New Policy: APS school board adopts all-day ban on student phone use, makes one exception

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

this is what the parents of younger kids just do not get. There are a lot of schedule shifts with high school activities that just don't happen with littles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

1. child can still email you from their school issued laptop
2. child can text during lunch at the designated phone use location established at their school.
3. if #2 is not yet in place at your school, see #1

Yes, the quick immediate text between class is much easier, faster, more efficient. But is life non-functional without it? No.
And it is the "go find it yourself, I refuse to provide an answer" PPs that began the nastiness.

See this is why no one wanted to answer your question. You just come up with really silly altneratives that are really inconvenient and don't work. Ever think about what happens if the child needs to get a message to the parent after the one designated allowed period? Or what if they do send it during that period - how/when will they be able to get a reply back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

this is what the parents of younger kids just do not get. There are a lot of schedule shifts with high school activities that just don't happen with littles.

Dude. Let go of the idea that the “only” people favoring the ban are parents with little kids. I am in favor, and I have a HS student.

It’s like you all have no idea of how to do a cost benefit analysis and the “cost” to YOU of last minute scheduling changes completely outweighs the entire body of scientific evidence along with your children’s teachers of cell phones harm. To keep harping on this issue of last minute schedule changes as if it’s the end of the universe for our over scheduled HS students is not convincing anyone. We all think your child will probably benefit from having to figure out last minute schedules changes on their own and NO ONE CARES HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU TOBE SOMEHWHAT INCONVENIENCED by not being tethered to your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

this is what the parents of younger kids just do not get. There are a lot of schedule shifts with high school activities that just don't happen with littles.

Dude. Let go of the idea that the “only” people favoring the ban are parents with little kids. I am in favor, and I have a HS student.

It’s like you all have no idea of how to do a cost benefit analysis and the “cost” to YOU of last minute scheduling changes completely outweighs the entire body of scientific evidence along with your children’s teachers of cell phones harm. To keep harping on this issue of last minute schedule changes as if it’s the end of the universe for our over scheduled HS students is not convincing anyone. We all think your child will probably benefit from having to figure out last minute schedules changes on their own and NO ONE CARES HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU TOBE SOMEHWHAT INCONVENIENCED by not being tethered to your kid.

Where are these studies that show that sending an occasional text between classes is harmful?

You are being overly rigid on this and seem incapable of understanding nuance. Maybe reflect on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

I have already addressed the "texting mom and dad about practice time changing" - I guess you missed it. Your snowflake will survive waiting for you if you can't leave at 4pm -- he has all this time now that practice has cancelled.

And PP is right, once a phone is out for a text message, its a siren song. Hence why a flip phone would be acceptable, and directly address you "one reason" in every possible ridiculous variant you may want to construct as to why you must text your kid for something urgent but not really that urgent because otherwise you would call the office and they would contact his teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

this is what the parents of younger kids just do not get. There are a lot of schedule shifts with high school activities that just don't happen with littles.

Dude. Let go of the idea that the “only” people favoring the ban are parents with little kids. I am in favor, and I have a HS student.

It’s like you all have no idea of how to do a cost benefit analysis and the “cost” to YOU of last minute scheduling changes completely outweighs the entire body of scientific evidence along with your children’s teachers of cell phones harm. To keep harping on this issue of last minute schedule changes as if it’s the end of the universe for our over scheduled HS students is not convincing anyone. We all think your child will probably benefit from having to figure out last minute schedules changes on their own and NO ONE CARES HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU TOBE SOMEHWHAT INCONVENIENCED by not being tethered to your kid.

Where are these studies that show that sending an occasional text between classes is harmful?

You are being overly rigid on this and seem incapable of understanding nuance. Maybe reflect on that.

Actually you give me another idea. A student can remove phone from a pouch if the school is allowed to install MDM on your personal phone, and then only allows the phone to whitelist certain phone numbers for like 10 messages a day. It can receive calls and everything else is locked down while at school. The MDM would also have a bluetooth app that the teacher could sniff with their own phone to confirm that this is not a burner phone but the MDM installed phone.

This is MDM profiles 101, not hard to implement at all. And now you can text about carpool without living in terror.

[Anonymous]

In a teacher who has posted about how I am really, really strict with this policy. It is a good policy and it benefits the kids in many ways. However, I have had a few one-off instances this year where a kid who is otherwise always on task, always present, never an issue about putting their phone away has called me over and said “Can I use my phone to text my mom, I started my period” or another quick but necessary message , and I have allowed it. Typically I ask them to just step out in the hall to send their message and then they come back in and replace the phone and we continue our class.

There are reasonable exceptions like this which is why I personally don’t like the idea of the locking pouches all day and I do think Youngkin is going to tip the balance from compliance when it truly matters (ie- in class) to a lack of broader support by prohibiting the phones during reasonable times like between class or at lunch. That being said, I can see why they think they might think that route is best since it in theory takes away the ability for the lazy teachers who just want the kids to think they’re cool to say “I don’t care if you keep them,” which some of them do. Inconsistent application of the policy is problematic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

I have already addressed the "texting mom and dad about practice time changing" - I guess you missed it. Your snowflake will survive waiting for you if you can't leave at 4pm -- he has all this time now that practice has cancelled.

And PP is right, once a phone is out for a text message, its a siren song. Hence why a flip phone would be acceptable, and directly address you "one reason" in every possible ridiculous variant you may want to construct as to why you must text your kid for something urgent but not really that urgent because otherwise you would call the office and they would contact his teacher.

Of course my kid would “survive”, but why the unnecessary inconvenience?

There is zero harm in discrete, occasional use.

Extreme rigidity is not the solution here. You need to work on nuance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

this is what the parents of younger kids just do not get. There are a lot of schedule shifts with high school activities that just don't happen with littles.

Dude. Let go of the idea that the “only” people favoring the ban are parents with little kids. I am in favor, and I have a HS student.

It’s like you all have no idea of how to do a cost benefit analysis and the “cost” to YOU of last minute scheduling changes completely outweighs the entire body of scientific evidence along with your children’s teachers of cell phones harm. To keep harping on this issue of last minute schedule changes as if it’s the end of the universe for our over scheduled HS students is not convincing anyone. We all think your child will probably benefit from having to figure out last minute schedules changes on their own and NO ONE CARES HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU TOBE SOMEHWHAT INCONVENIENCED by not being tethered to your kid.

Where are these studies that show that sending an occasional text between classes is harmful?

You are being overly rigid on this and seem incapable of understanding nuance. Maybe reflect on that.

Actually you give me another idea. A student can remove phone from a pouch if the school is allowed to install MDM on your personal phone, and then only allows the phone to whitelist certain phone numbers for like 10 messages a day. It can receive calls and everything else is locked down while at school. The MDM would also have a bluetooth app that the teacher could sniff with their own phone to confirm that this is not a burner phone but the MDM installed phone.

This is MDM profiles 101, not hard to implement at all. And now you can text about carpool without living in terror.

No one is “living in terror”; you’re just proposing extreme, unnecessary solutions that don’t really add any value.

Discrete, occasional use at the teacher’s discretion is a reasonable, practical solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a teacher who has posted about how I am really, really strict with this policy. It is a good policy and it benefits the kids in many ways. However, I have had a few one-off instances this year where a kid who is otherwise always on task, always present, never an issue about putting their phone away has called me over and said “Can I use my phone to text my mom, I started my period” or another quick but necessary message , and I have allowed it. Typically I ask them to just step out in the hall to send their message and then they come back in and replace the phone and we continue our class.

There are reasonable exceptions like this which is why I personally don’t like the idea of the locking pouches all day and I do think Youngkin is going to tip the balance from compliance when it truly matters (ie- in class) to a lack of broader support by prohibiting the phones during reasonable times like between class or at lunch. That being said, I can see why they think they might think that route is best since it in theory takes away the ability for the lazy teachers who just want the kids to think they’re cool to say “I don’t care if you keep them,” which some of them do. Inconsistent application of the policy is problematic.

I mean, getting your period unexpectedly sucks and being a teen in high school compounds that feeling, but I mean this has been going on for decades? It’s not like a new thing. How is your solution any different than excusing the student to go to the nurses office where she can make the exact same call (and actually get some tampons/pads instead of having to wait for mommy)? If she needs new clothes or to go home, the that too should be a done in the nurses office.

It just feels like every excuse to text mom is just that, and excuse. It’s too difficult to enforce who is doing what on their phones. I support a full ban and find of these “reasons” to use a phone to be lame and unhelpful. Kids need to deal with these issues like periods and scheduling. They will survive and be better for it.