Yondr pouch pilot program at some MS
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Anonymous
From the link: “For the first time in a long time, they've had to tell students to stop talking, and it’s been several years since many of them have had to do that, but the students are engaging with each other,” Phillips said. “It's a good problem to have.” This is so sad. Until now, our kids have been zombie students. What a miserable school day it has been up until now. |
Anonymous
If you can’t go 7 hours without a line of direct communication to your child I think maybe homeschooling is more up your lane. |
Anonymous
sounds like you’re the one with self control issues if this is so hard for you, I’m sure your kid is fine |
Anonymous
There is a not-so-subtle difference between "can't" and "on principle, disagree with being required to." You've insisted on painting those who disagree with you as incapable of going without constant communication rather than engaging on the question of what is a reasonably tailored policy to address the problem at issue. It would be more constructive if you gave up on the baseless villainizing and articulated clearly what you view as the target problem and why the Yondr pouch is the best of the possible solutions. |
Anonymous
DP. I think phone lockers would be a better solution. But they would be even more expensive which seems to be your primary objection to the Yondr pouches. |
Anonymous
The target problem is that there’s zero way to tell if kids are utilizing their phones to text parents or engage in inappropriate activity, therefore eliminate the issue to begin with because as you’ve stated it’s not actually a need but a want for parents to have a line of communication with their kids. The target problem is that there is no guarantee that every parent will a) demonstrate good judgment and not text kids in class and b)kids will silence there phones. So eliminate the issue. The target issue is that there’s a mountain of studies and empirical data that links extended student phone usage with negative social/emotional scenarios and decreasing learning engagement. I mean there’s literally studies, data, articles with skeptics who are converts, anecdotal evidence provided by users, etc. you name it and you’ve got it that supports this endeavor and all you’ve managed to muster as a counter is it doesn’t really work for you or your principles? Yeah, that’s not a good faith argument nor is it one that’s worth anyone’s time. That’s the voice of someone who should find alternative learning that does actually jive with their principles. Words of wisdom, cut the umbilical cord, your kid might not resent you yet but that time will come. I’ve watched dozens of kids realize as they matured that the issues they experienced their entire life with school, teachers, friends, bullies, etc. wasn’t actually any of that it was really their over bearing and meddling parents. It’s sad to watch kids realize their parents suck and won’t let them live their lives. Your kid gets 7 hours of the day 5 days of the week to find themselves. The cruelest thing you can do is routinely intrude on that time. |
Anonymous
Several at Oakton, as per DD. She said she would be humiliated if that happened to her. |
Anonymous
According to Youngkin's Executive Order 33, the target issue is use of social media: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/governor-of-virginia/pdf/eo/EO-33---Cell-Phones-7.9.24.pdf Curiously, his executive order is remarkably similar to what Yondr cites in their FCPS Powerpoint. This is the same Yondr that retains McGuire Woods in Richmond to lobby on "matters of importance": https://www.vpap.org/lobbying/client/491238-yondr-inc/ This is the same Yondr that has made large capital investments in Northern Virginia -- 270 acres in Northern Virginia as part of its Americas Expansion Plan. Yondr has quite successfully convinced parents like you to unquestionably parrot their talking points while never actually clicking on the links to understand what the data actually shows, and what it doesn't. The data does not show that cell phone use equals suicide but rather that extensive social media use is statistically correlated with increased mental health issues, particularly in girls. Correlation is not causation (if it were, we should all be a little incensed at the temporal correlation between Yondr's lobbying activity and the Youngkin executive order) but is rather a reason for further study to understand the problem. Instead, you've jumped on the nearest soapbox to make wild claims that go well beyond what even Yondr would suggest. Nowhere does Yondr or Youngkin or the VDOE go so far as to claim that keeping in touch with parents is even a factor, let alone something that needs to be stopped. There is nothing about "cutting the umbilical cord" or other such nonsense. Rather, the order specifically acknowledged the need to come up with processes to allow parents to appropriately communicate with kids. Bottom line: parent-kid communication is not and never was the issue, and there is a reasonable non-Yondr solution that is tailored to the actual problem: 1. Have an away-for-the-day policy with reasonable exceptions and breaks during non-instructional time. 2. Launch a detailed, evidence-based education program to inform parents and kids on what we know (and what we don't) about the risks of extended social media usage, and ways parents can manage a child's usage. 3. Encourage parents who don't want their kids on cell phones to not provide them or have kids leave them at home. Or, if we're dying to hand money over to Yondr, offer a subsidized program allowing parents who love the pouch to obtain one for their kid for free or at a reasonable price. |
Anonymous
+1,000 I agree with all 3 solutions. The schools just need to enforce away for the day. The problem is it becomes overwhelming for the teacher to keep policing the cell phones and it takes away instructional time. My guess is it is easier for the teachers if phones are simply just put away in the pouches. |
Anonymous
Doesn’t your child have a non-FCPS email? You should know they can access that from their school laptop. |
Anonymous
I’m confused as to why someone thinks they have a right to interrupt a class-because that’s what happens when you text or call your kid during class. |
Anonymous
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How does a decoy phone work? I'm interested in this.
I assume if I can't scrounge up one lying around that I buy one used, but do I need to activate it? Or just make sure the battery works and it turns on? DD has anxiety and diagnosed PTSD from elementary school. She was in a classroom with two kids with explosive behavior issues. Her class had to evacuate at least once a week and we ended up pulling her out with 3 months left of the school year because of nonstop panic attacks while in class over the anxiety of when another outburst would come and if she would be on the receiving end of it that time. Her anxiety has been well controlled for 4 years now but she said not having access to her phone is making her feel very trapped and anxious. We restarted CBT 3 weeks ago to refresh her coping mechanisms. Her Psychiatrist wanted to try 8 weeks of CBT and a slightly increased medication dose up from her maintenance dose before any intervention with the school that would allow for her to keep her phone. This decoy method would be far easier. And no, DD has never had any phone issues at school. She's never been caught using her phone. She's never had it taken in the past. I've never even received a text from her during school hours. I fully believe she would not have any use issues and would support any consequences that came if she were "caught". |
Anonymous
I've got two kids at a Yondr MS. For one, the teacher (first class on the block schedule is responsible for enforcement) explained to them on day one that he wasn't going to check. That kid doesn't have a phone anyway so the Yondr has been at home all year. The other keeps an old phone in the pouch but no one has ever checked what is in the pouch so a piece of cardboard would have worked just as well. He doesn't actually use the real phone at school but doesn't like the idea of having no way to communicate so it just lives at the bottom of his backpack. |
Anonymous
I'm confused as why after 37 pages you still are under the misimpression that this is about instructional time. |
Anonymous
Which further highlights the utter silliness of this policy. Kids can use their FCPS-provided device to communicate in all the ways that cause the harms that FCPS says it is trying to prevent. |