MCPS cell phone restriction program shows promising changes, staff say

[Anonymous]

During lockdowns, you are all going to be mad you are getting zero info from MCPS and your poor kid is hiding in a closet with no information about what is going on.
Lockdowns happen at least once a year at my son's MCPS high school. This is the first time we could not get in touch and it was frustrating and scary.
Have kids give up phones to teachers in each class. No reason to have them during class but they should be within reach in case of emergency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. Sorry if I have a fixed mindset but I’m afraid the damage has been done and cell phones are a lost cause. No way can one teacher manage 30+ students and their cell phones while teaching at the same time. A parent meeting is a consequence? What happens when parents refuse to come in, or can’t come in bc they’re working and demand to have their $1000 phone returned? If they are willing to come in, who has time to run these meetings? Are we hiring cell phone police to do all this? Teachers and Admin are already stretched too thin.

I agree with this. Cell phones in schools were being discussed on Elliot in the Morning a couple of weeks ago and the comments from many callers were basically it's easy to just take it in and use in class and there is no enforcement. One person (a teacher) said that only if there are IMMEDIATE consequences will there be full compliance. "Being warned" is certainly not a consequence. And "mom & dad refusing to come in" as far from a consequence. Like you said, a teacher can't manage 30 phones and teach at the same time. The schools need a second staff member present in each classroom to deal with the phones.

I think it's a lost cause.

In our middle school, if the phone is out, it gets confiscated and goes to the office for the rest of the day. Upon second offense, parent has to come pick it up.

It has been very effective.

I assume this is MCPS in one of the pilot programs? Or if elsewhere, is it a student population that tends to follow the rules?

Who confiscates the phone? The teacher? What if Teacher 1 begins as strict about enforcement and Teacher 2 just lets it slide? How much do the kids argue with Teacher 1 when Teacher 2 doesn't enforce the rules?

At a pilot school. Teacher takes phone and them someone from the office comes to get it. All teachers enforce it — principal made a string push on enforcement this year with the adoption of the new policy.

And no, the students aren’t generally compliant; they are middle schoolers, after all. The enforced consequences are what make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. Sorry if I have a fixed mindset but I’m afraid the damage has been done and cell phones are a lost cause. No way can one teacher manage 30+ students and their cell phones while teaching at the same time. A parent meeting is a consequence? What happens when parents refuse to come in, or can’t come in bc they’re working and demand to have their $1000 phone returned? If they are willing to come in, who has time to run these meetings? Are we hiring cell phone police to do all this? Teachers and Admin are already stretched too thin.

I agree with this. Cell phones in schools were being discussed on Elliot in the Morning a couple of weeks ago and the comments from many callers were basically it's easy to just take it in and use in class and there is no enforcement. One person (a teacher) said that only if there are IMMEDIATE consequences will there be full compliance. "Being warned" is certainly not a consequence. And "mom & dad refusing to come in" as far from a consequence. Like you said, a teacher can't manage 30 phones and teach at the same time. The schools need a second staff member present in each classroom to deal with the phones.

I think it's a lost cause.

In our middle school, if the phone is out, it gets confiscated and goes to the office for the rest of the day. Upon second offense, parent has to come pick it up.

It has been very effective.

I assume this is MCPS in one of the pilot programs? Or if elsewhere, is it a student population that tends to follow the rules?

Who confiscates the phone? The teacher? What if Teacher 1 begins as strict about enforcement and Teacher 2 just lets it slide? How much do the kids argue with Teacher 1 when Teacher 2 doesn't enforce the rules?

I am Teacher 1. My most resistant students name all the Teacher 2s to my face when I follow my school’s policy. I have passed that info on to admin and there are zero consequence for Teacher 2s deciding to be the chill teacher who lets kids be on their phones. Meanwhile I am cursed out and threatened by 12 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. Sorry if I have a fixed mindset but I’m afraid the damage has been done and cell phones are a lost cause. No way can one teacher manage 30+ students and their cell phones while teaching at the same time. A parent meeting is a consequence? What happens when parents refuse to come in, or can’t come in bc they’re working and demand to have their $1000 phone returned? If they are willing to come in, who has time to run these meetings? Are we hiring cell phone police to do all this? Teachers and Admin are already stretched too thin.

I agree with this. Cell phones in schools were being discussed on Elliot in the Morning a couple of weeks ago and the comments from many callers were basically it's easy to just take it in and use in class and there is no enforcement. One person (a teacher) said that only if there are IMMEDIATE consequences will there be full compliance. "Being warned" is certainly not a consequence. And "mom & dad refusing to come in" as far from a consequence. Like you said, a teacher can't manage 30 phones and teach at the same time. The schools need a second staff member present in each classroom to deal with the phones.

I think it's a lost cause.

In our middle school, if the phone is out, it gets confiscated and goes to the office for the rest of the day. Upon second offense, parent has to come pick it up.

It has been very effective.

I assume this is MCPS in one of the pilot programs? Or if elsewhere, is it a student population that tends to follow the rules?

Who confiscates the phone? The teacher? What if Teacher 1 begins as strict about enforcement and Teacher 2 just lets it slide? How much do the kids argue with Teacher 1 when Teacher 2 doesn't enforce the rules?

I am Teacher 1. My most resistant students name all the Teacher 2s to my face when I follow my school’s policy. I have passed that info on to admin and there are zero consequence for Teacher 2s deciding to be the chill teacher who lets kids be on their phones. Meanwhile I am cursed out and threatened by 12 year olds.

Yup! This is why the "Away All Day" pilots are bogus.

[Anonymous]

Parent with one DC in private HS, one in MCPS MS. Mcps DC is supposed to be a phones away all day school but does not have yonder pouches. Enforcement and compliance has been uneven to put it mildly. Private HS where older DC attends requires students to put phones on silent and in a basket by the classroom door. They are not allowed to use them in the hallways or at lunch in the dining hall. There are some lounge areas where they can use phones on breaks, things are bit more relaxed at lunch if kids are outside. You are written up if you are caught breaking the rules and if you get X number of write ups, you receive a punishment. Obviously its a smaller school, but why wouldn’t a phone basket in class work for MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Pp here again—DC in MCPS middle doesn’t ask teachers to collect phones at the start of class. The whole phone policy is supposed to be up to the individual kids. Kids use their phones in class all the time and there are no consequences. The “policy” is more of a talking point for the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent with one DC in private HS, one in MCPS MS. Mcps DC is supposed to be a phones away all day school but does not have yonder pouches. Enforcement and compliance has been uneven to put it mildly. Private HS where older DC attends requires students to put phones on silent and in a basket by the classroom door. They are not allowed to use them in the hallways or at lunch in the dining hall. There are some lounge areas where they can use phones on breaks, things are bit more relaxed at lunch if kids are outside. You are written up if you are caught breaking the rules and if you get X number of write ups, you receive a punishment. Obviously its a smaller school, but why wouldn’t a phone basket in class work for MCPS?

Theft. Damage.

Teachers can’t be stationary by the door or their desk to keep an eye on the basket.

Teacher writes Larla a bathroom pass and on her way out, Larla pauses by the basket. She may have slipped Destiny’s phone into her pocket when no one is looking. All Destiny knows at the end of the period is that her phone is gone and Larla was over there. Larla says she doesn’t need to steal because she isn’t poor like Destiny. Destiny proceeds to beat Larla like a drum. Later, Destiny’s phone is found in the period supplies basket in the nearest girls’ restroom.

Or Cannon is having a really bad day because the teacher asked him to stop trying to search inappropriate content to show to the kid next to him. He starts throwing objects in the classroom. In the ensuing chaos, Piper trips bumped the basket off the table. There are several cracked screens. Who is to blame? Cannon? Piper? The teacher, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp here again—DC in MCPS middle doesn’t ask teachers to collect phones at the start of class. The whole phone policy is supposed to be up to the individual kids. Kids use their phones in class all the time and there are no consequences. The “policy” is more of a talking point for the administration.

Yup. And admin will lie, as evidenced by Principal Pyles, and claim the policy is a success even though it fails under the most basic of practical questioning of said implementation.

[Anonymous]

I would like MCPS to do what FCPS is doing.

(Haters - I smell you a mile away) I'm not looking to move so zip it)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1268365.page

The youth want what we had

Last day of school 1997: https://www.tiktok.com/@a90slife/video/7481062139550092587

Worklife before phones:
https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/06/life-before-cell-phones-internet-after-work.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/before-smartphones-boredom/674631/ (love the image)

Civilization is in decline because of our addiction. Have you noticed how college campuses are so lame compared to 20 years ago? How the middle school bus stop everyone looking at phones. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quit with the name calling!

This is such good thing.

All high school kids are on their phones all day. It is a serious problem.

Middle schoolers too and many 4/5th graders in elementary

That's even worse!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quit with the name calling!

This is such good thing.

All high school kids are on their phones all day. It is a serious problem.

Middle schoolers too and many 4/5th graders in elementary

That's even worse!

My kid's MS doesn't allow cell phones bell to bell (8-3ish). It's as it should be. My kid says some kids still sneak in phones to class, and teachers don't always call them on it, but most of them know that if they're caught that it will be confiscated to the front office and parents called on the second offense. This is a very good policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quit with the name calling!

This is such good thing.

All high school kids are on their phones all day. It is a serious problem.

Middle schoolers too and many 4/5th graders in elementary

That's even worse!

My kid's MS doesn't allow cell phones bell to bell (8-3ish). It's as it should be. My kid says some kids still sneak in phones to class, and teachers don't always call them on it, but most of them know that if they're caught that it will be confiscated to the front office and parents called on the second offense. This is a very good policy.

Is this a MCPS middle school? Amazing! MCPS is terrified to discipline students for some reason