GDS Phone Ban

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm with you. If there is an emergency I want my kid to have the phone in his bag.

I'm a teacher and have a basket in the front of the room for any phones I see come out. Otherwise they can keep them in their bags. I find laptops to be more troublesome!

Yeah, my DD would come home from HS last year with all kinds of stories of what kids were doing on their open laptops during class...

[Anonymous]

It’s the between class time that is problematic - that is time when they should be hanging out with their friends and socializing, not idling on their phones or waiting to hear from their moms - which I’m sure contributed to anxiety, like worrying that they will miss a text from you and not respond etc. Somehow we all handled our school lives without communicating with our parents all day. And I definitely get it, I have a teenager and sometimes I need to get him a message during the day also but the benefits of not having a phone far outweigh the drawbacks in my mind.

[Anonymous]

So the kids aren’t allowed to use them but they also have to use them for school pass and they can still have Apple Watches?

[Anonymous]

What is school pass?

[Anonymous]

school pass = the system the school uses for students to check in and out of school each day, so the school knows who's physically in the building. it's linked to their student IDs and student accounts.

[Anonymous]

Does every school have that or just GDS? I went to school down the street - I hate to be like back in my day! But back in my day, we did just sign out and back in when we left campus - and if we weren’t there for our first class, that’s how they knew we weren’t on campus. Sometimes kids snuck off campus and got in trouble and that was just life and part of growing up. This technology is not necessary.

[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.

Needing to be in touch 24/7 is a sign of anxiety. Maybe get some therapy? It’s better for students if they can focus on being present with their classmates and their school experience. Yes, it requires some parents to change their behavior and make plans ahead of time or go through the school to contact their student but it is better for adolescents’ mental health, learning, and concentration not to have access to their phones all day.

[Anonymous]

10000% yes.

[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?

Most if not all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Needing to be in touch 24/7 is a sign of anxiety. Maybe get some therapy? It’s better for students if they can focus on being present with their classmates and their school experience. Yes, it requires some parents to change their behavior and make plans ahead of time or go through the school to contact their student but it is better for adolescents’ mental health, learning, and concentration not to have access to their phones all day.

+1- let it go parents. I have two high schoolers and I understand. But we don't need to be texting our kids every moment. They don't need to tell you how they did on a test or how x went IN the moment. These are the skills young adults are missing- how to deal with situations on their own, how to manage struggle and feel confident in doing so. Constant reaching out to you and by you demontrates not having confidence in your kids that they can handle it. You don't need to text them to wish them luck before a test- wish them well that morning, tell them you will be thinking of them in that moment, and say goodbye for the day. Sure there may be some logistics which could be handled via email when needed. We don't text our kids during the school day. This is better for them.

[Anonymous]

SAES banned phones for HS this year as well.

[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.

And we all know school policy should be driven by parental convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huge public school systems are doing this. Many area private schools are too. GDS is not ahead of the curve. They’re just louder about it.

How are they louder about it? Some parent - who doesn't even claim to be from GDS -- posted on DCUM about it. That's not the school being loud about it. From what I understand, they sent an email to parents. Unless other schools never email policy changes to parents, there is nothing "louder" about GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Most if not all?

Which ones? Someone claimed STA but I've not seen any confirmation of that. Someone else said Hilton just announced too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huge public school systems are doing this. Many area private schools are too. GDS is not ahead of the curve. They’re just louder about it.

How are they louder about it? Some parent - who doesn't even claim to be from GDS -- posted on DCUM about it. That's not the school being loud about it. From what I understand, they sent an email to parents. Unless other schools never email policy changes to parents, there is nothing "louder" about GDS.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/phone-ban-georgetown-washington-day-school/679340/