Banning phones in school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

You want to know where your child is at?!? At school!
Why is your kid having a phone so important to you? You think they won’t survive like everyone else used to without phones? You’re a major part of the problem.

At our HS the kids are expected to use them for different groups and classes. And, use their student ID on their phone. I want to know where my child is and to be able to communicate with them. There are no more pay phones in school.

What does the availability of pay phones have to do with knowing where your kid is? How many calls from pay phones did most of ya’ll make in your life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Serious question: do you monitor your child's screen time during the school day? I ask because the parents who are adamant about their kids having cell phones in school usually also have kids who average 5-6 hours per day during school hours and text their kids constantly throughout the day.

Yes, it's easy to set up parental controls which only allows them to make calls (for an emergency) during school hours.

If this is what you’re doing then that would mean schools banning cell phones would have no impact for you student. They would put it in their backpack of locker and it would never be seen in school. If there was an emergency they would go to the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

MCPS Board meeting June 11. Can folks still request to speak or present at the meeting?

Also June 11 - interview with nominee of next MoCo Chief of Police. If folks want to ask questions around swatting etc calls and what pD's plans entail. WWHS received a threat - building was evacuated but when BCCHS received a similar threat, they want into hours long lockdown with military level police presence and equipment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

You want to know where your child is at?!? At school!
Why is your kid having a phone so important to you? You think they won’t survive like everyone else used to without phones? You’re a major part of the problem.

At our HS the kids are expected to use them for different groups and classes. And, use their student ID on their phone. I want to know where my child is and to be able to communicate with them. There are no more pay phones in school.

What does the availability of pay phones have to do with knowing where your kid is? How many calls from pay phones did most of ya’ll make in your life?

I would like to see cell phones out of schools, but I agree pay phones should come back if so, or some other strategy to help kids contact their parents if need be (like an office desk phone they're allowed to come use.) I made tons of pay phone calls from middle/high school to my parents, back in the pre-cell phone era-- didn't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Serious question: do you monitor your child's screen time during the school day? I ask because the parents who are adamant about their kids having cell phones in school usually also have kids who average 5-6 hours per day during school hours and text their kids constantly throughout the day.

Yes, it's easy to set up parental controls which only allows them to make calls (for an emergency) during school hours.

If this is what you’re doing then that would mean schools banning cell phones would have no impact for you student. They would put it in their backpack of locker and it would never be seen in school. If there was an emergency they would go to the office.

It's called parenting .more people should try it stop expecting the county to raise their kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're banned from our MCPS MS. If students use them during thr school day they get confiscated, can't get it back until dismissal.

I would like to know if this is truly enforced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're banned from our MCPS MS. If students use them during thr school day they get confiscated, can't get it back until dismissal.

I would like to know if this is truly enforced.

Different poster but at our MS, it is. I’m not saying they catch it every time but the teachers take it seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're banned from our MCPS MS. If students use them during thr school day they get confiscated, can't get it back until dismissal.

I would like to know if this is truly enforced.

My DD’s middle school cracked down after a major girl fight in the middle of the lunch room. It started from online issues. Lots of students also recorded the fight and posted it online. Principal had enough and has now banned cell phones all day and during lunch. Not sure about enforcement. So many kids just hang out in the bathrooms on phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Serious question: do you monitor your child's screen time during the school day? I ask because the parents who are adamant about their kids having cell phones in school usually also have kids who average 5-6 hours per day during school hours and text their kids constantly throughout the day.

I do monitor my child’s and that is not the case for our family. But again, why does it matter to YOU if my child texts me that his after school activity got canceled and he will be riding the bus home? I don’t see how my child having a silent phone in his pocket impacts your child in any way, so I’d appreciate if you’d worry about your own kid. I’ve got mine handled just fine thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Why is your kid having a phone so important to you? You think they won’t survive like everyone else used to without phones? You’re a major part of the problem.

Ok we also survived without the internet or email or Uber but like, times have changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're banned from our MCPS MS. If students use them during thr school day they get confiscated, can't get it back until dismissal.

I would like to know if this is truly enforced.

Different poster but at our MS, it is. I’m not saying they catch it every time but the teachers take it seriously.

I have read lots of teacher posts here that teachers do not want to disrupt class every time a kid has a phone. They also get push back from parents for taking phones or are accused of damage or loss. They just let it go for the sake of teaching the rest of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Serious question: do you monitor your child's screen time during the school day? I ask because the parents who are adamant about their kids having cell phones in school usually also have kids who average 5-6 hours per day during school hours and text their kids constantly throughout the day.

I do monitor my child’s and that is not the case for our family. But again, why does it matter to YOU if my child texts me that his after school activity got canceled and he will be riding the bus home? I don’t see how my child having a silent phone in his pocket impacts your child in any way, so I’d appreciate if you’d worry about your own kid. I’ve got mine handled just fine thank you.

Because it’s your one kid against 1000 other students. Great that your one kid is maybe keeping their phone away and on silent. But if 600 other kids do not then there are problems that impact everyone. And despite constant news of the problems of kids with phones, the need for monitoring and tons of internet safety presentation, parents still don’t seem to be getting it. Which is why ya’ll keep giving into pressure and giving 11yr olds phones. And then when fights occur or some kids get hurts walking outside because their head is buried in a phone or class is continually disrupted then your like, “ Why doesn’t MCPS do something?”

So this is doing something. Ban the phones from the classroom. If they bring them to school they put in a locker of lock bag. If caught, its confiscated until a parent comes to retrieve.

[Anonymous]

Between parents being too lenient (which may translate to poor grades, ultimately) and MCPS too scared to do anything . . . I really don't see how this will get resolved. Cellphones are simply not needed in a school setting and like someone else said don't you remember going to the office to call home back in the day?

Privilege is not a god-given right, after all. It can be taken away. And if the grades and behavioral issues continue then the system should be able to do something about it. And not have to worry about families screaming bloody murder about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're banned from our MCPS MS. If students use them during thr school day they get confiscated, can't get it back until dismissal.

I would like to know if this is truly enforced.

Different poster but at our MS, it is. I’m not saying they catch it every time but the teachers take it seriously.

I have read lots of teacher posts here that teachers do not want to disrupt class every time a kid has a phone. They also get push back from parents for taking phones or are accused of damage or loss. They just let it go for the sake of teaching the rest of the class.

There are other ways to handle it--make the kid take the phone to the office, give them lunch detention, etc. I'm sure the school can come up with some way of managing it without the teachers having to physically handle the phone. But from my experience, the threat of having their phones taken away is enough to convince most of the kids to leave them in their lockers. And since a lot of them are texting one another for the most part, if no one has a phone during the day, it's not a big deal. I was really skeptical of the phone ban in the beginning of the year and thought it would never work but it's working far better than I had thought. Once they get used to the rule, it becomes a non-issue for most kids. And the kids who aren't following the phone rule are likely not following most other rules so they are still the ones who are taking away the teacher's attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the research is out, phones are awful for our kids. Not to mention they never belonged in classrooms to begin with. Is there any movement by MCPS to ban phones in classrooms? What’s the best way to organize for banning phones? School by school or at the MCPS level?

If you don’t want your child to have a phone, don’t give your child a phone. Why do you feel the need to make rules or bans for everyone else’s children?

Serious question: do you monitor your child's screen time during the school day? I ask because the parents who are adamant about their kids having cell phones in school usually also have kids who average 5-6 hours per day during school hours and text their kids constantly throughout the day.

I do monitor my child’s and that is not the case for our family. But again, why does it matter to YOU if my child texts me that his after school activity got canceled and he will be riding the bus home? I don’t see how my child having a silent phone in his pocket impacts your child in any way, so I’d appreciate if you’d worry about your own kid. I’ve got mine handled just fine thank you.

Because it’s your one kid against 1000 other students. Great that your one kid is maybe keeping their phone away and on silent. But if 600 other kids do not then there are problems that impact everyone. And despite constant news of the problems of kids with phones, the need for monitoring and tons of internet safety presentation, parents still don’t seem to be getting it. Which is why ya’ll keep giving into pressure and giving 11yr olds phones. And then when fights occur or some kids get hurts walking outside because their head is buried in a phone or class is continually disrupted then your like, “ Why doesn’t MCPS do something?”

So this is doing something. Ban the phones from the classroom. If they bring them to school they put in a locker of lock bag. If caught, its confiscated until a parent comes to retrieve.

A kid gets hurt walking outside because their head is buried in a phone? Are you actually serious??