Reply to FCPS Cell Phone Ban - Bell to Bell

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Reply to "FCPS Cell Phone Ban - Bell to Bell - the time is now"

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[quote=Anonymous]The tide is turning. Smoking, asbestos, seatbelts....we'll look back in dismay at how long we let kids carry a device during their school day that was designed to interfere with the most critical formative experiences of their developing brains. Cell phones possessed by a student at school (even just in their pockets/backbacks) impair concentration in the classroom, inhibit face-to-face engagement and communication with peers and teachers, and change an adolescent's brain, permanently.

Those terrible impacts outweigh the convenience of being able to disturb your child during the school day. Instead, we can allow our children's brains to develop as they are hard wired to do, not as tech companies would prefer.

The current FCPS policy is inadequate and not enforced with fidelity. The FCPS school board has approved motions to consider new strategies to enforce the current policies that are in place ([url]https://www.fcps.edu/news/student-rights-and-responsibilities-srr-updates-cell-phone-use-schools[/url]) and are considering alternatives for the 25-26 school year, to include a bell to bell ban.

FCPS should implement a bell to bell cell phone ban NOW.

One parent can take away their child's phone during the school day, but that's a difficult position for that child to be in. We must act together - regarding phones in schools and regarding phones in our children's lives.

A multitude of schools around the country are implementing bell to bell bans, with some anxiety and pushback but with overwhelmingly positive results - smaller public and private schools, but also large school divisions like LA United School District, NYC Schools and Florida's Orange County School System, whose bell-to-bell policy started at the beginning of this school year and has produced "overwhelmingly positive results".

Is this hard to do? Yes. Are there organizations willing and able to assist schools in this transition?  Yes. [url]https://www.phonefreeschoolsmovement.org[/url] Do schools and families need to partner together with humility and an openness to the recommendations of professionals all over the country? Yes. Do we need to do this now?  Yes. We very much do.

Please show your support by signing the petition below. Access resources under the petition that address common questions/concerns re: why this is so important, questions about school security, etc.

This petition is a combined effort of advocates in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington counties as well as DC.

[url]https://www.change.org/p/phone-free-dmv-schools[/url] - PETITION

[url]https://www.afterbabel.com/p/phone-free-schools[/url] - The Case for Phone Free Schools

[url]https://catherineprice.substack.com/p/resources-for-kids-smartphones-social?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web[/url] - Ultimate Guide to Kids, Smartphones and Social Media

[url]https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/[/url] The Anxious Generation - website for Jonathan Haidt's best selling book

[url]https://schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell-phones-and-text-messaging-in-schools/[/url] - Does your kid need a cell phone in school to be safe?

Thank you. We've got this.

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