This is a horrible idea. 1000s of kids trying to unlock their pouch at dismissal. A recipe for disaster. My kid will miss his bus.

Anonymous wrote:I am curious which schools are piloting for HS. I wonder if they will keep the pyramids the same so will WSHS do it because Irving is?

Not that I have heard of (we are in this pyramid, and gotten lots of comms from Irving) b

I am curious which schools are piloting for HS. I wonder if they will keep the pyramids the same so will WSHS do it because Irving is?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?

Anxiety is not a valid excuse. Blood sugar, I get that. But allowing a kid to retreat to their phone because they’re anxious and have music blasting in their head all the time because they “need it” is making it worse. The phones feed the isolation and anxiety and then kids are told they need the phone for the anxiety the phone helps create.

I was going to ask how phones help for anxiety but you answered at least one way- music, but could just noise canceling headphones work?

Sure. I have had students with disabilities who have the use of noise canceling headphones *not during instructional time* written into their IEP and that tends to work very well for them, particularly if they have ASD/ADHD/AudHd. What is NOT written into IEPs is “my kid should be allowed to use their phone whenever they want in class,” and your average parent who is going to claim “my kid needs their phone for anxiety” is not even dealing with a kid with disabilities and an actual IEP with accommodations designed to help the student access the curriculum.

Maintaining constant access to the freaking phone is FEEDING anxiety, not supporting it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?

Anxiety is not a valid excuse. Blood sugar, I get that. But allowing a kid to retreat to their phone because they’re anxious and have music blasting in their head all the time because they “need it” is making it worse. The phones feed the isolation and anxiety and then kids are told they need the phone for the anxiety the phone helps create.

I was going to ask how phones help for anxiety but you answered at least one way- music, but could just noise canceling headphones work?

Never mind- found answers - should have googled before posted. Many sites with 504/IEP plan info for anxiety with helpful info.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?

Anxiety is not a valid excuse. Blood sugar, I get that. But allowing a kid to retreat to their phone because they’re anxious and have music blasting in their head all the time because they “need it” is making it worse. The phones feed the isolation and anxiety and then kids are told they need the phone for the anxiety the phone helps create.

I was going to ask how phones help for anxiety but you answered at least one way- music, but could just noise canceling headphones work?

Anonymous wrote:Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?

Anxiety is not a valid excuse. Blood sugar, I get that. But allowing a kid to retreat to their phone because they’re anxious and have music blasting in their head all the time because they “need it” is making it worse. The phones feed the isolation and anxiety and then kids are told they need the phone for the anxiety the phone helps create.

Neodymium fishing magnet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll buy my kid a $10 dummy phone to put in the pouch.

OK, that’s your decision. But don’t come on here later on and say that the process doesn’t work.

phones in school aren't something I care about. I care about constant fights, kids ditching and hanging out in hallways, loudly disruptive kids in class. If the schools cared about those issues, then I might care when my kid is quietly on a phone

You know what causes half those issues? Phones. They text eachother when to meet up in the hall to fight, when to meet up in the bathroom to do drugs. They use their phones to record people and bully them.

That’s actually funny that you think phones are the cause of this. I went to HS before cell phones existed. There were drugs and fights. It was a different type of school than my kids attend but the fights were frequent and violent. Kids were suspended or expelled. There was also detention. You knew there would be consequences if you did xyz and got caught.

And now they can’t get detention but they can record a student with disabilities in the bathroom and post it to social media. They can record each other in class doing presentations and post it; they can and do record themselves trying to goad teachers into flipping out on camera so they can post it. None of your comment negates the reality phones make all behavior issues in school worse and much more complicated and hard to address than when YOU were in high school.

This. Before deciding that the phones are no big deal, be very certain that your child is never going to have any of the following at any time in their school career: a meltdown over a bad grade or taunts from other kids or anything else, an argument or a fight, a stumble and fall, get food stuck in their teeth or have a nosebleed, spill food or drink on themselves. If any of the above or similar happens, there will be 30 phones or more out filming the whole thing to share forever and ever.

And don't say "my kid doesn't do this." Without going into details, I've seen virtually an entire AP class of seniors film a pretty humiliating scene involving two students instead of trying to help them. Phones just bring out the worst in your kids.

Anonymous wrote:No way my kid is doing this

Why don't you just unenroll your kid? They'll be more comfortable spending 6 hours on your couch at home playing video games on the big TV than on sitting on a hard school chair bent like an old person over a tiny screen.

Will be in HSs too, according to the Post.

Fairfax County Public Schools is piloting a program to lock cellphones away during the day in several middle and high schools.
The program was initially set to roll out in seven middle schools but was expanded this week to the high school level. The district is finalizing how many and which high schools will participate.

I predict in 2 years there will be so many exemptions that teachers will not be able to track who should or should not have them and we will be back o where we are now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MS has a parent mtg next week on it. I'm going and plan to voice strong support for this. (DC thinks it's dumb that they didn't first at least mandate use of the shoe racks; apparently only one class had those last year he said.) It'll be interesting to see how many are against it. I'm really surprised at the mostly negative comments in this thread.

Some Teachers have reported that students refused to store their phone in a backpack or the shoe rack or anything similar. Some students were belligerent and threatened the teacher. Also, some Adminstations did not support Tacehrs who tried to enforce the phones being away in class. It was hard to enforce and, in some rare cases, dangerous.

These will be the same kids not doing the pouches though. It comes down to teachers needing to be willing and able to send those kids to the office for disobeying and admin to deal with it.

Anonymous wrote:Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?

Yes

Are there exemptions for kids who use phones for medical reasons like to monitor blood sugar or anxiety?