New cell phone policy for 2026-2027

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now high school kids can’t even use their phone at lunch. Are you kidding me?? How ridiculous.

Great idea. The less they use their devices, the better. It’s a privilege, not a right.

Their lunch is their free time. Teachers are on their phones all fu$king day at school.

How many times do you people have to be told that TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ARE NOT EQUALS.

Teachers are adults whose frontal lobes are fully developed. Students are children who are still developing the ability to use their brains.

Stop comparing teachers and children.

Schools either have universal rules and values (about presence, phones, accountability for following policy) or kids and teens don’t take them seriously because adult being huge hypocrites is extremely obvious to kids— particularly teens.

Plenty of workplaces don’t allow phones so this isn’t about teachers not being treated like adults.

+1 this exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! I hope the school offices staff up to handle all of the “messages” that need to get to the kids - like ride home with Susie today because I got stuck at work.

Messages are called into the office and then delivered to the classroom back in my day of FCPS. Can’t wait for how FCPS handles this change

Our giant school has a dozen “office assistant” TAs who run around delivering notes once in a blue moon but most just sit in the corner scrolling on their laptop for the period. They have plenty of bandwidth to deliver messages.

They made it work 20 years ago, they can make it work again next year.

I see the benefit of having less device time but there is no difference between scrolling on a laptop and scrolling on a phone. My 4th grader comes home at least once a week excitedly telling us how he's figured out a new way to get to this game admin keeps trying to block and my 5th grader was shown something by a classmate that got the classmate suspended. On FCPS issued devices.

People want to be able to solve this with some decree and no actual effort but that's never going to work. The way you have kids on devices less is to create a device-less culture. Rules about phone but also, no-to-minimal laptop usage. Definitely not a 1:1 policy. Have bell to bell policies for teachers. How can you tell kids "it's a useful tool for me, but an evil distraction for you?" HS kids are young, not dumb. And it is a useful tool for them - that's why FCPS has invested so much in edtech partnerships, online textbooks, online testing, etc.

Until those changes are made, any sort of phone ban will fail. Parents who really need phones banned should probably not buy their kid one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now high school kids can’t even use their phone at lunch. Are you kidding me?? How ridiculous.

Great idea. The less they use their devices, the better. It’s a privilege, not a right.

Their lunch is their free time. Teachers are on their phones all fu$king day at school.

How many times do you people have to be told that TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ARE NOT EQUALS.

Teachers are adults whose frontal lobes are fully developed. Students are children who are still developing the ability to use their brains.

Stop comparing teachers and children.

Schools either have universal rules and values (about presence, phones, accountability for following policy) or kids and teens don’t take them seriously because adult being huge hypocrites is extremely obvious to kids— particularly teens.

Plenty of workplaces don’t allow phones so this isn’t about teachers not being treated like adults.

Our teens call us out for being on our phones when we are at the table or doing something else where phone usage is inappropriate and I love it. They are learning how to have a phone and use it in the right way . That won't just materialize after high school as you can see from the way teachers yell about their phones while on them.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t a new law so is there a reason it was posted now? Did Reid put something out just now that said something about it that is new to FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t a new law so is there a reason it was posted now? Did Reid put something out just now that said something about it that is new to FCPS?

Spanberger was looking for a quick win and expanded the Younkin policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now high school kids can’t even use their phone at lunch. Are you kidding me?? How ridiculous.

Did an insecure parent or phone dependent-student start this gripe thread? Hard to know the difference really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then ban all personal devices at school. Because a kid using their MacBook will have all of the media and texting.

That's a good point. But I think phones and smart devices can enable cheating in a way that an open laptop cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now high school kids can’t even use their phone at lunch. Are you kidding me?? How ridiculous.

Did an insecure parent or phone dependent-student start this gripe thread? Hard to know the difference really.

No, a parent with common sense. Kids sometimes need to text their parents and vice versa for whatever reason. It’s not a crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now high school kids can’t even use their phone at lunch. Are you kidding me?? How ridiculous.

Did an insecure parent or phone dependent-student start this gripe thread? Hard to know the difference really.

It's a SAHM. I agree with the poster who made that post yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t a new law so is there a reason it was posted now? Did Reid put something out just now that said something about it that is new to FCPS?

Spanberger was looking for a quick win and expanded the Younkin policy.

The youngkin policy was always no phones all day. FCPS just skirted it this year by allowing them during lunch. Next year it will be fully implemented.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57403/638621683945370000

[Anonymous]

Research is clear. Phones during the school day negatively impact social/emotional development, academic achievement, and increase inappropriate behaviors on campus. If you walk past the cafeteria during lunch it is zombie zone--kids are not just texting mom and putting their phones away, 2/3 of kids are staring at screens with airpods in, scrolling tik tok or instagram. It's creepy. This is a good rule that should have been implemented this year.

(Although as a teacher I am almost certain one of my "duties" next year will be monitoring the cafeteria for phones which is pretty miserable, but it needs to happen)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the kids who sit alone and have no friends in their lunch period. They are the ones who now have to sit there looking around at other kids in groups.

As someone who was one of those kids in high school, I can tell you that a book is a great option for that period, or doodling, or going for a walk.

The kids who are left out of the social groups, and scrolling at lunch, are scrolling social media where they are also left out. It's even less healthy for them than it is for their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t a new law so is there a reason it was posted now? Did Reid put something out just now that said something about it that is new to FCPS?

Spanberger was looking for a quick win and expanded the Younkin policy.

The youngkin policy was always no phones all day. FCPS just skirted it this year by allowing them during lunch. Next year it will be fully implemented.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57403/638621683945370000

That’s the state document from 2024. This is FCPS saying will implement 26-27: https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-adopts-new-cell-phone-policy-and-updates-student-rights-and

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great! I hope the school offices staff up to handle all of the “messages” that need to get to the kids - like ride home with Susie today because I got stuck at work.

Messages are called into the office and then delivered to the classroom back in my day of FCPS. Can’t wait for how FCPS handles this change

Just get 50 parents to start doing this every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t a new law so is there a reason it was posted now? Did Reid put something out just now that said something about it that is new to FCPS?

Spanberger was looking for a quick win and expanded the Younkin policy.

The youngkin policy was always no phones all day. FCPS just skirted it this year by allowing them during lunch. Next year it will be fully implemented.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57403/638621683945370000

That’s the state document from 2024. This is FCPS saying will implement 26-27: https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-adopts-new-cell-phone-policy-and-updates-student-rights-and

This policy includes smartwatches which is laughable. Wear a long-sleeve shirt and don't be dumb about it and the school will never know. Or get one of the smart watches designed to look like a luxury watch.

Or buy your kid a smartwatch and then find a doctor will to say that they need HR data to monitor a condition. The policy already exempts kids who need phones or smart devices for medical reasons (insulin, etc.)

A policy that you can easily get around can't accomplish anything.