Anonymous wrote:https://wamu.org/story/24/09/03/robinson-secondary-school-fairfax-virginia-cellphone-pilot-program/

It's working

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

I disagree on it being worth the trade-off but I do think/hope that kids will break out their creativity for cutting/prying/deactivating the pouch in an emergency. I feel confident that $18 won't be charged if the emergency is an active shooter. If the emergency is needing a ride home after the school doors are closed, I don't trust the school not to charge me. And I worry about the kid who walks home in the dark rather than risk getting in trouble for destroying the pouch. Safety is more important than the school's need for fancy enforcement. Just prohibit the use of cell phones during the day without creating new problems.

Huh? Quite the scenarios.

Seriously? A kid forgetting to go by the scanner and a mixup on who is doing pickup after school is not only plausible, it is the most predictable of mini-emergencies. It happened to me growing up and to my husband and oodles of other kids. He walked three miles home, and I sat in front of the school and cried until someone remembered me. Yeah, we both survived, but it was not a good thing and not something a school should be causing when there is a simple, free alternative that doesn’t create these issues.

1) it’s impossible to forget, they are literally at every exit a student could choose to use. The bus exit, the kiss and ride exit, the main office—no matter how you leave the building, you must walk past multiple unlocking stations

2) there are always staff at school while kids are at school. We legitimately cannot leave a child behind who isn’t picked up from the after school program. If late buses come at 4:30, someone is on campus making sure everyone gets picked up by 5, at which point they go into the main office and start calling emergency contacts from the office phone. If no one has picked up the child after a certain amount of time (I forget—1 or 2 hours?) the police are called.

The scenario you describe can only happen if a kid walks off campus and comes back later that evening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

How do phones ruin the classroom. Unless they are blasting music or causing a disturbance what is the problem?

Really? You can’t figure it out in your own? If students are scrolling and on their phones the entire time, how much do you think they’re actually paying attention to instruction?

There is a big difference between a kid who is in constant scroll and a kid who wants to check something at lunch. There are also kids who work better listening to music. We could just empower teachers to regulate their classrooms based on individual observations, rather than ridiculously demonizing one device that represents one piece of a problem that only some kids have. The propaganda on the evils of phones is out of control.

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am surprised that we had to pay money for a technology solution when parents could simply be asked to help enforce the no phone policy by using the downtime feature on applicable phones.

Outreach with parents would be a lot cheaper than this.

My kid isn’t getting in trouble for having his phone out because I lock it down during school hours. An email from the principal suggesting this would probably be pretty effective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

How do phones ruin the classroom. Unless they are blasting music or causing a disturbance what is the problem?

Really? You can’t figure it out in your own? If students are scrolling and on their phones the entire time, how much do you think they’re actually paying attention to instruction?

There is a big difference between a kid who is in constant scroll and a kid who wants to check something at lunch. There are also kids who work better listening to music. We could just empower teachers to regulate their classrooms based on individual observations, rather than ridiculously demonizing one device that represents one piece of a problem that only some kids have. The propaganda on the evils of phones is out of control.

In addition, device usage is distracting to neighboring students. In several surveys, students have reported that texting is distracting to nearby students (Tindell and Bohlander, 2011). A study on laptops in a simulated classroom found that students in the vicinity of another student who was multitasking on a laptop during class scored worse on a test than those who were not near multitaskers (Sana et al, 2013). However, a follow-up study found that it matters what one’s neighbors are doing on their computers; a neighbor who engages with off-task content has a more harmful effect on one’s comprehension than if the neighbor is on-task (Hall et al, 2020).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

How do phones ruin the classroom. Unless they are blasting music or causing a disturbance what is the problem?

Really? You can’t figure it out in your own? If students are scrolling and on their phones the entire time, how much do you think they’re actually paying attention to instruction?

There is a big difference between a kid who is in constant scroll and a kid who wants to check something at lunch. There are also kids who work better listening to music. We could just empower teachers to regulate their classrooms based on individual observations, rather than ridiculously demonizing one device that represents one piece of a problem that only some kids have. The propaganda on the evils of phones is out of control.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

How do phones ruin the classroom. Unless they are blasting music or causing a disturbance what is the problem?

Really? You can’t figure it out in your own? If students are scrolling and on their phones the entire time, how much do you think they’re actually paying attention to instruction?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has made me realize that while I consider myself an anxious parent/human being, some are waaaaaay beyond that.

Or maybe they’re just angry that they have to play by school rules instead of school following their rules.

Every year I have parented in the public school system, my faith in the school placing the interests of the students over its own interest has dropped. It’s my job to look out for my kid, and sometimes rejecting the school’s rules is the best way to do that.

In another year or two, you'll be a sovereign citizen.

Had to google it to respond. No, you don't have to be a tax protester or a survivalist in Montana to question the policies of our public school system. And most normal people only half-obey stupid rules: how many people actually go the speed limit, or never jaywalk? This is a stupid rule that lots of families are going to roll their eyes at. My kid will know not to use his phone during instructional time, how to get his phone out of the pouch if he needs it, and will be trusted to use his own judgment on when that is. If you want to pray at the altar of FCPS, go for it, but plenty of us aren't with you on that.

You don’t know what a sovereign citizen is? No wonder you are addicted to your phone. It’s your dictionary. Do you know what a dictionary is? Did you make it to middle school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

I disagree on it being worth the trade-off but I do think/hope that kids will break out their creativity for cutting/prying/deactivating the pouch in an emergency. I feel confident that $18 won't be charged if the emergency is an active shooter. If the emergency is needing a ride home after the school doors are closed, I don't trust the school not to charge me. And I worry about the kid who walks home in the dark rather than risk getting in trouble for destroying the pouch. Safety is more important than the school's need for fancy enforcement. Just prohibit the use of cell phones during the day without creating new problems.

Huh? Quite the scenarios.

Seriously? A kid forgetting to go by the scanner and a mixup on who is doing pickup after school is not only plausible, it is the most predictable of mini-emergencies. It happened to me growing up and to my husband and oodles of other kids. He walked three miles home, and I sat in front of the school and cried until someone remembered me. Yeah, we both survived, but it was not a good thing and not something a school should be causing when there is a simple, free alternative that doesn’t create these issues.

1) it’s impossible to forget, they are literally at every exit a student could choose to use. The bus exit, the kiss and ride exit, the main office—no matter how you leave the building, you must walk past multiple unlocking stations

2) there are always staff at school while kids are at school. We legitimately cannot leave a child behind who isn’t picked up from the after school program. If late buses come at 4:30, someone is on campus making sure everyone gets picked up by 5, at which point they go into the main office and start calling emergency contacts from the office phone. If no one has picked up the child after a certain amount of time (I forget—1 or 2 hours?) the police are called.

The scenario you describe can only happen if a kid walks off campus and comes back later that evening.

My kid sometimes has to go back to school at 5 for an activity. There is no office staff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

I disagree on it being worth the trade-off but I do think/hope that kids will break out their creativity for cutting/prying/deactivating the pouch in an emergency. I feel confident that $18 won't be charged if the emergency is an active shooter. If the emergency is needing a ride home after the school doors are closed, I don't trust the school not to charge me. And I worry about the kid who walks home in the dark rather than risk getting in trouble for destroying the pouch. Safety is more important than the school's need for fancy enforcement. Just prohibit the use of cell phones during the day without creating new problems.

Huh? Quite the scenarios.

Seriously? A kid forgetting to go by the scanner and a mixup on who is doing pickup after school is not only plausible, it is the most predictable of mini-emergencies. It happened to me growing up and to my husband and oodles of other kids. He walked three miles home, and I sat in front of the school and cried until someone remembered me. Yeah, we both survived, but it was not a good thing and not something a school should be causing when there is a simple, free alternative that doesn’t create these issues.

1) it’s impossible to forget, they are literally at every exit a student could choose to use. The bus exit, the kiss and ride exit, the main office—no matter how you leave the building, you must walk past multiple unlocking stations

2) there are always staff at school while kids are at school. We legitimately cannot leave a child behind who isn’t picked up from the after school program. If late buses come at 4:30, someone is on campus making sure everyone gets picked up by 5, at which point they go into the main office and start calling emergency contacts from the office phone. If no one has picked up the child after a certain amount of time (I forget—1 or 2 hours?) the police are called.

The scenario you describe can only happen if a kid walks off campus and comes back later that evening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My principal was clear that in a true emergency the pouches can be cut open.

But really, phones ruin classrooms 100% of days and true emergencies are exceedingly rare. Worth the trade off, IMO.

How do phones ruin the classroom. Unless they are blasting music or causing a disturbance what is the problem?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has made me realize that while I consider myself an anxious parent/human being, some are waaaaaay beyond that.

Or maybe they’re just angry that they have to play by school rules instead of school following their rules.

Every year I have parented in the public school system, my faith in the school placing the interests of the students over its own interest has dropped. It’s my job to look out for my kid, and sometimes rejecting the school’s rules is the best way to do that.

In another year or two, you'll be a sovereign citizen.

Had to google it to respond. No, you don't have to be a tax protester or a survivalist in Montana to question the policies of our public school system. And most normal people only half-obey stupid rules: how many people actually go the speed limit, or never jaywalk? This is a stupid rule that lots of families are going to roll their eyes at. My kid will know not to use his phone during instructional time, how to get his phone out of the pouch if he needs it, and will be trusted to use his own judgment on when that is. If you want to pray at the altar of FCPS, go for it, but plenty of us aren't with you on that.