I’m not really in the know on this but I could see why the state is considering enacting legislation on the subject. Cell phones seem like a major distraction in schools. They didn’t exist when I was in school so I can’t comment on using them during that time period, personally. We went to the school administrative office for communication with parents or guardians.
I’d be interested in hearing any experience on the subject from a teacher and what they think.
The helicopter parents we have nowadays though are just gonna say that their kids have one of the many exemptions that are allowed. For being so free in their time Gen X is really an overbearing generation.
I’ve said long ago that they should not allow a cell phone in school during school hours. I have to believe that most teachers would be in favor of the removal of them. When I have this discussion with other family members I also get that I’m just old. That may be true. Just don’t know of a reason why a child need a phone while at school. Just my .02 worth
My girlfriend use to be a high school teacher and she use to make her students put them in a pocket on the back of her class room door. She loved being a teacher but in todays world it was just too much for her and shes much happier now.
My girlfriend use to be a high school teacher and she use to make her students put them in a pocket on the back of her class room door. She loved being a teacher but in todays world it was just too much for her and shes much happier now.
I fully understand. I’ve said there is no amount of money they could pay me to be a teacher. I’d end up in jail in a real short time. God bless those who are teachers.
Most schools have policies already. It’s not as if children have free reign to sit on their phones in classes. Our local district has policies, procedures, etc. but the reality is that enforcement is what matters. The state can ban whatever they want but it won’t make any impact without parents who are willing to either NOT get their students phones in general, or support the schools’ attempts to confiscate them.
You can say “they’re not allowed” but who is going locker to locker or pocket to pocket to confiscate them? I worked with a local principal last summer on a shed build who said when he takes a cell phone and a parent has to come get it…the parent is usually there to collect it within a couple hours. They will drop whatever they are doing to come get the phone so that the child has it first thing that night.
Parenting is the issue. Not schools. Not phones. Not even the children themselves.
If you think the government or some law/mandate will correct the issue, you don’t understand the issue.
My kids are not allowed to have the phones on during school, but they can have them. I suppose unless they are caught using them or they are getting flooded with messages/calls no one would ever know if its on. They are not told to put them anywhere I guess so the teachers must have trust in the students.
I’ve said long ago that they should not allow a cell phone in school during school hours. I have to believe that most teachers would be in favor of the removal of them. When I have this discussion with other family members I also get that I’m just old. That may be true. Just don’t know of a reason why a child need a phone while at school. Just my .02 worth
I agree 100%.
I’ve yet to hear any viable, practical plan in recent years to actually enforce a “ban” though. You can tell kids they have to put it here or in this locked case or that pouch until you’re blue in the face. Try telling that to a 17 year old from a s*** home with no parental backing. That teacher will then get to spend 5 minutes at the start of every day sending kids to the office or calming them down. Administration can essentially no longer suspend kids and is flagged by the DOE for suspensions within the district for any reason. It still all comes back to parenting and the entire system can be undermined by a lack of their support.
Let’s not forget about smart watches either.
For being so free in their time Gen X is really an overbearing generation.
The youngest Gen X parents will be 45 this year, so the vast majority of the kids of Gen X parents will be in late high school. The biggest group of kids in school now are being raised by the Millenials.
My kid’s school in both Middle and High School already went to a “no cell phone” policy for all students this year. It was announced at the beginning of last year and went into effect this year.
The kids have to keep their cell phones in no-access pouches that are locked as they come in the door in the morning. They can then unlock their phone when they leave. There are emergency unlocking stations in all classrooms, teachers have a tool to unlock them, and the nurse’s office, etc can unlock them in cases of illness or emergency.
Smartwatches are a gray area since technically they keep working, but as my HS son pointed out, the ability to use them for anything other than telling time is so limited that they aren’t an issue.
I knew the kids would gripe about the policy for a week and then forget about it, which was exactly what happened. I thought the parents would be the tough part because they are used to instant access, but it just hasn’t seemed to be an issue. I haven’t talked to a parent that had anything bad to say about the policy.
Kids don’t need or benefit from cell phones in school. My kids have school-issued laptops and tablets that they have to use in all classes PLUS they each have a personal laptop at home, so why would they need to use a cell phone in school? The already have an internet connected screen in front of them most of the day anyway.
But I don’t think we need a state mandate on this. There are plenty of ways for individual school districts to figure this out and if they don’t want to do it, don’t do it.
My girlfriend use to be a high school teacher and she use to make her students put them in a pocket on the back of her class room door. She loved being a teacher but in todays world it was just too much for her and shes much happier now.
Thank goodness there are people like her who will even try teaching! Without knowing her or her assignment I can all but guarantee she was underpaid and undersupported.
There’s going to be an interesting reckoning with the impending teacher shortage in the coming years. Some rural districts have went the route of filling vacancies with “community experts” because they won’t get a single applicant for most job openings. Those “community experts” get run over even faster than qualified/experienced teachers that are bailing at a record clip.
Thank you for me and for everyone! Without knowing her or her assignment I can all but guarantee she was underpaid and undersupported.
When she was teaching I would tell her all the time that I dont know how you or other teachers out there do it. When she meets up with old co-workers they all tell her how lucky she is that she got out of it.
I think we are going to have a huge problem soon with a teacher shortage. I have a buddy who was a teacher for over 10 years quit. I cant imagine trying to teach while little Jonny wants to check his phone in the middle of class.
We can put a man on the moon and have real time gambling but we can’t invent a blocker that would block the use of cell phones? I can envision a switch in the office thats flipped 5 minutes before the days first class and 5 minutes after classes end.
I’ve yet to hear any viable, practical plan in recent years to actually enforce a “ban” though.
No school that I’m aware of them actually “bans” cell phones. Cell phone ban has become a shorthand, but unlike weapons or something that is actually forbidden on school property full stop, what most schools seem to be enacting or looking at enacting is a policy that forbids use during school hours and in some cases (like my kids as above) limits access to the devices. So no, it’s not really a “ban”.
IMO the access-limiting pouches do very little other than break the habit of reaching for the cell phone because since the kids cannot use cell phones, you can’t be seen with one in your hand, so…
As I said, smartwatches don’t really seem to be a problem because so many functions are linked back to the phone that they don’t really pose an issue if you can’t go back to the phone and, say, reply to a message or something. And also, since all their friends are at school with no cell phones, who’s going to be messaging them anyway?
We have a lot of friends here in the east metro spread across lots of school districts and everyone seems to have use-limiting policies already. Either it’s cell phones in lockers only, or it’s pouches.
i never had cell phones either…..there werent invented yet…..dont think they were when my kids were in school!!!!
kinda on a related subject……..it doesnt seem to me the law on “hands free” while driving is a thing anymore either.
i bet every time i drive somewhere……i see someone on the phone. the best laugh is when you see them with the phone in there hand and yappin via the speaker!!! 
A lot of good points made. Not sure a state law is the answer. I agree parents are mostly to blame. Our boys had cell phones since about the age of 13 and had them at school. They are not allowed to use them during class. We taught them to respect the rules and they’ve done that pretty well. Although, there’s virtually no cell signal within our rural high school anyway. So they have that going for them.
The middle school in my district enacted a no-phone policy beginning this school year and there’s been two big changes:
#1 way less drama and fights, drama that was sparked from or grew through snapchat and other social media
#2 way less vaping in the bathrooms, their communication network was taken away
It’s been a huge success and absolutely should go statewide. The biggest hurdle was getting the administration and school board to approve it and with a statewide policy that hurdle goes away.
Well I’m glad to see schools are actually addressing the problem. I was not aware that so many had policies in place on cell phones.
Well I’m glad to see schools are actually addressing the problem. I was not aware that so many had policies in place on cell phones.
This would be another reason why I’d think a state law would be a waste of time. By the time a state law gets passed, hashed, rehashed, allocated, dislocated, isolated, consolidated, and finally is ready to implement…
Most districts will have already done it. And the ones that want to fight it will fight it even if it’s state law or they won’t enforce it.
All the state has to do is make a policy that any school that doesn’t have a suitable “no-phone during school hours” plan in place loses state funding until one is in place.
I’m a high school teacher in a pretty affluent area of the SE metro. This is my 20th year. We just implemented a “ban” or more accurately, a policy, in our district officially this year. The state directed all districts to have one in place by the end of this school year or beginning of next (can’t remember at the moment). A “ban” is just a term used for the public at large. Schools have had so many threats of lawsuits from parents that they are hard-pressed to ban anything, short of weapons. Our policy is that each student must place their phone in a caddy with pouches at the front of the room by the time class starts. They always try to get away with holding on to them or finding a work around. Trust me when I say, the students’ level of addiction to these things is appalling and disgusting. We’re in trouble, societally. They’re not learning anything, behaviors are out of control and damn near every teacher I know (not an exaggeration) wants to quit.
Homeschooling is the answer! Screw having the public school system shove their garbage down kids throats. And parents can directly raise their kids while disciplining for the phone problem. Kids are also getting phones way to early i didnt get a phone till the age of 17.
Homeschooling is the answer! Screw having the public school system shove their garbage down kids throats. And parents can directly raise their kids while disciplining for the phone problem. Kids are also getting phones way to early i didnt get a phone till the age of 17.
Home schooling would be great if we could. But the working life gets in the way, as for cells for kids it’s kind of the thing after the house phone went away.
Homeschooling is the answer! Screw having the public school system shove their garbage down kids throats. And parents can directly raise their kids while disciplining for the phone problem. Kids are also getting phones way to early i didnt get a phone till the age of 17.
You’re the reason we want to quit.
Home schooling would be great if we could. But the working life gets in the way, as for cells for kids it’s kind of the thing after the house phone went away.
Guessing this is the case for most.
I wish my employer would start enforcing their no phones in the work place policy. There’s nothing that makes my blood boil more than when I’m struggling to hold something waiting for my partner to get a bolt started and I look up and they are on their phone. The younger kids are the biggest offenders. They can’t put those things down. It’s really actually kind of scary. None of the bosses do anything about it and it clearly states in the hand book, cellphones are not allowed to leave the break room and are strictly prohibited in work areas.
After 34 years in public schools ~ it IS the parents AND admin.
There are policies in place and policies to put in place. Many school administrators/principals/building leaders/instructional leaders don’t have the courage to enforce or are not backed up by district admin.
Many are completely mired in identity politics and claim inequity when the policies are enforced.
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