rather than lower school for the early grades, they might use it here.