Anonymous wrote:This is OP. We are in public and not MCPS. Our school allows phones, but they need to be put away.

I wouldn't want to take the phone because if there is a school shooting, I don't want to be in that position. The unfortunate mindset of a public school parent, unfortunately.

Thank you to everyone who suggested a dummy phone or a text/call phone only. I think we're going to start here.

How do we get him to understand how rude this behavior is? Grades are grades, he will pass or fail, but we want to make sure he is a good human.

Teacher here. I’m so tired of seeing the “I can’t take his phone what about a school shooting” argument. Those are RARE. And if it did happen, guess what - he’d find another way to contact you. Texting you wouldn’t save his life or not - the Uvalde kids were calling 911 like crazy and it didn’t matter. Quit making excuses for the phone!!

So, now you are worried about a school shooting? Come on, OP. You kid would be on his earbuds and be unaware of what’s going on around him. I would take a few days off work and attend class with him because he obviously can’t behave independently.

This is OP. We are in public and not MCPS. Our school allows phones, but they need to be put away.

I wouldn't want to take the phone because if there is a school shooting, I don't want to be in that position. The unfortunate mindset of a public school parent, unfortunately.

Thank you to everyone who suggested a dummy phone or a text/call phone only. I think we're going to start here.

How do we get him to understand how rude this behavior is? Grades are grades, he will pass or fail, but we want to make sure he is a good human.

To the mad parent that said teachers need to take it. We are not allowed to take a students property and hold on to it. This is legally not allowed. This has nothing to do with the teacher, admin or county. Now back to OP… your child is disrespectful and a freaking brat. Your child does not need a phone, he needs to be put in his place. He does not need air buds. Take it all away. He should not use it at home either. Be authoritative. Be a parent. His little disrespectful self needs you, his momma, to sit in on his classes until he can demonstrate that he is human enough to interact with adults in a respectful way.

Time for a dummy phone. The phone can only call and text only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Huge failure on parents' part.

FIFY.

No. It's called nomophobia, it's an epidemic, and adults in charge need to take action. That is op at home and the school at school. So many kids suffer from this. Telling a child to not use their phone while letting them use their phone is the stupidest course of action. The one thing op could do would be switching to a simple phone without internet access. That is if teachers do not ask the kids to actually use their phones to look up things, which I have seen done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Huge failure on parents' part.

FIFY.

At this point I’d not let him bring a phone to school at all, unless it is absolutely necessary. They all seem to know how to thwart the parental controls.

Anonymous wrote:Can't you go in the phone settings and brick his phone during the school day? That at least removes the ear buds and being on his phone during class time.

This is what I would do.

Take his phone. He's checked out and numb because the phone allows him to.

I would also engage him in exploring why he's checking out. He may or may not be aware of the reason but there is one. You're gonna have to help him figure that out. And that might involve a counselor/therapist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Same. They will not back us if something happens to the phone or the kid claims we broke it or parents freak out on us for taking it. We’ve been explicitly told to NOT take them. Parents, they’re your property and you pay for them. YOU take them .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Another teacher here. A coworker of mine was put on leave for taking a phone. That is absolutely against policy. We can nicely and repeatedly ask students to put them away. That’s it. There’s no penalty at all for using phones at our high school, so naturally they are out regularly.

The students who don’t have their phones out are the ones who report their parents check on their phone usage. It seems that the only thing that works at our school is hoping that students have engaged parents.

We check the phone but it's not always possible. We had teacher contact us and we took off all the apps and made it clear if we got contacted again the phone would be taken permanently. We told the teacher to please take it if it happens again and we can get it after school from them or the office. I like mine having a phone to communicate with us but not if it's an issue at school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Huge failure on admin’s part.

Parents also play a role in this. You can check phone usage. If your child is using it during the school day, have penalties!

My children (8th and 11th) are NOT to have their phones out during the school day. And we check.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stories like these make me mad. Not being defensive as my kids have never gotten in trouble due to this, but why are all teachers not having students put phone on a table up front when they get into class? It is like baiting kids to be distracted when taking the phones away removes the distraction. I have zero patience for helpless teachers like these not implementing a simple solution.

We cannot enforce that. When kids refuse, I cannot take their phones from them. Admin doesn’t have time or the inclination to do so.

Huge failure on admin’s part.

Take his phone.