Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are giving kids smartphones in the first place? I think an old school flip phone would be sufficient enough.

Then, give your kids a flip phone. I like a smart phone for the texting and tracking.

So they are texting you during the day? Why? You are the problem.

How is it different from email or anything else?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

IMO it should be admin, but then you have the conundrum that admin aren't in the classrooms and admin don't wanna deal with the blowback from the parents who are adamant that their kids never have their phones taken away for "emergency reasons."

Great then remind parent to remind their kid not to take their phone out when not an emergency as we have a cell phone policy. If they can’t control that behavior, then we consequences to help. Parents are also welcome to come sit in class and control their own kids behaviors.

Why hasn't anyone thought of that?? Good luck with that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

IMO it should be admin, but then you have the conundrum that admin aren't in the classrooms and admin don't wanna deal with the blowback from the parents who are adamant that their kids never have their phones taken away for "emergency reasons."

Great then remind parent to remind their kid not to take their phone out when not an emergency as we have a cell phone policy. If they can’t control that behavior, then we consequences to help. Parents are also welcome to come sit in class and control their own kids behaviors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop putting teachers in the middle. Just have admins send a letter home at the end of the day informing parents that their kid isn’t welcome in school until the parent comes in to talk to an administrator about the cell phone use.

"Just"

It’s too hard for admins to send a form letter now?

"Just have admins send a letter home at the end of the day informing parents that their kid isn’t welcome in school until the parent comes in to talk to an administrator about the cell phone use."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

IMO it should be admin, but then you have the conundrum that admin aren't in the classrooms and admin don't wanna deal with the blowback from the parents who are adamant that their kids never have their phones taken away for "emergency reasons."

My response to admin in that situation is buck up buttercup. Dealing with blowback and annoying situations is part of leadership roles. Send the policy and decree in writing at the beginning of the year that cellphones need to be in bags on silent or left in lockers. Failure to do so will have escalating consequences up to Suspension for failure to following school rules and exhibit appropriate behavior. MS and HS kids need to learn that actions have consequences, cause and effect. Again, yes this will be a nuisance for awhile. But you either rein in the behavior or keep complaining while it gets worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop putting teachers in the middle. Just have admins send a letter home at the end of the day informing parents that their kid isn’t welcome in school until the parent comes in to talk to an administrator about the cell phone use.

"Just"

It’s too hard for admins to send a form letter now?

All those letters would have to be routed through Central Office. They wouldn't be able to handle that.

I’m not so sure about that. They’ve really staffed up in recent years. Alternatively, the central office could give blanket approval to issue a form letter that does not deviate from the template.

We need to get away from handling nearly all disciplinary matters when kids are in classrooms. There are very few matters that need to be handled in the moment. There’s a reason businesses terminate employees when they’re not on the worksite. Taking a lead from the private sector, we should limit the frequency with which we put teachers in physical jeopardy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

IMO it should be admin, but then you have the conundrum that admin aren't in the classrooms and admin don't wanna deal with the blowback from the parents who are adamant that their kids never have their phones taken away for "emergency reasons."

Fine, allow those parents to "opt-out" of the no-class cell phone policy, and be done with it. This would still result in a better learning environment for the majority, and despite the 3-4 news articles one PP is adamant on circulating and recirculating I am not clear on why teachers/admin enforcing a cell phone policy is any different than any other rule.*

*Which is not to say that other rules are being well enforced or that teachers should not have support... Just a reason why cell phones are not some super-complex unicorn conundrum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop putting teachers in the middle. Just have admins send a letter home at the end of the day informing parents that their kid isn’t welcome in school until the parent comes in to talk to an administrator about the cell phone use.

"Just"

It’s too hard for admins to send a form letter now?

All those letters would have to be routed through Central Office. They wouldn't be able to handle that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop putting teachers in the middle. Just have admins send a letter home at the end of the day informing parents that their kid isn’t welcome in school until the parent comes in to talk to an administrator about the cell phone use.

"Just"

It’s too hard for admins to send a form letter now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are giving kids smartphones in the first place? I think an old school flip phone would be sufficient enough.

Then, give your kids a flip phone. I like a smart phone for the texting and tracking.

So they are texting you during the day? Why? You are the problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

IMO it should be admin, but then you have the conundrum that admin aren't in the classrooms and admin don't wanna deal with the blowback from the parents who are adamant that their kids never have their phones taken away for "emergency reasons."

Anonymous wrote:Why are giving kids smartphones in the first place? I think an old school flip phone would be sufficient enough.

Then, give your kids a flip phone. I like a smart phone for the texting and tracking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It says "MD" is included, but what are the proposing in MD? I don't see any proposal about phone usage in class.

They already have a phone policy in MCPS, but it's at the teacher's discretion, and some teachers just don't care enough to do anything about phone use in the class.

Some teachers "don't care" because they're not willing to risky their physical safety and wellbeing by confronting screen addicted teens over their phone use.

This exact scenario just played out in the news: https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/tennessee-teen-pepper-sprays-teacher-after-he-takes-her-phone/

Teachers should not be on the hook for enforcing MCPS's cell phone policy. It's not safe and it's not fair to them.

Then who is going to be on the hook? Policies are worthless without enforcement. Parents can encourage and support but can’t enforce school policies. That’s up to teachers and admin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd happily pay $45K tuition for a school that had no technology in it whatsoever. Throw away all electronic boards, laptops, and tablets. Cancel all subscriptions to portals, educational management systems, and Google classrooms. Make the place a GD Faraday Cage.

That may work for elementary school but by high school they need to be prepared for the real world. It's ironic parents are upset over cell phones when the schools, especially in ES way over use the chromebooks for so called educational games. Teachers need to get back to actual teaching and engage kids so they are paying attention and not bored.

Oh you again?? How about you just teach your spawn that it's ok to be bored every once in a while and that a teacher is not a circus ring leader there for their endless entertainment?

I do heavily supplement. That's why my kids are doing well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue of teacher safety is really important but I don't see what it has to do with cell phone policies. If you're saying you can't have a cell phone policy because kids might get violent if someone tries to enforce it, then you're essentially saying you can't have any rules or expectations whatsoever. Just let kids do whatever they want.

This is not a "if scenario." Teachers ARE getting assaulted over trying to enforce cell phone bans. It is a reality.

So what do you propose MCPS do to prevent it from happening? Cause until you solve for that, many teachers will smartly make the decision that enforcing the ban is not worth their safety and wellbeing.

What do teachers do when kids get mad over other things? Surely they have a way to deal with it. IT's not that hard to piss off teens and access to phones is just one of a million things to set them off. Or do you suggest we let these kids do whatever they want? Is that safe????

The cell phone has a special hold over kids because it's an addiction. Have you ever tried to separate an addict from their substance of choice? It's not pleasant.

Read up: https://www.understood.org/en/articles/screen-time-over-can-child-stop

https://brisbanekids.com.au/how-to-stop-screen-rage-attacks/

Oh please, if MCPS started and consistently enforced a "no phones in class" policy countywide, there would be a bad month or two, people would adjust and then it would be business as usual (which does not mean 100% perfection of course but it would just be another rule that is more or less followed).

Or another rule that is more or less ignored, which is precisely what's happening in many schools.

Exactly.

I mean, technically, kids shouldn’t bring Fentanyl to school, yet we have kids distributing drugs at school anyway.

The rules say that minors should not be smoking weed in the bathrooms, yet my kids’ high school bathrooms are havens for the weed-smokers.

The rules prohibit vaping in schools. Our middle school has a huge issue with kids vaping at school. Heck, our ES (Twinbrook) had fifth graders vaping.

Maybe if MCPS even tried to enforce the rules that are already in place, that would be a good start.

NAILED IT!