Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cool! I’ll just text on my MacBook then

Kids don't have macbooks.

Yeah, they actually do, including mine. The only time they need their chromebooks are for certain tests, like AP tests.

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MS went to "off and away all day" this past year. Kid says some people hide phones on their person and do what they want. But I think one great consequence of the policy is that it offers an explanation and a backup for kids who don't want to bother device-smuggling all the time. It will also "protect" them to a certain extent from friends who might want them to text during class, if they are working to resist the peer pressure. I'm glad as a parent that at least the policies exist. Now we all have to band together to help with the enforcement.

If parents monitored their kids phone use we would not need MCPS todo it. Stop relying on the school to parent your kids.

My kid's MS went to "off and away all day" this past year. Kid says some people hide phones on their person and do what they want. But I think one great consequence of the policy is that it offers an explanation and a backup for kids who don't want to bother device-smuggling all the time. It will also "protect" them to a certain extent from friends who might want them to text during class, if they are working to resist the peer pressure. I'm glad as a parent that at least the policies exist. Now we all have to band together to help with the enforcement.

At the high school I teach at we can ask kids to put the phone away. But so many are sneaky. If they have earbuds in it’s a dead give away that they are on their phone in some way so I ask them to take those out too.

The years back from the pandemic we tried to enforce no phones but some students had toddler style tantrums. (Refusal, walking out class, insisting on getting picked up by parents). Many students are completely addicted. Almost Every student is on their device and trying to avoid participating in class. They refer to eachother as NPCs since so few kids actually interact in class with other students. We really need a full phone ban/detox at this point. They lie to teachers and to parents constantly regarding phone use. Many signs of addiction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought they were already banned?

How old are your kids?
There are no consequences. MCPS has no consequences so kids pretty much do whatever they want

There are consequences at least at the good schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really sad with the new policy. Wish all secondary schools were using Yondr pouches but that would take too much work for MCPS staff I guess.

Too much money.

and, at the end of the day it would be impossible to unlock them all and kids to get on the buses ontime.

Anonymous wrote:Cool! I’ll just text on my MacBook then

Kids don't have macbooks.

This “new” policy is absolutely no change in high schools.
It’s awful.

Anonymous wrote:We had no phone at Churchill this year and I though it was enforced very well. I also noticed my kid got more done at school and had the same or less hw this year (after ramping up the rigor a lot compared to last year).

I had to go get their air pods once from the office. They said they understood why the teacher took them, it wasn't a thing at all.

Love that this rule is remaining.

My kid is at BCC and has twice forgotten her phone in her Spanish teacher's class: when she forgets it, she only realizes it the next day, or the next, then doesn't rush to the lost and found, which means she can go phone-less for a week. A few weeks ago, when everyone was putting their phones away in the pouches or whatever, the teacher joked that DD should just keep her phone because she forgets it too often.

It's true that DD couldn't care less about her phone. She gets much of her homework done in class, and then spends the afternoon glued to her tablet at home, chatting with friends! Funny kiddo.

Anonymous wrote:Cool! I’ll just text on my MacBook then

Cool. Most kids in MCPS use the school-issued chromebook.

We had no phone at Churchill this year and I though it was enforced very well. I also noticed my kid got more done at school and had the same or less hw this year (after ramping up the rigor a lot compared to last year).

I had to go get their air pods once from the office. They said they understood why the teacher took them, it wasn't a thing at all.

Love that this rule is remaining.

Cool! I’ll just text on my MacBook then

Anonymous wrote:Really sad with the new policy. Wish all secondary schools were using Yondr pouches but that would take too much work for MCPS staff I guess.

Too much money.

Anonymous wrote:I thought they were already banned?

It was voluntary and principals had to opt in. Ours did so it’s been in effect for almost a year now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will it be enforced? Bad idea to let high school kids use phones in-between classes. At my high school we already have way too many kids strolling in late to class. Now there will be an epidemic of tardy arrivals which seriously disrupts class flow and learning. MCPS and many parents are in denial of how many kids are addicted to their phones. Expecting teenagers to do the right thing and just put them away doesn’t work for most kids.

Agree, HS should be away all day like MS.

HS teacher here - I agree except that since high school students mostly don’t use their lockers, they have their phones with them all the time. No way to prevent usage during transitions. I do my best to get them to put phones away in class, but they still have earbuds in, text to meet friends at the bathroom, and are generally distracted by the phone. Hopefully in a few years kids coming up from MS won’t be so hopelessly addicted that they don’t know how to talk to each other. Then maybe HS teachers will have more luck getting kids to keep the phones away during class.