Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this whole phone thread is delulu.

HS kids use their phones for all the same things adults do - arrange meetings, complete work, stay on schedule, arrange transportation, stay connected to work opportunities, and use in emergencies, etc. I would no more expect my kid to go without a phone than I would do myself.

Also, my kid’s school has had 2 serious lockdowns due to shooter threats. I want my kids to have a phone with them at all times in case of emergency - even during the school day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Those kinds of things have substantially increased at my kids' school since the all-day ban was enacted. Love it!!

Is your kid at one of the 3000 kid high schools? Without phones there’s almost no way to even find your friends to have a nice chit chat at lunch. It’s an absolute zoo. Mine will text friends things like “heading to the math review session at lunch if you want to join” or “want to meet at chipotle after school to fo over homework” or whatever. The phones don’t even work in most of the classrooms because there no signal. They are mostly using them at lunch when they are off campus or maybe during a passing period when they happen to pass near a door.

I just think the parent advocacy groups are being unreasonable. If the issue is screen addiction, the kids are just going to be watching videos on their chromebooks. My older HS student had an iPad they used to organize all their class notes … is that better or worse than a phone? It’s really just a big phone! It was totally critical to being able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class.

For MS and ES, stronger bans make sense.

Wow. That's a sad tale. How did kids a mere 20 years ago ever survive?! Were they all aimlessly wandering around their schools with no way to "chit chat" at lunch? How did they ever make plans? No possible way to be able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class without a $500 tablet?

We had pay phones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I'm the parent of a MS and HS student and this this policy is sane and sensical.

My HS-aged kid having access to their phone at lunch is fine, actually. They can (and do) use it to help with homework, to read sports scores and share with friends, or to facilitate discussion at the meeting of a club.

I think the testimony above assumes the kids are using their phones to SnapChat or something and never look up, but they are actually using them to facilitate socialization, not to shut it down.

Your kid doesn't need a phone at lunch. If it's a true urgent issue, they can go back to their locker and send a message. It puts such a burden on school staff to police phones that are distracting kids from their education. Just make it simple and let the kids go through their school day without additional phone time.

High school kids have jobs, and doctor appointments and family responsibilities. Young adults must be empowered to be…adults.

No, HS kids don’t have jobs and doctor’s appointments and family responsibilities that require them to be on the phone during school hours when they’re supposed to be learning.

Plan better and your kid won’t need to be calling the doctor while at school.

What school are you referring to? My daughter goes to WJ. She has an internship, as do many of her friends. Plus weekend jobs. One of her friends looks after a younger sibling. Not every student leads a privileged responsibility-free life without the need for phones between classes.

Try reading more carefully, like they teach kids to do at Walter Johnson. Does your child’s internship and weekend job require her to use a cellphone during the school day? That seems bizarre. A younger sibling if at McPS will not be texting their older sibling all day because they are subject to Away all Day rules.

You can try to make it sound like kids are doing oodles of productive activities that require cell phone use during school hours, but it’s not the case.

It’s a safety issue if this child is driving or taking a bus to their internship or job. If you don’t want your kid to have a cell phone, fine, don’t give them one. Simple.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Those kinds of things have substantially increased at my kids' school since the all-day ban was enacted. Love it!!

Is your kid at one of the 3000 kid high schools? Without phones there’s almost no way to even find your friends to have a nice chit chat at lunch. It’s an absolute zoo. Mine will text friends things like “heading to the math review session at lunch if you want to join” or “want to meet at chipotle after school to fo over homework” or whatever. The phones don’t even work in most of the classrooms because there no signal. They are mostly using them at lunch when they are off campus or maybe during a passing period when they happen to pass near a door.

I just think the parent advocacy groups are being unreasonable. If the issue is screen addiction, the kids are just going to be watching videos on their chromebooks. My older HS student had an iPad they used to organize all their class notes … is that better or worse than a phone? It’s really just a big phone! It was totally critical to being able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class.

For MS and ES, stronger bans make sense.

Wow. That's a sad tale. How did kids a mere 20 years ago ever survive?! Were they all aimlessly wandering around their schools with no way to "chit chat" at lunch? How did they ever make plans? No possible way to be able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class without a $500 tablet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Those kinds of things have substantially increased at my kids' school since the all-day ban was enacted. Love it!!

Is your kid at one of the 3000 kid high schools? Without phones there’s almost no way to even find your friends to have a nice chit chat at lunch. It’s an absolute zoo. Mine will text friends things like “heading to the math review session at lunch if you want to join” or “want to meet at chipotle after school to fo over homework” or whatever. The phones don’t even work in most of the classrooms because there no signal. They are mostly using them at lunch when they are off campus or maybe during a passing period when they happen to pass near a door.

I just think the parent advocacy groups are being unreasonable. If the issue is screen addiction, the kids are just going to be watching videos on their chromebooks. My older HS student had an iPad they used to organize all their class notes … is that better or worse than a phone? It’s really just a big phone! It was totally critical to being able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class.

For MS and ES, stronger bans make sense.

Wow. That's a sad tale. How did kids a mere 20 years ago ever survive?! Were they all aimlessly wandering around their schools with no way to "chit chat" at lunch? How did they ever make plans? No possible way to be able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class without a $500 tablet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SOURCE: https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-new-guidelines-away-all-day-students-use-cell-phones-school-changes-personal-mobile-device-mcps-cellphone-update-elementary-middle-high-instructional-time-lunch-between-classes-maryland-education-crisis-focus-parents-concerns#

MCPS parent Jeremy Joseph sent the following statement to 7News about the new cell phone update:

“Overall, this is a positive step forward at the ES and MS level and a huge step backward for HS.

Explicitly allowing HS students to have phones during lunch and passing periods is totally and completely out of step with how Superintendent Taylor handled this issue last year in Stafford County or what LA County did in February and Baltimore County does and how countries around the world (including Brazil and Denmark) are tackling this issue.

This policy is only going to put MCPS high school students further behind compared to their peers in more forward-thinking municipalities, and only further harm Montgomery County's economic growth as the kids will come out of HS less prepared.

What's most upsetting is that in late March the County promised a robust comment process and engagement in finalizing the updated policy, which did not occur.

Why did they make the decision to allow highschoolers to keep their phones during lunch and passing periods?

We don't know?

How will the phone policy be enforced differently from the prior policy?

We don't know - there is no detail provided.

And they released this policy on a Friday afternoon, which in DC is when you drop something you want to bury.

The new policy would appear to reduce principal discretion to keep phones out of schools during lunch and passing periods, which is the only proven way to reduce the distraction of the phones to improve learning outcomes, reduce fights and bullying, and promote critical face to face interactions and allow kids to make new friends unbound by their online contacts.

At a minimum, the policy should be updated to allow HS principals the discretion to adopt the proven Away All Day policies.

Forcing this lowest common denominator is deeply troubling and counterproductive.

Some principals will have the chutzpah and moral conviction to do what's right, and the policy should not limit their initiative.

But really, the county should simply do what the Superintendent did last year in Stafford County or what LA County did in February and Baltimore County and around the world (including Brazil and Denmark) - keep the phones out of the kids hands from first bell to last bell.

That's what the data shows is the right choice across all relevant metrics: security, academic learning, socio-emotional success and an inclusive school environment, for teacher retention and satisfaction and for budget reasons (20% of each HS class is taken up by policing the phones). There's no data provided that makes this policy the right long-term choice for HS students!

As you know, a group of parents submitted a petition with more than 2,000 signatures supporting Away All Day policies, including in HS.

We have not received any response from MCPS in response to our petition. We are happy to continue engaging with MCPS on these important topics.”

Good effing Lord, when are parents going to understand they're not important stakeholders in public education? They need to stop complaining about every little thing and stay in their lane. This guy sounds like a clown.

I mean, my dude has enough money to live in-bounds for Walt Whitman. He could pay for Washington Waldorf if that's what he wanted. But expecting every kid in school to follow his family's rules around screen use is ludicrous. My kids don't cover their hair or keep kosher just because some of their classmates do, nor would I expect them to follow the rules of my family.

There is established research showing that excessive cell phone use is detrimental to learning and to teen mental health. Cheating in classrooms is also rampant through phone use. The surgeon general last year was a huge advocate of banning cell phone use in schools

They just use their chromebooks or find other ways.

Then let them find other ways.

Let me guess, you're a "gun control can never work because if people really want to hurt someone they'll use a knife or bomb or find some other way!" person.

Stupid logic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Those kinds of things have substantially increased at my kids' school since the all-day ban was enacted. Love it!!

Is your kid at one of the 3000 kid high schools? Without phones there’s almost no way to even find your friends to have a nice chit chat at lunch. It’s an absolute zoo. Mine will text friends things like “heading to the math review session at lunch if you want to join” or “want to meet at chipotle after school to fo over homework” or whatever. The phones don’t even work in most of the classrooms because there no signal. They are mostly using them at lunch when they are off campus or maybe during a passing period when they happen to pass near a door.

I just think the parent advocacy groups are being unreasonable. If the issue is screen addiction, the kids are just going to be watching videos on their chromebooks. My older HS student had an iPad they used to organize all their class notes … is that better or worse than a phone? It’s really just a big phone! It was totally critical to being able to manage and balance their assignments and notes for class.

For MS and ES, stronger bans make sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Those kinds of things have substantially increased at my kids' school since the all-day ban was enacted. Love it!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SOURCE: https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-new-guidelines-away-all-day-students-use-cell-phones-school-changes-personal-mobile-device-mcps-cellphone-update-elementary-middle-high-instructional-time-lunch-between-classes-maryland-education-crisis-focus-parents-concerns#

MCPS parent Jeremy Joseph sent the following statement to 7News about the new cell phone update:

“Overall, this is a positive step forward at the ES and MS level and a huge step backward for HS.

Explicitly allowing HS students to have phones during lunch and passing periods is totally and completely out of step with how Superintendent Taylor handled this issue last year in Stafford County or what LA County did in February and Baltimore County does and how countries around the world (including Brazil and Denmark) are tackling this issue.

This policy is only going to put MCPS high school students further behind compared to their peers in more forward-thinking municipalities, and only further harm Montgomery County's economic growth as the kids will come out of HS less prepared.

What's most upsetting is that in late March the County promised a robust comment process and engagement in finalizing the updated policy, which did not occur.

Why did they make the decision to allow highschoolers to keep their phones during lunch and passing periods?

We don't know?

How will the phone policy be enforced differently from the prior policy?

We don't know - there is no detail provided.

And they released this policy on a Friday afternoon, which in DC is when you drop something you want to bury.

The new policy would appear to reduce principal discretion to keep phones out of schools during lunch and passing periods, which is the only proven way to reduce the distraction of the phones to improve learning outcomes, reduce fights and bullying, and promote critical face to face interactions and allow kids to make new friends unbound by their online contacts.

At a minimum, the policy should be updated to allow HS principals the discretion to adopt the proven Away All Day policies.

Forcing this lowest common denominator is deeply troubling and counterproductive.

Some principals will have the chutzpah and moral conviction to do what's right, and the policy should not limit their initiative.

But really, the county should simply do what the Superintendent did last year in Stafford County or what LA County did in February and Baltimore County and around the world (including Brazil and Denmark) - keep the phones out of the kids hands from first bell to last bell.

That's what the data shows is the right choice across all relevant metrics: security, academic learning, socio-emotional success and an inclusive school environment, for teacher retention and satisfaction and for budget reasons (20% of each HS class is taken up by policing the phones). There's no data provided that makes this policy the right long-term choice for HS students!

As you know, a group of parents submitted a petition with more than 2,000 signatures supporting Away All Day policies, including in HS.

We have not received any response from MCPS in response to our petition. We are happy to continue engaging with MCPS on these important topics.”

Good effing Lord, when are parents going to understand they're not important stakeholders in public education? They need to stop complaining about every little thing and stay in their lane. This guy sounds like a clown.

I mean, my dude has enough money to live in-bounds for Walt Whitman. He could pay for Washington Waldorf if that's what he wanted. But expecting every kid in school to follow his family's rules around screen use is ludicrous. My kids don't cover their hair or keep kosher just because some of their classmates do, nor would I expect them to follow the rules of my family.

There is established research showing that excessive cell phone use is detrimental to learning and to teen mental health. Cheating in classrooms is also rampant through phone use. The surgeon general last year was a huge advocate of banning cell phone use in schools

They just use their chromebooks or find other ways.

Anonymous wrote:Do these advocates even have HSers?

I’ve had one graduate HS and now at an Ivy and another in HS currently. They absolutely need their phones. First, they don’t have lockers. Second, there is no room in the cafeteria and food is inedible so they use their phones to order food for pickup at lunch as they walk over to the restaurant to get their sandwich/salas/burrito. Third, they do have doctors appointments that they get themselves too. Fourth, they need the phone to drive (and again, no lockers). Fifth, they need the phones to check studentvue and canvass to stay on top of deadlines (no, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to handle 7 AP classes without electronic calendaring). Sixth, the phone is very useful for things like the note app to keep track of things to do. Seventh, the phone doesn’t create any moral hazard not already present with the school chrome books which have zero parental controls and on which they can also watch dumb or obscene videos.

My kids school piloted the “no phone during class time” rule this past year and it worked fine. Some of the teachers had boxes in the desks for the phones, others just required tj in the bag. It was fine.

What I’d actually like is for some enterprising student to program an app that allows the kids to know which bathrooms are open on any given day. That would be a real time saver, to avoid walking a mile plus around the school searching for someplace to pee.

These people saying no phones at lunch in HE seem like they are coming from some la la land world where there is room for the HS to eat lunch in school, and kids are turning in assignments on paper and actually have time to have conversations with their teachers, kids are having nice little conversations at lunch, etc. There are much bigger problems in McPS than phones at lunchtime for HS kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Raise your kids to pay attention in class, people. Or sufficiently so that they get good grades. We're an ADHD family, and even my kid with severe ADHD was able to tear himself away from his phone, listen to his teachers and do the actual work. He graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA and a dozen APs.

Public schools do a lot for students, but at some point you need to live with system-wide decisions you won't like. Pull yourself together and deal with it.

Your kid doesn’t have severe ADHD.

PP you replied to. You want to see his neuropsychological results? You are being extremely offensive and have no clue about the hard work we put in, as a family, and the hard work he put in, plus the judicious use of Adderall.

Shame on you. Don't you dare minimize other people's struggles just because they have pushed themselves to achieve.

You actually minimize other people’s struggles when you claim that your kid has a “severe” neurodevelopmental disorder yet can get a 4.9 with multiple APs … and has no problem with distractions like cell phones. Lol.