Reply to Cell phone lock pouches pilot program

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Cell phone use is very much a problem in middle and high school. My child has observed kids using cell phones to cheat on tests, to watch videos during class time, to take photos and videos of other students and use AI to make it seem as though other students are saying/doing bad things. One child refused to put her phone away, saying her parent was texting her and it was important, and thus texted all through class. Teachers shouldn't have to put up with all that.

I don't think parents fully know everything their kids are doing on cellphones. It's great if one parent monitors their child's cellphone use, but there are 20-30 kids in a class and the majority of parents are not paying attention to what their kids are doing.

My child's in a high school where they put the cell phones in what looks like a shoe organizer hanging on the door. My child has said that the program, while not perfect, has helped with kids paying more attention in school. I like that my child is no longer distracted by kids watching cell phone videos during test time. I like that there are fewer instances of teachers having to waste teaching time arguing with students over cell phones.[/quote]

+1
They don't need to waste $$$ on these stupid pouches - just put all phones in the shoe organizer, or bin, or container of some sort.  Phones should all be off or muted.  Kids can pick them up at the end of class.  [b]For the life of me, I can't understand why this wasn't implemented YEARS ago.[/b][/quote]

Because when all 30+ kids put their phones in the little pocket chart up front, I am responsible for $30,000 worth of technology that doesn't belong to me. Fire drill goes off--did I forget to lock the door?  End of class chaos when I'm scrambling to help a student and not paying attention to phone pick up, did student A take student B's brand new $1500 iphone? Kid forgets their phone at the end of class and I put it in my desk for safe keeping. Kid's SO sends nude photos, am I now in possession of child pornography? Pocket chart slips and I try to adjust the hooks but it falls and screens crack--who is responsible for fixing the phones?

There was a LOT of fear and concern in this litigious community that schools would be on the hook for damages and theft. Behaviors and learning environment had to get so bad that schools would rather deal with the fall out of lost/stolen/broken phones than deal with the behaviors any more.

I'm still getting angry emails from parents when I notify them I wrote referrals for phone use in class. "FYI, I wrote a referral because Johnny did not put his phone up in math and was using it during independent work time." "You have no business writing a referral for him contacting his parents. We are dealing with things at home that require access to our child at all times. I will be notifying admin that you are not accommodating our child's needs." It's insane. My admin is wonderful and backing me up consistently, but it is a battle.[/quote]

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