Cell phone ban in schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be clear. There is no cell phone ban in schools and nobody is doing this. IMO, it's mostly a waste of time anyway.

Your opinion doesn't dictate policy. It could definitely happen, especially under the new superintendent. Instead of being smug about it, I suggest you begin to plan accordingly. There's already an MCPS policy in place; however, it's not been uniformly enforced. That is what people want.

Nobody is doing this? I think you should probably read the news once in awhile. You might learn something.

Nah, this is just some fantasy of far-right agitators that will never happen.

The far-right doesn't want cellphone bans. They want to keep the population uneducated-cellphones in classrooms and learning disruption play right into that hand. Nice try!

100% this.

Opiate for the masses. what do you think the GOP prefers your kids learn:
The latest TikTok dances or how the female reproductive system works?

My kids likely won't learn either of these things sinc

1) I put parental controls on their phone so this whole cell phone ban does nothing for them
2) health class won't teach anything useful like that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's be clear. There is no cell phone ban in schools and nobody is doing this. IMO, it's mostly a waste of time anyway.

? nobody in MCPS, that's the problem but there are other school districts banning phones in class, and they have seen some success. Google it.

I recently read that schools in Oklahoma are now teaching the 10 commandments. That doesn't make it a good idea. There are also many school districts that don't have ridiculous cell phone policies. Google it!

You have seem to have trouble with equivalencies don't you? Critical thinking doesn't seem to be your strong suit.

Yes, the PP who was stating that if other districts do it then it must be good has issues with critical thinking.

? you have serious comprehension issues.

Other school districts have banned cell phones in class, and they have seen good results.

We are not talking about the 10 commandments (I'm a Christian btw). Clearly, you cannot rebut the success other school districts have had with banning cell phones so you had to throw in something unrelated to the discussion to try to distract from your lack of critical thinking skills.

And others who haven't have also seen great results. This is a pointless exercise.

What "great results" have they seen? Scores and attention spans are down, and bad behavior is up across the country. Not to mention the numerous studies indicating how kids are addicted to their phones.

https://apnews.com/article/school-cell-phone-ban-01fd6293a84a2e4e401708b15cb71d36

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

haha go for it. They can take away anything that they deem unessential and a distraction in class. It's been like that for ages.

Such a snowflake.

[Anonymous]

Guys- I think there is just one anti-ban troll on here sock puppeting- they are trying to draw people into teacher bashing and stirring people up about restorative justice. Don’t engage.

[Anonymous]

The problem is implementation of policy, consequences, expectations, and curriculum with fidelity across the county. It’s a district with 212 schools with different culture. Not 212 schools operating all independently and different.

Giving actual teeth to the cell phone policy is a step in the direction of turning things around.

[Anonymous]

Yeah my HS principal’s comment about cell phones was “do not engage”. Way to give to leadership and best practices. To many kids refusing to put away phones and having meltdowns keeping security too busy to deal with other more important concerns.

I try to be laid back about phones but it is seriously out of hand. This year I am cracking down more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

haha go for it. They can take away anything that they deem unessential and a distraction in class. It's been like that for ages.

Such a snowflake.

Until the courts find them in the wrong and force them to pay out millions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

haha go for it. They can take away anything that they deem unessential and a distraction in class. It's been like that for ages.

Such a snowflake.

Until the courts find them in the wrong and force them to pay out millions.

haha, sure. All those school districts that have banned phones are being sued and the parents are winning. /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

And this is why there won’t be a ban. MCPS parents are crazy and litigious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

And this is why there won’t be a ban. MCPS parents are crazy and litigious.

Would any reputable lawyer take this case seriously? I guess if the parent wants to waste their money, shrug, go ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

LOL. Kids agree to abide by the code of conduct. If it says "no phone or it'll be confiscated", well oops!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Only a couple schools have open lunch so no this isn’t an issue for most high schoolers in MCPS.

Our principal is clear kids can go off campus and he will not enforce the policy. I can track my kid as they will not leave their phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah my HS principal’s comment about cell phones was “do not engage”. Way to give to leadership and best practices. To many kids refusing to put away phones and having meltdowns keeping security too busy to deal with other more important concerns.

I try to be laid back about phones but it is seriously out of hand. This year I am cracking down more.

Why didn’t you crack down before? Some of us are very strict about phone use. Why aren’t you? You’d rather the school parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the high schools have closed campuses or are kids allowed to leave during lunch?

Depends on HS. I really think it’s a mistake to talk about a ban that would apply across the board k-12. No reason for a K to have a cell phone, but lots of reasons for a 12th grade.
The lunch thing is a good point — most kids will order online as they are walking out of school so they have time to pick up food and eat it. The HS don’t all have space for all kids to eat in the school but the kids don’t have time to stand in line. Teachers still of course be able to punish kids using phones during class but I don’t think you can ban cell phones outright for HS kids who may be driving, need it for communication from coaches, etc.

Teachers don’t care if students have a cell phone with the sound turned off in their backpacks. Teachers don’t care if students use their phones at lunch although it would be healthier for students to chat with other students rather than being glued to their phones. What we are trying to tell you is that many students are addicted to their phones and cannot go 5 minutes in class without pulling out their phones and responding to a text or scrolling on instagram or texting their friends to ask for answers. It affects everyone in the classroom because the teacher has to constantly repeat instructions and information or spend more time helping kids who have not paid attention because they were glued to their cell phones while the teacher was teaching. The constant cell phone use creates a negative classroom environment for everyone including the teacher. Perhaps your student has all As so you don’t care but even your A student could be learning so much more in school if there was a cell phone ban in classrooms

+1 well stated.

My kid tells me that they only pull out their phone when they are done with their assignments (probably lying but I can only take it at face value), but that other kids are easily distracted by their phones (I'm sure my kid is, too). They have some AP classes and some not, and this is an across the board issue. If it was just one or two kids having this issue it would be a lot easier for the teacher to manage, but when you have 30 kids in the class, and the majority have their phones out, it's a lot harder to manage that.

Even if I take the phone away from my kid, if the other 29 kids have their phones, that doesn't really help the entire class, including my kid.

I put parental controls on my kids phone so even they did pull it out they can only make calls with it during school hours. Not really my place to parent other people's kids. I would also rather not burden teachers with enforcing yet another policy that they can't really enforce because there are no consequences. Kids can just say no and do what they want. It will cause more problems and even less learning will get done.

There is ALREADY a policy in place, the PROBLEM with the policy is that it's not enforced with consequences. That is what people here are asking for. There is already major instructional loss and problems occurring due to cellphones. Your entire line of thinking is backwards.

MCPS doesn't impose consequences, not real ones, anyway. RJ is what they use. Ask any teenager what they think of RJ (I have two teens). MCPS is afraid of the optics if they impose actual consequences of kids who don't follow the rules because it mostly impacts a certain group.

The real issue is that there are no consequences if parents oppose them. MCPS is more afraid of being sued than anything else. I’ve taught in three mixed income schools and in all of them, the wealthier kids were made of Teflon. They never got consequences because the parents swooped in to block it.

If they attempted to confiscate personal property, I'd press charges and sue them.

LOL. Kids agree to abide by the code of conduct. If it says "no phone or it'll be confiscated", well oops!

As a parent, I have no issue if a teacher takes the phone for inappropiate use. I'll get it at the end of the school day. I just want an email or call telling me. We will appologize as parents, so will the child, and there will be consequences at home.

[Anonymous]

You are a very responsible parent. I hope everyone is crystal on the fact that admin will blame and write negative reports on teacher who enforce policy like it is a negative review