Yondr pouch pilot program at some MS

[Anonymous]

Sending my kids with a fishing magnet sewn into their clothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sending my kids with a fishing magnet sewn into their clothing.

Just withdraw them and let them sit on their phone all day at your house. You can call it homeschool.

[Anonymous]

My child will simply keep his phone in his backpack and just say it’s at home. It’s not going in some ridiculous locked pouch that he has to scramble to unlock quickly while he’s trying to catch the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child will simply keep his phone in his backpack and just say it’s at home. It’s not going in some ridiculous locked pouch that he has to scramble to unlock quickly while he’s trying to catch the bus.

That's not how school works. When the teacher tells the class something, the parent doesn't come in and say No thank you, Larlo will not do that.

SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child will simply keep his phone in his backpack and just say it’s at home. It’s not going in some ridiculous locked pouch that he has to scramble to unlock quickly while he’s trying to catch the bus.

That's not how school works. When the teacher tells the class something, the parent doesn't come in and say No thank you, Larlo will not do that.

SMH

Nope, the parent tells Larlo to just say no and decline if the teacher asks to look in their bag. Especially towards the end of the year and during test retakes, my kid texts if they want to leave early. This year her 7th period frequently had subs who just had the class sit. Kids with parents who could pick them up left

[Anonymous]

How many middle school kids are on this forum, offering dissenting answers?

This seems to be a good pilot program, I think it will change the student culture and institute an element of peer pressure to stay off phones.

Lastly, schools need to develop a strong leadership backbone to enforce the policy, It should be a non-negotiable. Soon as the staff do not want to do their jobs and deal with it, then standards erode and the students will resume phone use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many middle school kids are on this forum, offering dissenting answers?

This seems to be a good pilot program, I think it will change the student culture and institute an element of peer pressure to stay off phones.

Lastly, schools need to develop a strong leadership backbone to enforce the policy, It should be a non-negotiable. Soon as the staff do not want to do their jobs and deal with it, then standards erode and the students will resume phone use.

My kids go to Whitman. Do you really think a cellphone ban will change the culture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many middle school kids are on this forum, offering dissenting answers?

This seems to be a good pilot program, I think it will change the student culture and institute an element of peer pressure to stay off phones.

Lastly, schools need to develop a strong leadership backbone to enforce the policy, It should be a non-negotiable. Soon as the staff do not want to do their jobs and deal with it, then standards erode and the students will resume phone use.

It’s not the kids. Sadly, parents also have the idea rules don’t apply to THEIR kid.

[Anonymous]

Deal Middle School in the district started using them last year. One of my kids really had to hustle out to catch the bus. My kids said that some kids still snuck their phones, but those were the kids who usually got in trouble anyway.

I'm not a fan personally, but I'm not in the school all day trying to deal with all of the kids, so, leaving that up to the professionals to decide. It's mildly inconvenient to my family, but sometimes we go with the flow for the greater good. Fighting the pouches isn't the battle I want to take up in a time when there are teacher shortage and other bigger issues going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many middle school kids are on this forum, offering dissenting answers?

This seems to be a good pilot program, I think it will change the student culture and institute an element of peer pressure to stay off phones.

Lastly, schools need to develop a strong leadership backbone to enforce the policy, It should be a non-negotiable. Soon as the staff do not want to do their jobs and deal with it, then standards erode and the students will resume phone use.

It’s not the kids. Sadly, parents also have the idea rules don’t apply to THEIR kid.

DP. Correct. There are a lot of bulldozer parents in middle schools, and increasingly in high schools too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many middle school kids are on this forum, offering dissenting answers?

This seems to be a good pilot program, I think it will change the student culture and institute an element of peer pressure to stay off phones.

Lastly, schools need to develop a strong leadership backbone to enforce the policy, It should be a non-negotiable. Soon as the staff do not want to do their jobs and deal with it, then standards erode and the students will resume phone use.

It’s not the kids. Sadly, parents also have the idea rules don’t apply to THEIR kid.

DP. Correct. There are a lot of bulldozer parents in middle schools, and increasingly in high schools too.

And then they question why there is a shortage when “teaching is so easy and pays so much.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that these systems only work if you assume every kid has a phone. Because if kids can just say they don't have one, then many of them will say that, which defeats the point, because the kids who will admit they have them are the rule followers who would leave them in their backpack in the first place.

No solution is perfect. Doesn't mean you don't try it.

If the kid says they don't have one, and they are caught with one, it should go to the admin's office.

But that's the policy now. And it doesn't work. Because admin doesn't do anything. And parents pitch a fit that their child's phone was taken. The good kids will follow the rules and the rule breakers will continue to do what they've always done. Literally nothing will change.

Additionally, the cell phones are a significantly bigger problem at the high school level where there was no off and away policy last year. They were allowed to have theirs out and it was a daily battle. The middle schoolers, by and large, responded very well to the off and away policy because it was pushed county wide and there was no time ever the were allowed to have it out, even at lunch. This pilot program should have been rolled out at the high school level where phone use runs rampant.

?
I don’t think all MSs had off and away applicable all day long. At ours I think you could use between classes and at lunch.

The official FCPS rules was away for the day for middle schools and my rising 9th grader said it mostly worked. He too thinks the kids that were always on their phones are going to be the kids that find a way around this, too. I have a rising 7th grader in a school that will use them and I’m really hoping this doesn’t delay bus departure by 30 minutes every day. My kids are total rule followers so I’m irritated by the extra hassle but I recognize something needs to be done about phones in schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that these systems only work if you assume every kid has a phone. Because if kids can just say they don't have one, then many of them will say that, which defeats the point, because the kids who will admit they have them are the rule followers who would leave them in their backpack in the first place.

No solution is perfect. Doesn't mean you don't try it.

If the kid says they don't have one, and they are caught with one, it should go to the admin's office.

But that's the policy now. And it doesn't work. Because admin doesn't do anything. And parents pitch a fit that their child's phone was taken. The good kids will follow the rules and the rule breakers will continue to do what they've always done. Literally nothing will change.

Additionally, the cell phones are a significantly bigger problem at the high school level where there was no off and away policy last year. They were allowed to have theirs out and it was a daily battle. The middle schoolers, by and large, responded very well to the off and away policy because it was pushed county wide and there was no time ever the were allowed to have it out, even at lunch. This pilot program should have been rolled out at the high school level where phone use runs rampant.

?
I don’t think all MSs had off and away applicable all day long. At ours I think you could use between classes and at lunch.

The official FCPS rules was away for the day for middle schools and my rising 9th grader said it mostly worked. He too thinks the kids that were always on their phones are going to be the kids that find a way around this, too. I have a rising 7th grader in a school that will use them and I’m really hoping this doesn’t delay bus departure by 30 minutes every day. My kids are total rule followers so I’m irritated by the extra hassle but I recognize something needs to be done about phones in schools.

I’m a teacher and I support trying something. I agree most of the good kids will be fine with it and the losers who spend their time on the phone all day will fight back, pitch a fit, make a scene because they go to EXTREME lengths to never have to be parted from their phone. It’s embarrassing for them but we have to try anyway. The culture and purpose of schools can’t thrive without unfettered phone access.

[Anonymous]

They should’ve just expelled the ones that couldn’t follow the rules last year instead of punishing an entire school and their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should’ve just expelled the ones that couldn’t follow the rules last year instead of punishing an entire school and their families.

This.