Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this talk about phones - Don’t forget smart watches. I’m an elementary school teacher in LCPS. We have kids even in the lower elementary grades who have used their smart watches to text their parents that they’re “sick”. Parents show up to dismiss kid and our nurse never saw the kid in her office all day.

What’s wrong with this? If my child feels unwell and wants to come home, I don’t need the nurse’s approval.

Omg. I just can’t.

This is such a sideshow. Kids spending hours of time at school watching YouTube is actually what is happening in now. The scientific evidence of the harm of cell phone usage on teens is abundant. Depression. Anxiety. We should be removing these from school now like all other responsible schools and school districts. It’s a no brainer. And im ignoring all you stupid idiot parents who think your kid isn’t the problem. You are wrong. And even if you aren’t I don’t care. The harm is too great.

Homeschooling is an option. Perhaps you should take the next few weeks to think about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should advocate to ACPS to let your kids use the front office phone in one-off emergencies instead of lugging around an $500-1200 cellphone? Because we all know which schools/student bodies creates these issues.

(It is not the ones who can’t afford them.)

I agree with you that just using the office phone would be much better, and students should be able to do that. But I’m trying to point out that not all school systems are amenable to such things. I don’t know what you’re getting at with the rest of your comment.

Smartphones are expensive. Poor kids aren't causing the problem. It's middle class parents giving phones to their entitled kids too early.

I assure you that students from all backgrounds have phones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should advocate to ACPS to let your kids use the front office phone in one-off emergencies instead of lugging around an $500-1200 cellphone? Because we all know which schools/student bodies creates these issues.

(It is not the ones who can’t afford them.)

I agree with you that just using the office phone would be much better, and students should be able to do that. But I’m trying to point out that not all school systems are amenable to such things. I don’t know what you’re getting at with the rest of your comment.

Smartphones are expensive. Poor kids aren't causing the problem. It's middle class parents giving phones to their entitled kids too early.

So your position is that kids shouldn’t get phones until they graduate from HS? This idea is both incredibly stupid and unworkable.

We live in a world where kids are using these known-to-be addictive devices all day long. We have to deal with the problem as it exists. I have seen no good reasons offered for allowing kids to have their phones out at school ever. I see massive scientific and anecdotal evidence about the harms of student cell phone usage. It would be so easy to have a black and white rule: phones must be away all day during the school day. Period. Loads of better schools and school districts are doing this. APS is per usual a huge disappointment.

Is the policy open for comment? If so can someone share the link?

I'm fine with a more restrictive watch/cell phone policy. But I wish we had a policy that would govern ipad use / restrict what kids are able to do on the ipads given to them by the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should advocate to ACPS to let your kids use the front office phone in one-off emergencies instead of lugging around an $500-1200 cellphone? Because we all know which schools/student bodies creates these issues.

(It is not the ones who can’t afford them.)

I agree with you that just using the office phone would be much better, and students should be able to do that. But I’m trying to point out that not all school systems are amenable to such things. I don’t know what you’re getting at with the rest of your comment.

Smartphones are expensive. Poor kids aren't causing the problem. It's middle class parents giving phones to their entitled kids too early.

We use family link to turn it off and to approve apps. So we locked down the phone successfully but same kid got around all parent controls on computer.

Anonymous wrote:APS draft policy is per usual totally ineffective and weak. Requires teachers to interpret “instructional time.” What does that mean? And it does nothing to relieve the issue of teens spending all their hallway/downtime on phones instead of being present socially for their peers. Or social media bullying during the school day. Or any of the other harms. Weak sauce. Pathetic.

Ever see "Chinatown"? It's like APS' guiding principle is "do as little as possible."

APS draft policy is per usual totally ineffective and weak. Requires teachers to interpret “instructional time.” What does that mean? And it does nothing to relieve the issue of teens spending all their hallway/downtime on phones instead of being present socially for their peers. Or social media bullying during the school day. Or any of the other harms. Weak sauce. Pathetic.

It’s too bad the governor had to step in to do what parents couldn’t. People just can’t say no to their kids any more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this talk about phones - Don’t forget smart watches. I’m an elementary school teacher in LCPS. We have kids even in the lower elementary grades who have used their smart watches to text their parents that they’re “sick”. Parents show up to dismiss kid and our nurse never saw the kid in her office all day.

What’s wrong with this? If my child feels unwell and wants to come home, I don’t need the nurse’s approval.

Omg. I just can’t.

This is such a sideshow. Kids spending hours of time at school watching YouTube is actually what is happening in now. The scientific evidence of the harm of cell phone usage on teens is abundant. Depression. Anxiety. We should be removing these from school now like all other responsible schools and school districts. It’s a no brainer. And im ignoring all you stupid idiot parents who think your kid isn’t the problem. You are wrong. And even if you aren’t I don’t care. The harm is too great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this talk about phones - Don’t forget smart watches. I’m an elementary school teacher in LCPS. We have kids even in the lower elementary grades who have used their smart watches to text their parents that they’re “sick”. Parents show up to dismiss kid and our nurse never saw the kid in her office all day.

What’s wrong with this? If my child feels unwell and wants to come home, I don’t need the nurse’s approval.

Omg. I just can’t.

Anonymous wrote:All this talk about phones - Don’t forget smart watches. I’m an elementary school teacher in LCPS. We have kids even in the lower elementary grades who have used their smart watches to text their parents that they’re “sick”. Parents show up to dismiss kid and our nurse never saw the kid in her office all day.

What’s wrong with this? If my child feels unwell and wants to come home, I don’t need the nurse’s approval.

All this talk about phones - Don’t forget smart watches. I’m an elementary school teacher in LCPS. We have kids even in the lower elementary grades who have used their smart watches to text their parents that they’re “sick”. Parents show up to dismiss kid and our nurse never saw the kid in her office all day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the work of APE tbh

Yes, APE is so powerful they convinced FCPS to adopt a policy just last year. Their influence is everywhere!

.

I shouldn’t reveal this but APE actually is behind the bans in LA, Massachusetts, Washington, Ohio, Indiana and (of course) Florida. World domination!