Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 16:01     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:Yeah, can anyone weigh in from a high FARMS middle school? My daughter is only in K, so I have no idea what's going on in middle schools but hoping it's a little less intense in our low-income area.



I just posted before about my DS getting a phone before he started 8th grade. I teach in a high FARMS school and nearly every kid has their own phone by 6th grade. Not all of them have data plans but plenty of them do. My DS goes to a Catholic school so he has to turn his phone into his homeroom phone box where it stays all day until dismissal. In theory, phones are supposed to be kept in lockers at my school but it is rarely enforced. Teachers don't want to deal with off the hook parents who scream bloody murder if you take their kid's phone because they aren't following the rules.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 15:56     Subject: Re:How many 6th graders will have phones?
My DS got a phone the summer after 7th grade. He was one of two students who didn't have one in 7th grade (his teachers confirmed this). I didn't think he had a need for one until I bought him one. In 8th grade, he started walking to tutoring after school and I wanted him to be able to get in touch with me.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 15:21     Subject: Re:How many 6th graders will have phones?
Almost everyone has an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Expect the ipad/ipod parents to proclaim their moral superiority over those whose kids have the phone. But be aware they do all the same things, since basically everywhere they go has wifi.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 13:10     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:I had a phone in 6th grade..: that was like almost 20 years ago. I was a responsible kid and felt a lot safer riding the bus home and going to friends houses. My sister was walking home from the bus stop and being followed by a guy in a truck when she was in 7th grade, she pulled out her phone and called 911. Btw almost everyone I knew had a phone and this was 2000, but phones back then were just for calling/texting. I didn’t have texting until high school.


I think that's an important distinction, though. I think there would be a lot less angst and controversy if kids could only call/text and didn't have tiny computers/DVD players/social media machines in their pockets.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 13:04     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
I had a phone in 6th grade..: that was like almost 20 years ago. I was a responsible kid and felt a lot safer riding the bus home and going to friends houses. My sister was walking home from the bus stop and being followed by a guy in a truck when she was in 7th grade, she pulled out her phone and called 911. Btw almost everyone I knew had a phone and this was 2000, but phones back then were just for calling/texting. I didn’t have texting until high school.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 10:00     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Also to add - most middle schools have a grade/online assignment portal. We have been through 3 middle schools and I worked at a 4th. They all send nightly automated emails with grades and assignments (depending on if the teacher put them in.) At one of my kids' schools, students could comment so they would post questions asking for clarification on assignments and then other students would post to answer the questions. It was helpful because teachers did not usually see the questions at the times that the kids were home doing homework.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:57     Subject: Re:How many 6th graders will have phones?
I have a 6th grader and held out until Dec of 6th grade. I had intended to wait longer but my daughter walks a mile each way to school and is in numerous activities after school.
On days it rained and practice was cancelled I was driving myself crazy trying to keep track of her when she didn't have a phone---calling her friends to relay messages, looking for her on street corners, etc.
It's simply much, much easier to be able to reach her after school.
Now if I was driving her to school or she was taking a school bus that would be a different story. But having your 12 year old out on the street in DC daily without any way of locating her was a bit difficult.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:54     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
To add, it is typical for teachers to let kids take pictures of homework assignments that are posted on the board and the class calendar of upcoming assignments/tests for the teachers who have that up.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:50     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid will not. He'll get it when he is a freshman in high school.


At DS’s school they create class lists on their phone and they text quite a bit about when class work is due, coordinate for projects etc. if you don’t allow it he will definitely need to figure out another way to coordinate with classmates, especially on group projects.


Is this middle school? Do you live in a very privileged area? That seems a little exclusive to me. Our school has quite a few low income families and families who hold back on phones out of principle.


My kids school has a significant % of low-income students. They still have phones. It's common for low-income families to have phones but no computers as it's a cheaper way to get internet access.

Ours doesn't create class lists as PP mentioned but definitely any group project is coordinated via text and DD"s band teacher sends out a lot of reminders via text. Also, DS had a volunteer job every MS at a camp and all communications with the staff were via a texting app.

As PPs have noted, having a phone does not have to = having social media. When we gave our kids smartphones (inexpensive Android phones) in 6th they also had a parental control app and were really locked down to just call/text + a few apps we considered useful. We let DS use Snapchat in 8th, he had no interest in Instagram. DD, now in 8th, has opted on her own to not use social media, she just connects with friends via text.


Okay, but what's "a significant % of low-income students?" My kid's school has a 50%+ FARMS rate. I understand about lower income families and devices, but I also understand when families are low-income enough (or have different enough values vis a vis culture) that they are not quick to jump on things like this. If you say your kid's school has a FARMS rate of anywhere close to 50%, I'll take you at your word, as a data point, at least, but...


I'm not that poster but at the school I worked at which was 45% Free and reduced priced meals, I would estimate the cell phone rate was 95%.The kids who didn't have phones were wealthier families who were doing it on principle. My kids' schools have varied in % of FARMS from higher than that % to lower than that %, but the cell phone rate is always similar. It is less expensive to have cell phones than to have a home phone now so most people go the cell phone route. My middle schooler does not have instagram or snapchat because those apps led to a huge amount of drama at the school where I worked.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:48     Subject: Re:How many 6th graders will have phones?
Our elementary schooler will get a phone in 7th grade, which is when older sibs got theirs.

I have 2 nieces, 8 & 10, who already have phones and are on instagram & Snapchat, and it’s a little bit horrifying.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:32     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid will not. He'll get it when he is a freshman in high school.


At DS’s school they create class lists on their phone and they text quite a bit about when class work is due, coordinate for projects etc. if you don’t allow it he will definitely need to figure out another way to coordinate with classmates, especially on group projects.


Is this middle school? Do you live in a very privileged area? That seems a little exclusive to me. Our school has quite a few low income families and families who hold back on phones out of principle.


My kids school has a significant % of low-income students. They still have phones. It's common for low-income families to have phones but no computers as it's a cheaper way to get internet access.

Ours doesn't create class lists as PP mentioned but definitely any group project is coordinated via text and DD"s band teacher sends out a lot of reminders via text. Also, DS had a volunteer job every MS at a camp and all communications with the staff were via a texting app.

As PPs have noted, having a phone does not have to = having social media. When we gave our kids smartphones (inexpensive Android phones) in 6th they also had a parental control app and were really locked down to just call/text + a few apps we considered useful. We let DS use Snapchat in 8th, he had no interest in Instagram. DD, now in 8th, has opted on her own to not use social media, she just connects with friends via text.


Okay, but what's "a significant % of low-income students?" My kid's school has a 50%+ FARMS rate. I understand about lower income families and devices, but I also understand when families are low-income enough (or have different enough values vis a vis culture) that they are not quick to jump on things like this. If you say your kid's school has a FARMS rate of anywhere close to 50%, I'll take you at your word, as a data point, at least, but...
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 09:08     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:Public school in Nova. Would prefer DD not have one, but trying to decide if this is the hill I want to die on. Not sure what the purpose is at age 11.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.


I think the question should be how many do not. I'd say almost every sixth grader at our FCPS school has a phone, except a handful of kids.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 08:53     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:My daughter was the only one in her grade 6 class without one. She got one this year for xmas (grade 7)


Then it must be:

- your kid told you she was the only one without a phone

- you assumed

- it was a private school with one 6 grade class consisting of about 7 kids total
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 07:08     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid will not. He'll get it when he is a freshman in high school.


At DS’s school they create class lists on their phone and they text quite a bit about when class work is due, coordinate for projects etc. if you don’t allow it he will definitely need to figure out another way to coordinate with classmates, especially on group projects.


Is this middle school? Do you live in a very privileged area? That seems a little exclusive to me. Our school has quite a few low income families and families who hold back on phones out of principle.


My kids school has a significant % of low-income students. They still have phones. It's common for low-income families to have phones but no computers as it's a cheaper way to get internet access.

Ours doesn't create class lists as PP mentioned but definitely any group project is coordinated via text and DD"s band teacher sends out a lot of reminders via text. Also, DS had a volunteer job every MS at a camp and all communications with the staff were via a texting app.

As PPs have noted, having a phone does not have to = having social media. When we gave our kids smartphones (inexpensive Android phones) in 6th they also had a parental control app and were really locked down to just call/text + a few apps we considered useful. We let DS use Snapchat in 8th, he had no interest in Instagram. DD, now in 8th, has opted on her own to not use social media, she just connects with friends via text.
Anonymous
Post 05/04/2019 06:50     Subject: How many 6th graders will have phones?
Anonymous wrote:My daughter was the only one in her grade 6 class without one. She got one this year for xmas (grade 7)


Us too, our daughter got one as present at the end of sixth for her birthday, so she will have it for summer and then 7th grade only. Before that, she used a gizmo which enabled tracking and emergency phone calls/texts to designated people.