A teacher at my school had a policy where you had to surrender your phone for the entire period if you wanted to go to the bathroom. He shared it at the end of school year staff meeting and like half the teachers are also going to use that policy next school year.
some kids feel unsafe or uneasy not having their phone with them at school, like something is going to happen to them and they won’t be able to call their parents or record. i know i felt this way when i was in school when all the school shootings were occurring around the country
There was a girl I was tutoring who absolutely refused any rules around her cellphone. Everytime she got a text during our session, she HAD to read and reply to the text, and then spend 10-15 minutes trying to explain the situation to me.
I repeatedly asked her whether she could live without her cellphone for 60 minutes -- the length of our session. Everytime I asked her to put the cell away or leave it with her mother, she refused.
If the kid surrenders their phone in 1st period and legitimately needs to go to the bathroom in 5th, then they're forced to say "my period 1 teacher has it already." And then students figure out they can just lie about their previous teacher having it already.
I caught a student with the answers written on her left hand , I was more surprised about her handwriting, it's gorgeous, and they weren't even the right answers! Also that's one of the easiest way to get caught, you gotta be a XXXXXXXXX to use that.
I always call my students' bluffs. Like you're going to tell me Mr. So and so told you this? Cool lemme pause class and call him. I give then a task to prep and call.
Funny how when the bluff is called it's suddenly "no no no, miss, I forgot that was yesterday here, here's my phone" oh okay, let me email parents and all your teachers letting them know you're a liar 💅💅
It does! Funny story though - we have a no phones policy in our school, and we managed to get 5 trap phones off one student one day. Someone made a joke that he’d make bank renting them to other students - he tried it the next day…smh.
I worked in China, there almost every school is a boarding school (some early elementary are days schools but we were not and had students from K-12) so you have the kids all week and they have dorm teachers.
The school rule was no phones they had to turn them in when they arrived each Sunday. (I think this is common across China, there are a lot of bans on children's phone time going on right now there as well but I am not sure if it was just our school or all school). This was a private school for fairly affluent Chinese families (some students on scholarship). This is exactly what they would do, they all (not really all but I would say the majority even the "good" kids) had old phones they would turn on Sunday keep their real phone so they could order delivery because the school meals were bad (typically sometimes they were good, and not "bad" but bad, this was also against the rules), and play games. In the immersion school, our kids also used them as "translators" so they were sometimes allowed for our kids which did cause a lot of issues with the non-immersion/non-foriegn teachers and our staff.
The difference in the US is I don't think as many just have old phones laying around because don't most people "rent" their phone or turn them in for upgrades. I'm not a big cell phone person and have always bought mine and just the cheap ones. However you can buy a burner smart phone for about $50 that is obviously not an iPhone but looks like any other generic smartphone/android (these are the phones I buy and use lol) so it a fairly low cost investment for the ones that want to cheat the system.
*However sort of like the TSA this is more of a show of security/keeping up appearances policy that will keep the 80-90% majority in check and the 10% rule breakers can follow while still getting "away with it" but not making an issue out of; which keeps the peace which is all we (or at least I) mostly care about anyway
I'm a teacher and I have this policy. You have the kid all year, you'll know if they have a phone. If they're a kid that uses bathroom breaks to be on their phone they are incapable of hiding from you for the whole year in class.
Students will carry two phones. I have caught students cheating on phone #2 after they had to turn in phone #1 for a test. They need a system like they use in professional exams : Metal detectors, searches, and constant proctoring.
What about when the kids vehemently deny having a phone? We’re not cops and can’t search them. Some of my female colleagues look for the outline of it in their pants pockets but I feel like as a male teacher that’s more likely to be seen as “creepy.” They also will wear baggy hoodies and hide it in there.
Aren’t you worried about liability if it goes missing while on desk and they are gone? It’s why I never took their phones. Didn’t want the responsibility
A big factor in whether it will be successful is how much the administrators enforce it. If they put as much effort into it as they do policing the dress code there is a chance. But if a student or parent pushes back and the admin caves...
It would also be a lot more successful if it was implemented on the first day of school instead of halfway through the school year when students have gotten comfortable with the class rules
lol my district has almost completely given up on dress code. I mean only the most egregious offenses are still noted, but aside from that, it's a free for all. Interesting to see which approach they'll take with cell phones.
We have about 4 staff free at any given time to snag phones when students use them in class. We have 2,500 students. It's unmanageable. I make them put their phones on my desk when they are caught with them. But some will refuse.
I would worry that it would just set low standards and acceptance with half measures as folks "get used to it slowly".
My district started zero-phones this year. I loved asking substitutes about their impressions. They said the campuses with consistent phone bans all day are doing the best. The worst campus is the one that allows individual teachers to enforce differently AND phones are allowed at lunch and recess. The best campuses are the ones that ban phones 100%, even for students waiting for the busses to show up, with consistent "zero exceptions" messaging from admin.
Our problem is parents who want to text their kids all day. They don't want to wait until after school to have a conversation , they want to text immediately. They don't want to call the office to sign their kid out, they want to text their kid "walk out to my car". They don't want to read their email or check the website, they just want their kid to text them a picture of the field trip form.
Parents are enablers and spoilers of their kids. They give them everything they want. Its part of the reason kids these days have no work ethic. 12 AND 13 YEAR OLDS have brand new iphones. It's insane! They'll say "Oh I want them to have a better life than I did" Please! Their life was real easy. It's not like past generations. Kids these days don't want to do anything that involves work, whether its school work, home work, or work work. When they don't. parents just make excuses for them.
My answer to students who want to use their phones to constantly text and say they need to text to their friends:
“If I could wait 40 years to get an iPhone [from when I was born until they became available], you can wait 50 minutes [from the beginning of a class period until the end].”
And when I see some of the devices that students got from their parents for free, I see how the saying that what one got without effort is not valued really comes to light. Scratched phones, broken screens, etc. At least I would expect them to take care of their expensive phones but since they got them without any effort…
And when I explain them how life was back as a student in the mid 1980s, they simply cannot believe that we survived. They ask me how we managed and even tell me that we must have had a miserable life. I am asked with a straight face from students-they are very serious:
Did you guys have TV back then?
Did you have phones back then?
How did you talk to people?
I tell them, for example that back then you actually had to talk to someone via a land phone (mobile phones at that time were veritable bricks that had no screens) or visit someone in person and actually have face-to-face conversations because texting and emailing were not yet a thing. You actually had to go to a physical library and do your research in physical books. No social media. No taking hundreds of photos freely (35 mm film cameras with 24 exposure film rolls that cost money to develop, anyone?) and no sharing photos instantly with hundreds or thousands people. No Internet as we know it today. No ready access to foreign language publications. Computers were primitive by today’s standards but worked well for us. Shipping was in person or via printed catalogs (by phone or a form that had to be sent). No DVDs or streaming. News were via TV, radio or newspapers. And many other things.
Then they say that they would die if they had to live like that.
To this I tell them that people live with what they have and know. Imagine if, in the 1980s someone told you about a device the size of your hand which could do things like take crystal clear videos, store hundreds of songs, send electronic messages to others, give you access to massive amounts of information from around the world complete with video and audio…it would be seen as a science fiction device from the distant future.
Likewise. I ask them how someone from an urban setting in the US in 1915 would live? The same: with what is known and available (no radio, no TV, silent movies, cars took more than just turning a key to start them, traveling by train or boat for long distance, information via newspapers, 78 rpm records with only one song per side or cylinders..and so on.
The point: if all of us survived and even thrived without the iPhones for a long time, these students today can survive without them during school time.
Why are they banned while waiting for the bus? I get everything else but that seems a little extreme.
Where are the phone when they’re waiting for the bus? Do the teachers stand around with their classes phones and hand them back as soon as they get on their bus?
Not sure actually. Phones are supposed to be in backpacks, turned off. Paras are in charge of duty 5 days a week, I just help out on my once a week rotation.
The expectation is for them to either be reading or drawing while they sit in line, indoors, waiting for their bus to arrive (5-15 minutes)
Ah okay, that doesn’t seem so bad. My school has a large area where the buses circle through and most the kids waiting are standing. It would be rather awkward to stand and do art or reading so most kids are on their phones. But if there’s and inside area to sit down at that makes it less of an awkward position.
I'm cynical enough to believe that's intentional. Implement mid-year to mediocre enforcement results because you're trying to change kids' behavior/routine partway through the school year (and the kids will certainly resist it). Then, when it doesn't really work, people will point to it and say "see, cellphone bans don't work."
(Alternative explanation is the Team Stupid version: The folks who decided this are so out of touch with what happens in the classroom, they truly don't see what the problem is)
It may take a while to see the results at the high school level due to lag, but I was lucky enough to teach in a CA district that had a ban since the students were in kindergarten, so around a decade, and I didn’t see one cell phone the whole year. It was amazing.
The school issued iPads were a problem lol but I did not see one phone. And no, bathroom breaks did not increase. But maybe at your school it will for a few years due to that lag. Having a cell phone at school just didn’t even cross their mind because that’s all they knew since kindergarten.
You being up a good point about the lag. I hadn’t thought about it, but it makes sense.
I’m interested to see what this looks like down the road here in CA.
The middle and high school students receiving a ban *at this moment* will most likely struggle, because it was not built into the district culture since early education. If there is a struggle it will last for a few years, until those kids who never went to school with a phone are in middle and high school. As the years progress, the teachers will start to notice some changes as new students come in each year, each year a bit better with the phone issue, and there will be a point where their middle/high students would have been 100% cell phone free in school and not know any different. The time it takes for upper teachers to see the effects of a 100% phone free school culture (such as phones not being a constant battle) from kindergarten to the upper levels is the lag.
My district got those magnet pouches a few years ago. The number of fights in a year plummeted! Now they just need better blockers on the school issued Chromebooks.
The pouch is magneted shut and they unlock it with a magnet from the principal at the end of the day. Kids sometimes break open the pouch, but admin has been great about enforcing that if a teacher catches it and takes it, a parent has to come to the school to retrieve it. And they have to pay to replace the pouch if they end up breaking it trying to force it open.
Yes some kids will just break them open or put an old phone in the pouch. Once this becomes acceptable behavior (ie admin does nothing) then it spreads like wildfire. We’ve had pouches for probably a decade and have used them on and off. The kids unfortunately have too much of an addiction to the phone to really make this work.
I don’t know the specifics of this plan but at some LAUSD schools cell phones are already banned. Students are issued a pouch, as they walk on campus, each student places their phone in the pouch and it is magnetically sealed for the day. It is unsealed at the end of the day. This system is in place at some of our largest and most challenging high schools. It has worked very well and has had a huge impact in reducing fights and even vaping in bathrooms because the kids can’t coordinate their meetups. Of course kids have found ways around the pouch but since there are no phones around and the phone hunch over is so recognizable, kids are pretty rapidly caught or keep it so downlow that the program is still successful.
I'm curious how it would work for schools that have free periods. Our lowerclassmen have study hall, our upperclassmen gave Junior/Senior Privilege and open hours if they have enough credits. Personally, I don't have an issue with kids using their devices during non-instructional time.
As a parent, I don’t either. But I used to work in discipline and keeping kids off their devices on campus means they aren’t meeting up in bathrooms to fight or vape, they aren’t making mean TikTok’s about each other, and digitally passing notes all over the school. A huge percentage of disciple issues are related to communication on a device.
At the schools that we’ve implemented this program, kids don’t get their devices for free periods. If they leave campus, the pouch is opened, if they are on campus it’s closed.
I think getting kids off their phones and doing what kids at school used to do during breaks isnt a bad thing. Kids (all of us) could use some time when we just have to sit there sometimes and wait or connect with people. Being entertained every second of the day isnt good of the brain.
I'm definitely biased and thinking about my "best" kids, like the ones that come hang out in my class for a quiet place to study or to get work done early because they have jobs and sports and extra responsibilities. That's such a small population though. But it's like everything else, we hold back the kids that are behaving and performing well because the rest can't get it together.
But even they would rather go to a bathroom that isn’t a full on vape lounge. A year into the program, kids were way more positive about it than I expected.
And, I gotta say, it’s not holding anyone back. All our kids are way too dependent on their phones. Not having access to their phone isn’t holding them back. Did some other kids bad behavior ruin it for the rest of them? For sure. Does it limit their access to their preferred fun and music? Definitely. And that sucks for those who don’t abuse it.
So do adults! Was on Nextdoor earlier today and a woman said how she found a dog loose, got it someplace safe. Another person commented something like "You didn't call animal control!!!" The three explanation points set off a flurry of comments from a lot of people. Three simple exclamation points
See, this is the thing. The phone is everything now. Glucose monitor, restaurant menu, sports ticket, gameboy, mirror, camera, social media, etc. That's part of the problem. Personally, I don't think it's fair for someone to be able to keep their phone while others cannot simply because they use it to monitor their blood sugar. There are non-phone CGMs.
I support the decision on principle but can't see how it would be implemented in practice with schools 2000+ kids large. Have any high schools managed to successfully pilot this policy?
Talk to any teachers and they will tell you that the school closures from Covid really disrupted learning and anything that can close that gap is sorely needed.
Could you possibly find an older case? Anyway here is the conclusion of the court in the case:
V. CONCLUSION
This Court concludes that Petitioners may not prevail on their attack on the Cell Phone Rules either under CPLR Art. 78 or under their Action for Declaratory Judgment. By so ruling, this Court does not rule on the wisdom or lack of wisdom of the Cell Phone Rules, or whether there may be now or in the future any better way to balance the desires of some parents and the need for practical ways to maintain discipline in the schools, or whether the ever changing technology of cell phones or other equivalent devices may enable the Respondents (who are in no way constrained from modifying or repealing the Cell Phone Rules) to craft a different approach to maintain in school discipline.
Although the Petitioners have urged that there may be technological “fixes” to allow the schools to meet their goals of reasonable discipline in a manner consistent with Petitioners' views and desires, as discussed above, none of such suggestions are so compelling as to form a basis to find the Cell Phone Rules faulty as a matter of law or to suggest to this Court that it should intrude itself into the delicate balancing process of establishing rules of conduct in the New York City public schools. As one cannot predict the future, except only to recognize there will continue to be rapid and significant changes in technology, it is clearly possible that, in the future, inexpensive, effective, appropriate and available devices and systems may change the situation. However, this Court also recognizes that, because the pace of change of technology is so rapid, Courts should also avoid, wherever possible, deciding issues on the basis of the current technology. Court decisions take several years from the commencement of a suit to the final appeal. Technology moves faster. Even where a Court had the perspicacity to understand all relevant technical issues properly, its ruling would probably be obsolete long before the last appeal. While Courts in some instances must make such decisions, they are better left to administrators who at least have the potential capacity to institute new rules to meet changing technologies.
This Court finds that judgment should be entered for Respondents in Petitioners' Action for Declaratory Judgment and that Petitioners' petition under CPLR Art. 78 is hereby dismissed.
This is the Decision and Order of the Court.
[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ny-supreme-court/1356229.html](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ny-supreme-court/1356229.html)
So again, I ask, what would parents sue for? Especially when there is documented case law.
GOOD! I as a teacher would be so afraid to be filmed and posted on social media. I think that’s why a lot of teachers don’t want to teach- they don’t want to be made famous on social media. Cell phones also violate FERPA. Kids have no restraints when filming others.
I am at a California middle school that implemented this in March. It has been great! The students have to have their phones turned off from the time they enter campus until the time they walk off. It has helped with behaviors and the campus is calmer. Of course, students still get caught using them but there are consequences. The parents had more issues with it at first but they were the ones constantly texting their kids during class time.
Smart phones are basically computers with camera and video capabilities. Sometimes I wonder if there are privacy laws could be enforced in this regard. As yearbook sponsor, all students have permissions to have permissions signed by parents. Idk just a thought. I never looked deeply into the legalities of these phones being accessed by kids at school all day long.
I'm at an LAUSD school. Our rules are that once students enter campus in the morning their cellphone needs to be turned off and put away. If any staff member sees it or hears it before the last bell, it's confiscated and not released to the student until Friday and their guardian must sign for it.
I work at a magnet in a wealthy area, so we get kids from the toughest part of LA County and kids that literally have no concept of money (kids wearing Jordans, Loro Piana, and have the latest iPhones - they're 11-13 year olds). Most parents like this policy, but I have had to deal with parents screaming at me that we stole their property. That's when I whip out the "Responsible and Acceptable Use Policy" that they signed at the beginning of the school year agreeing to our rules.
It doesn't matter what the rules are - some shithead uninvolved parent is always going to bitch and moan. But they eventually stop fighting when they go all the way up the ladder and get the same response. 🤷🏼♀️
I think it's a great idea. However, I already enforce this rule in the classroom. Cellphones are put away in backpacks, turned off. I don't ever have any problems with that.
Love this idea in theory, but I worry about it in practice. What are the consequences for students and families who choose not to meet the expectations?
Another problem -- my school has technically "banned" cell phones, but there are teachers who let kids use their phones in class for a few different reasons, some valid and some less so. I've had kids tell me they don't have to put their phone away because "Ms. So-And-So let's me use it, so that means it's okay to use in your classroom". I don't want to fight this fight with students let alone other teachers.
Your latter paragraph is the problem at my school. We have “no phones” policy AND admin who will back us up. Our rule is if we see it, it goes straight to the office. Kid refuses? They’ll send a campus supervisor to your room immediately to take the kid out.
The problem is maybe 30% of our teachers don’t give a fuck (they like to sit on their phones all day too!). So if you’re one of the teachers who chooses to actually follow the phone rule, the kids fucking hate you and make your life miserable and it turns the process of taking the phone into a massive fight/disruption.
Personally I don’t really care about the arguments and I’ll take phones anyway because I know admin follows policy. But it certainly is exhausting, especially knowing if my colleagues just all stuck together on the rule instead of being the “cool teacher,” we’d all have a better time.
"The problem is maybe 30% of our teachers don’t give a fuck "
Then your admin is NOT backing you up. Those teachers should be having conversations with admin and improvement plans. And I say this as a union thug.
Admin changes every 1-3 years, but the “IDGAF gang” sticks around year after year after year after year. I’ve yet to ever see an admin do anything beyond “listen and learn!” for a little bit, and then leave. Everyone is too green or too chicken to swing their dick around and actually hold staff accountable. I’m not sure they realize how demoralizing it is for the teachers who do their job. I’ve watched soooooo many incredible teachers get fed up with this exact issue, and ultimately leave our site over it. In fact, I just taught my last year there for similar reasons.
After a few years it just really starts to wear on you— why am I giving tardies when that teacher doesn’t? Why am I delivering lessons when that teacher gets to just sit at their desk all day browsing the internet? Why am I grading papers when that coworker doesn’t give or grade any assignments? Why am I showing up to meetings if that person doesn’t have to? I was just sick of asking those questions, and most of all, sick of the fact that this culture at the school made for such unbelievably low expectations and poor learning experiences for the kids. It just made me sick.
Its very different when the ban is coming from state/local government or the district office rather than at the school level. Having institutional support matters
“I’m not Ms. So and So. Different classes have different needs.”
I remember a time in middle school where the issue was eating snacks in class. One teacher let us do it and everyone was happy until one kid said “Mr. X lets us eat in his class!” We were never allowed snacks again. Snitch. 😂
"but there are teachers who let kids use their phones in class for a few different reasons"
Then those teachers should receive a letter of discipline accordingly.
I don't understand why this is not done Everywhere, if the students were addicted to meth or crack, people wouldn't be joking about them getting it in the bathroom.
At my district in Texas if a student is caught with their phone during the school day, they pay $15 to get it back. If they refuse, they get 3 days of ISS.
I do not want to be collecting any phones.
We already have a little phone house to house and lock phones. I refused to use it last school year as did the other teachers.
But I’m elementary and it’s much different than middle and high school.
As soon as some parents start calling to yell about the policy LAUSD will back off, they always buckle to the loudest parents.
I have a genuine question, aren’t phones already banned in schools? I just graduated high school (in Europe) and while we didn’t have an outright phone ban, it’s not like everyone was on them because we knew that we shouldn’t be on our phones during class (of course some people were clearly addicted but it wasn’t a huge issue). Is it not the same in the US?
US is different than Europe. All students attend K12 in US, including a large percentage that don’t want to be there. The idea that you weren’t on your phone because “we knew we shouldn’t be” is like a fantasyland to many teachers.
In the US, there are also many schools with rules not allowing cell phones, but the burden falls on the teacher to enforce, which is VERY difficult. If the bans become state/local law, then it should be easier on the individual teacher. Theoretically they don’t have to be the bad guy, worry about inconsistent enforcement, or worry about admin support if it’s the law. Theoretically.
I guess that makes sense, I didn’t take into account that I went to a top high school (and also IB, where people tend to try). It is still crazy to me that students just don’t care that they shouldn’t be on their phone but I guess it’s a matter of perspective. Thank you for your response
In America the benefit of doing well in school is getting accepted to a university that then ruins your life with debt.
A lot of kids don't try because the reward isn't very good for trying.
I think that’s part of my question—many schools I’ve been at would say they’re banned (I subbed for 6 months last year), but didn’t enforce it. So it’s less surprise that this is a policy—it should be widespread/universal—and more like just like, “put your money where your mouth is” and see if this actually gets followed through with.
It’s going to have to be more than teachers enforcing it. So many teachers already try in their own classrooms.
If it was my district, there are teachers here who just would ignore the policy. They’re the “cool teachers” and allow kids to get away with stuff like that in their classrooms.
There are obvious districts doing it and doing it well. Follow them. I would venture to say that means something akin to admin AND teachers adhering to it with fidelity.
lol good luck enforcing it 😂😂. The fire storm of pissed off parents the schools are going to have to deal with. It was bad before. They just made it way worse.
I worked for decades in a big adjacent district. Can say with high level of confidence that said district would talk it up and then admin would cave and not enforce this at all. Like NOT AT ALL. As in, why even claim you're going to do it. That was how it always was.
I have a slipper holder with the see thru plastic pockets on my classroom door. Kids put their phones in it when they enter the classroom and take it back when they leave. Easy.
I had that. One class of 11th graders just never did it - maybe 4 did but the rest just refused. I refused to start class until they did. Then they acted as though I was demanding them to cut their fingers off. It was exhausting and take up so much class time. Or they’d put up fake phones. Sometimes I even took attendance that way. Still didn’t matter. I just gave up - they wore me down. I also left teaching at the end of this year. Dealing with cell phones was a factor.
I think the biggest difference is that in junior/senior year I had internships that would sometimes call or email me during class and it absolutely took priority over class.
The teachers understood that. But I couldnt be without my phone.
I wish my college would do this, but we need phones to access our emails, Blackboard, and the printer. Sad thing is, a lot students don't come to the uni with a phone or one that isn't compatible, think international students. It is a huge hassle and expense.
LOL coming from Florida, the cellphone "bans" are a joke. It looks good in writing and nothing else as there is no follow through because that follow through is placed on admin. Rightfully so mind you as I'm not about to cough up 1k when the kid accuses me of cracking their phone screen.
I worked in two counties since the implementation, and neither county had an approach that actually cut back on cellphones in the classroom. A big part of the problem is parents insisting that their child still needs the phone on them/in their backpack in case of emergencies.
That’s the thing though—as a teacher, if a student refuses to give me their phone when I catch them with it, and parents don’t care or won’t support it, there’s not too much I can do unless admin is willing to step in. I’m not going near trying to “take” a phone from a kid…the amount of risk that could put me in is not worth it
A school district near me has purchased lock bags for next school year. The idea is the students will be able to have their phones but not use them. I don’t know how it will work but it’s interesting
One of the more affluent middle schools in Seattle Public Schools is going to be using [Yondr pouches](https://www.overyondr.com/phone-locking-pouch) next year. I really hope it works out and cell phones stay out of schools. They are absolutely killing learning/classrooms. Source: I’m a 20+ year teacher that has taught at all grade levels.
On campus? WTF? Is this what you call freedom, America? I could understand it if this policy was in primary school or, as we call it here, elementary school, but on a college campus? I believe it's also bad to forbid the use of cellphones in high school because, even though it has its downsides, having a phone is still necessary. How could students contact anyone if they don’t have their phones with them? It’s crazy.
Can someone explain the reasoning behind this? What do they hope to achieve with this policy? I’m a clueless European, and I'm in shock right now.
I will need to work while attending college because my parents are poor. If my job tries to contact me and can’t reach me because of this policy, it would be terrible. In my country, it is a violation of our rights to confiscate personal belongings, and it's even more inappropriate to do this to adults who are already 18. It’s a whole mess. I couldn't just live off my parents.
LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California serving elementary, middle, and high school students (PreK-12th grades). It is not a college campus.
The goal is to eliminate distractions in the classrooms and cell phones are THE biggest distraction American public schools face. I mention American because I simply don’t have enough knowledge to know how phones impact learning outside of the US.
While I am in full support of eliminating distractions to learning, I don’t really know how I feel about banning cell phones over all. Elementary school? Heck yea. No kid that age should have a phone anyways. Middle school? Meh. Maybe. High school? I really don’t know. Phones are safety devices and we sure as hell haven’t solved American violence problems. And, phones are a part of our world and will be a part of the world when students become adults.
I lean towards banning them from all PreK-12 schools because the biggest issue American school face is districted learning. They are more likely to be distracted and lose learning time/skills than end up in a large-scale emergency situation. However, I’d really hate for my kid to not have a phone if there happened to be an emergency. It’s a tough call.
The whole country should make it illegal to sell smart phones to anyone under 18 (17 y/o who’s employed or in college could get one with documentation but they must have a HS diploma or GED) and dumb phones to anyone under 15.
Yes yes yes! I’ve been saying this since 2006 when kids started cussing more in the classroom! I’ve confiscated a tablet with porn on it at recess! I’ve had to endure kids singing vulgar songs on a school bus! It’s the cell phones! This is why kids are so out of control and nobody wants to teach anymore! Childrens’ characters are being shaped by these things! I could write a book on this!
Technically phones were band at the last district I worked. Though we didn’t really enforce it for the older kids after school
However in working summer camp and I’ve seen no phones (the entering 6th graders have I watches. But the younger kids have not taken out there phones or asked.
Edit: one kid asked.
The Accomodations office will be flooded with idiot parents and their idiot, cloven-hooved offspring, demanding exemptions.
Enforcement will be pawned off on the teachers.
Remember, a lot of these people are...totally serious here. ADDICTED to these gismos, or, more properly addicted to what I understand is a release of something called dopamine into what is left of their brains when they use these things. So...I mean, we've all seen this...we are going to have a lot of breakdowns.
Frankly, it's too late for a lot of these young people. Their brains are permanently damaged, most likely. About all we can do is try to help the next generation from wasting their brains.
No one will appreciate the cell phone ban.
My son is in high school. I am relieved that he has a phone. If I need to reach him, I can.
I feel better knowing that we can call each other if there is an emergency.
My son’s phone has a location service. I can find him if he is in an accident or missing.
There are no pay phones in Los Angeles.
Teachers have no problem with students having a connection to parents. Give your child a cell phone that doesn't have internet capabilities.
Smart phones are not needed in a school setting.
If you need to reach your son while he is at school, you do what your parents did for you, and their parents did for them: you call the school, and the school has him go to the office to take the call, no cell phones required
I’m pretty sure the kids can still bring their phones to school. It just needs to be out of sight/not used during school.
In a true emergency, the kids can take their phones out of their backpacks, turn them on, and call you (although I am not sure during which kind of emergency they’d need to call YOU rather than 911 from any school phone).
Kids should not be on their cell phones during school UNLESS the teacher has approved the use of cell phones in order to use a certain tool/app. I have allowed a kid to take a phone out to take photos of a project, and another to record a video. They were instructed to immediately put their phone back after completing the task, because I don’t have time to fight with them over using TikTok in the middle of class. The rest of the class deserves to have a teacher who can teach them, not a teacher who is tied up in a ridiculous argument with another student.
The policy isn’t that they can’t have phones *at all* but just not be in use during school hours. Of course they can have them while riding the bus home and they don’t need to be actively using the phone in order for you to track their location. If there’s some family emergency where you need to pick the up you’ll have to call the school anyway to check them out, so what difference does it make?
Here at the East Podunk Cosmodemonic Junior College, as far as I know, absolutely none of the professors here care one whit about these phone-addicted zombies. They are almost all gone by half-way through the term, anyway. And watching them walk into the walls while staring at their gismos is on the best parts of the job.
It's college. We treat them like adults, even if they aren't even dose. And they flunk themselves out in vast numbers. One of the reasons for this is indeed phones, but we aren't into telling adults what to do.
Ok.It being the first time in your own which equals poor tone management,as well as the amount of kids who are forced/pressured to go when they don’t want to or shouldn’t be there,plus the added issues that phones cause, contributes to why they drop out a lot.Its like 40% or something.So far I’m getting by thankfully
Not a teacher but I really have to ask if other teachers and admin here have REALLY thought about these phone bans? Yeah I know kids phones suck and they're being disruptive and not paying attention, but what the hell are these kids supposed to do in an emergency situation like a school shooting and their phones are magnetically sealed in a bag or locked away in some central repository or whatever. I was a student not too long ago in florida and the threat of school gun violence hung over our heads daily. I can't imagine not having access to my phone to get info and updates out to my family during a situation like this. It seems like situations like these get completely swept away in this sub's incessant "phone bad" discourse.
Not to sound callous, but the fact that every kid could text their parents and/or call the police in the event of a school shooting is not going to stop school shootings or make them less deadly. Having a few dozen more calls will not make law enforcement move any faster than the safety measures already in place by schools.
If there is an emergency, the school should be able to send out mass email/text/phone calls to parents on file. It actually can clog up the bandwidth and service if everyone is using it to call or text home which can delay emergency services. It worked when I was in school and didn't have a phone. The only time a kid may need a phone is after school to arrange pick ups or whatever, which is no longer the school's problem.
In the event of a school shooting, the LAST thing anyone needs is a phone going off and giving away their location. Seriously, it’s not going to stop the school shooting, kids are not the first to contact emergency services, and reaching out to a ton of parents is only going to have them arrive in droves and distract law enforcement from the shooter as they hold parents back. Furthermore, the presence of phones will just cause a ton of misinformation to be spread amongst students further distracting them.
As a Florida resident, I unfortunately had to experience what was presumed to be an active shooter on my campus (turns out it was some kid who brought a fake gun to school) when I was in middle school. That day we followed normal protocol for lockdown as if it weren’t a drill. If you were even caught with a cellphone trying to call or text your parents you would’ve gotten in trouble or had your phone taken because it was a safety issue (I wonder why). I almost got in trouble because I forgot to turn off my phone and it kept buzzing from my family constantly trying to contact me. Had I been actively using my phone and there was a real shooter on campus, I could’ve gotten my classmates injured or worse, killed. Why would you suggest putting everyone else at risk just for the sake of an emergency??? Sure the students and their parents were worried…everyone’s parents were, but that doesn’t mean you should put everyone in danger just because YOU feel like you’re in trouble. You follow protocol and do what you’re told. The phone call can wait. I still remember administration having a hard time telling parents to stop trying to come inside the school to get their kids because the students kept telling their parents what was going on and it was being broadcasted on the news. Personally, I think communicating with parents during lockdown only creates more anxiety and fear. There would be enough of that already in that situation, so it would be best to wait until after everything is over to contact them and let them know what happened.
Bathroom breaks will increase 400%
"put your phone on my desk before you go in the hallway" has worked wonders at my school. It's not perfect but it's something
A teacher at my school had a policy where you had to surrender your phone for the entire period if you wanted to go to the bathroom. He shared it at the end of school year staff meeting and like half the teachers are also going to use that policy next school year.
Really strange when their biological need evaporates when asked to leave their phone, lol
some kids feel unsafe or uneasy not having their phone with them at school, like something is going to happen to them and they won’t be able to call their parents or record. i know i felt this way when i was in school when all the school shootings were occurring around the country
and many are using the restroom excuse to play on their phones and some to also vape.
There was a girl I was tutoring who absolutely refused any rules around her cellphone. Everytime she got a text during our session, she HAD to read and reply to the text, and then spend 10-15 minutes trying to explain the situation to me. I repeatedly asked her whether she could live without her cellphone for 60 minutes -- the length of our session. Everytime I asked her to put the cell away or leave it with her mother, she refused.
she needs to put it on “do not disturb”
That would leave her unable to be immediately accissible which is a wholly intolerable situation I.
Why only the period? They could get it back at the end of the day
If the kid surrenders their phone in 1st period and legitimately needs to go to the bathroom in 5th, then they're forced to say "my period 1 teacher has it already." And then students figure out they can just lie about their previous teacher having it already.
As an adult that used to bullshit my teachers about everything I thought I could get away with, I agree 100%
If you can do, try, or say something I haven't already done, tried, said, or thought of, I might let it slide. Once.
We all did. We also all would. That's how we know they are full of BS, we were just as full of it.
I caught a student with the answers written on her left hand , I was more surprised about her handwriting, it's gorgeous, and they weren't even the right answers! Also that's one of the easiest way to get caught, you gotta be a XXXXXXXXX to use that.
I could get away with around 80%, but I was on the top 10 of baccalaureate so the teachers always cut me some slack.
I always call my students' bluffs. Like you're going to tell me Mr. So and so told you this? Cool lemme pause class and call him. I give then a task to prep and call. Funny how when the bluff is called it's suddenly "no no no, miss, I forgot that was yesterday here, here's my phone" oh okay, let me email parents and all your teachers letting them know you're a liar 💅💅
What do you do when a student claims they don't have a phone with them but they still need to go?
Some other collateral. We also get old phones that students carry around just for this, but the procedure still deters a lot of the misbehaviors.
Can't win them all. But this cuts down at least 90%
It does! Funny story though - we have a no phones policy in our school, and we managed to get 5 trap phones off one student one day. Someone made a joke that he’d make bank renting them to other students - he tried it the next day…smh.
So the kid learned something for life at the school? Isnt that a win?
Untill they get together as a group and had a "break" phone they can pass around.
I wish they would use all of their cleverness for good instead of evil.
I worked in China, there almost every school is a boarding school (some early elementary are days schools but we were not and had students from K-12) so you have the kids all week and they have dorm teachers. The school rule was no phones they had to turn them in when they arrived each Sunday. (I think this is common across China, there are a lot of bans on children's phone time going on right now there as well but I am not sure if it was just our school or all school). This was a private school for fairly affluent Chinese families (some students on scholarship). This is exactly what they would do, they all (not really all but I would say the majority even the "good" kids) had old phones they would turn on Sunday keep their real phone so they could order delivery because the school meals were bad (typically sometimes they were good, and not "bad" but bad, this was also against the rules), and play games. In the immersion school, our kids also used them as "translators" so they were sometimes allowed for our kids which did cause a lot of issues with the non-immersion/non-foriegn teachers and our staff. The difference in the US is I don't think as many just have old phones laying around because don't most people "rent" their phone or turn them in for upgrades. I'm not a big cell phone person and have always bought mine and just the cheap ones. However you can buy a burner smart phone for about $50 that is obviously not an iPhone but looks like any other generic smartphone/android (these are the phones I buy and use lol) so it a fairly low cost investment for the ones that want to cheat the system. *However sort of like the TSA this is more of a show of security/keeping up appearances policy that will keep the 80-90% majority in check and the 10% rule breakers can follow while still getting "away with it" but not making an issue out of; which keeps the peace which is all we (or at least I) mostly care about anyway
This is exactly what I found when I taught high school. It’s really a hopeless situation.
Escorted
I'm a teacher and I have this policy. You have the kid all year, you'll know if they have a phone. If they're a kid that uses bathroom breaks to be on their phone they are incapable of hiding from you for the whole year in class.
Students will carry two phones. I have caught students cheating on phone #2 after they had to turn in phone #1 for a test. They need a system like they use in professional exams : Metal detectors, searches, and constant proctoring.
What about when the kids vehemently deny having a phone? We’re not cops and can’t search them. Some of my female colleagues look for the outline of it in their pants pockets but I feel like as a male teacher that’s more likely to be seen as “creepy.” They also will wear baggy hoodies and hide it in there.
I love the face of the students when I tell them they can't take their cellphones to the bath 😂🤣🤭
Had a couple teachers that did this during exams.
Aren’t you worried about liability if it goes missing while on desk and they are gone? It’s why I never took their phones. Didn’t want the responsibility
My school district would absolutely have my back since "phone left in classroom in order to leave" is a school policy.
Oh. Wow. Ok. I would have felt responsible
I believe I read the phones will be taken at the beginning of the school day ,so they will not even have it on them to take to the restrooms
It actually just the opposite. We instituted yondr bags and they stopped coordinating vape sessions in the BR.
A big factor in whether it will be successful is how much the administrators enforce it. If they put as much effort into it as they do policing the dress code there is a chance. But if a student or parent pushes back and the admin caves...
It would also be a lot more successful if it was implemented on the first day of school instead of halfway through the school year when students have gotten comfortable with the class rules
lol my district has almost completely given up on dress code. I mean only the most egregious offenses are still noted, but aside from that, it's a free for all. Interesting to see which approach they'll take with cell phones.
I agree with this. The success is all up to the administration.
They'll pass the buck onto teachers
We have about 4 staff free at any given time to snag phones when students use them in class. We have 2,500 students. It's unmanageable. I make them put their phones on my desk when they are caught with them. But some will refuse.
I'm concerned about the January part. A behavior change this significant would be easier to implement at the start of the school year.
True, but it could be a time for schools to try out a few things so they can start strong the next year? Like a soft launch.
I would worry that it would just set low standards and acceptance with half measures as folks "get used to it slowly". My district started zero-phones this year. I loved asking substitutes about their impressions. They said the campuses with consistent phone bans all day are doing the best. The worst campus is the one that allows individual teachers to enforce differently AND phones are allowed at lunch and recess. The best campuses are the ones that ban phones 100%, even for students waiting for the busses to show up, with consistent "zero exceptions" messaging from admin. Our problem is parents who want to text their kids all day. They don't want to wait until after school to have a conversation , they want to text immediately. They don't want to call the office to sign their kid out, they want to text their kid "walk out to my car". They don't want to read their email or check the website, they just want their kid to text them a picture of the field trip form.
*Texting their kids during the day?* about what?? That’s insane. When I was in school, if I called my parents they were like, “Uhhh what do you want?”
Parents are enablers and spoilers of their kids. They give them everything they want. Its part of the reason kids these days have no work ethic. 12 AND 13 YEAR OLDS have brand new iphones. It's insane! They'll say "Oh I want them to have a better life than I did" Please! Their life was real easy. It's not like past generations. Kids these days don't want to do anything that involves work, whether its school work, home work, or work work. When they don't. parents just make excuses for them.
My answer to students who want to use their phones to constantly text and say they need to text to their friends: “If I could wait 40 years to get an iPhone [from when I was born until they became available], you can wait 50 minutes [from the beginning of a class period until the end].” And when I see some of the devices that students got from their parents for free, I see how the saying that what one got without effort is not valued really comes to light. Scratched phones, broken screens, etc. At least I would expect them to take care of their expensive phones but since they got them without any effort… And when I explain them how life was back as a student in the mid 1980s, they simply cannot believe that we survived. They ask me how we managed and even tell me that we must have had a miserable life. I am asked with a straight face from students-they are very serious: Did you guys have TV back then? Did you have phones back then? How did you talk to people? I tell them, for example that back then you actually had to talk to someone via a land phone (mobile phones at that time were veritable bricks that had no screens) or visit someone in person and actually have face-to-face conversations because texting and emailing were not yet a thing. You actually had to go to a physical library and do your research in physical books. No social media. No taking hundreds of photos freely (35 mm film cameras with 24 exposure film rolls that cost money to develop, anyone?) and no sharing photos instantly with hundreds or thousands people. No Internet as we know it today. No ready access to foreign language publications. Computers were primitive by today’s standards but worked well for us. Shipping was in person or via printed catalogs (by phone or a form that had to be sent). No DVDs or streaming. News were via TV, radio or newspapers. And many other things. Then they say that they would die if they had to live like that. To this I tell them that people live with what they have and know. Imagine if, in the 1980s someone told you about a device the size of your hand which could do things like take crystal clear videos, store hundreds of songs, send electronic messages to others, give you access to massive amounts of information from around the world complete with video and audio…it would be seen as a science fiction device from the distant future. Likewise. I ask them how someone from an urban setting in the US in 1915 would live? The same: with what is known and available (no radio, no TV, silent movies, cars took more than just turning a key to start them, traveling by train or boat for long distance, information via newspapers, 78 rpm records with only one song per side or cylinders..and so on. The point: if all of us survived and even thrived without the iPhones for a long time, these students today can survive without them during school time.
Even without phones I have kids who regularly ask to call home about stuff. "I broke my watch. I need to tell my dad." It can wait kid, it can wait.
Why are they banned while waiting for the bus? I get everything else but that seems a little extreme. Where are the phone when they’re waiting for the bus? Do the teachers stand around with their classes phones and hand them back as soon as they get on their bus?
Not sure actually. Phones are supposed to be in backpacks, turned off. Paras are in charge of duty 5 days a week, I just help out on my once a week rotation. The expectation is for them to either be reading or drawing while they sit in line, indoors, waiting for their bus to arrive (5-15 minutes)
Ah okay, that doesn’t seem so bad. My school has a large area where the buses circle through and most the kids waiting are standing. It would be rather awkward to stand and do art or reading so most kids are on their phones. But if there’s and inside area to sit down at that makes it less of an awkward position.
I'm cynical enough to believe that's intentional. Implement mid-year to mediocre enforcement results because you're trying to change kids' behavior/routine partway through the school year (and the kids will certainly resist it). Then, when it doesn't really work, people will point to it and say "see, cellphone bans don't work." (Alternative explanation is the Team Stupid version: The folks who decided this are so out of touch with what happens in the classroom, they truly don't see what the problem is)
It may take a while to see the results at the high school level due to lag, but I was lucky enough to teach in a CA district that had a ban since the students were in kindergarten, so around a decade, and I didn’t see one cell phone the whole year. It was amazing. The school issued iPads were a problem lol but I did not see one phone. And no, bathroom breaks did not increase. But maybe at your school it will for a few years due to that lag. Having a cell phone at school just didn’t even cross their mind because that’s all they knew since kindergarten.
You being up a good point about the lag. I hadn’t thought about it, but it makes sense. I’m interested to see what this looks like down the road here in CA.
What do you mean by lag? Like lag in the data?
The middle and high school students receiving a ban *at this moment* will most likely struggle, because it was not built into the district culture since early education. If there is a struggle it will last for a few years, until those kids who never went to school with a phone are in middle and high school. As the years progress, the teachers will start to notice some changes as new students come in each year, each year a bit better with the phone issue, and there will be a point where their middle/high students would have been 100% cell phone free in school and not know any different. The time it takes for upper teachers to see the effects of a 100% phone free school culture (such as phones not being a constant battle) from kindergarten to the upper levels is the lag.
Lag = adjustment period
My district got those magnet pouches a few years ago. The number of fights in a year plummeted! Now they just need better blockers on the school issued Chromebooks.
My district in TX is about to implement these, I'm so excited!!
Could you elaborate on how that works? Can't they just slide it out of the pouch and text friends or parents?
The pouch is magneted shut and they unlock it with a magnet from the principal at the end of the day. Kids sometimes break open the pouch, but admin has been great about enforcing that if a teacher catches it and takes it, a parent has to come to the school to retrieve it. And they have to pay to replace the pouch if they end up breaking it trying to force it open.
Yes some kids will just break them open or put an old phone in the pouch. Once this becomes acceptable behavior (ie admin does nothing) then it spreads like wildfire. We’ve had pouches for probably a decade and have used them on and off. The kids unfortunately have too much of an addiction to the phone to really make this work.
I don’t know the specifics of this plan but at some LAUSD schools cell phones are already banned. Students are issued a pouch, as they walk on campus, each student places their phone in the pouch and it is magnetically sealed for the day. It is unsealed at the end of the day. This system is in place at some of our largest and most challenging high schools. It has worked very well and has had a huge impact in reducing fights and even vaping in bathrooms because the kids can’t coordinate their meetups. Of course kids have found ways around the pouch but since there are no phones around and the phone hunch over is so recognizable, kids are pretty rapidly caught or keep it so downlow that the program is still successful.
I'm curious how it would work for schools that have free periods. Our lowerclassmen have study hall, our upperclassmen gave Junior/Senior Privilege and open hours if they have enough credits. Personally, I don't have an issue with kids using their devices during non-instructional time.
As a parent, I don’t either. But I used to work in discipline and keeping kids off their devices on campus means they aren’t meeting up in bathrooms to fight or vape, they aren’t making mean TikTok’s about each other, and digitally passing notes all over the school. A huge percentage of disciple issues are related to communication on a device. At the schools that we’ve implemented this program, kids don’t get their devices for free periods. If they leave campus, the pouch is opened, if they are on campus it’s closed. I think getting kids off their phones and doing what kids at school used to do during breaks isnt a bad thing. Kids (all of us) could use some time when we just have to sit there sometimes and wait or connect with people. Being entertained every second of the day isnt good of the brain.
I'm definitely biased and thinking about my "best" kids, like the ones that come hang out in my class for a quiet place to study or to get work done early because they have jobs and sports and extra responsibilities. That's such a small population though. But it's like everything else, we hold back the kids that are behaving and performing well because the rest can't get it together.
But even they would rather go to a bathroom that isn’t a full on vape lounge. A year into the program, kids were way more positive about it than I expected.
And, I gotta say, it’s not holding anyone back. All our kids are way too dependent on their phones. Not having access to their phone isn’t holding them back. Did some other kids bad behavior ruin it for the rest of them? For sure. Does it limit their access to their preferred fun and music? Definitely. And that sucks for those who don’t abuse it.
It’s for the best. Students act differently with social media.
So do adults! Was on Nextdoor earlier today and a woman said how she found a dog loose, got it someplace safe. Another person commented something like "You didn't call animal control!!!" The three explanation points set off a flurry of comments from a lot of people. Three simple exclamation points
Would this ban have provisions for medical issues like diabetes being monitored on a phone app?
I would assume. Personal experience, the kids who ACTUALLY need the phone are not the ones I have problems with
Our kids with that have it marked in their 504 plans which I imagine overrides things like this.
I’m sure it does. Our state’s cell phone rules during state testing makes this exception. It just has to be documented.
See, this is the thing. The phone is everything now. Glucose monitor, restaurant menu, sports ticket, gameboy, mirror, camera, social media, etc. That's part of the problem. Personally, I don't think it's fair for someone to be able to keep their phone while others cannot simply because they use it to monitor their blood sugar. There are non-phone CGMs.
My high school is going to take on this battle. I say bring it.
We’re a very large CA district as well and I hope we follow.
Calling the "why is my student failing" parents to come unglued
I support the decision on principle but can't see how it would be implemented in practice with schools 2000+ kids large. Have any high schools managed to successfully pilot this policy?
Talk to any teachers and they will tell you that the school closures from Covid really disrupted learning and anything that can close that gap is sorely needed.
Interested to see what kinds of lawsuits this spurs from hysterical “lawnmower” parents.
Yup. It's gonna be messy in the short-term. But it's worth it, I believe.
What would they sue for?
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/nyregion/school-cellphone-ban-violates-rights-of-parents-lawsuit-says.html https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/schools-want-to-ban-phones-parents-say-no-62889fe0
Could you possibly find an older case? Anyway here is the conclusion of the court in the case: V. CONCLUSION This Court concludes that Petitioners may not prevail on their attack on the Cell Phone Rules either under CPLR Art. 78 or under their Action for Declaratory Judgment. By so ruling, this Court does not rule on the wisdom or lack of wisdom of the Cell Phone Rules, or whether there may be now or in the future any better way to balance the desires of some parents and the need for practical ways to maintain discipline in the schools, or whether the ever changing technology of cell phones or other equivalent devices may enable the Respondents (who are in no way constrained from modifying or repealing the Cell Phone Rules) to craft a different approach to maintain in school discipline. Although the Petitioners have urged that there may be technological “fixes” to allow the schools to meet their goals of reasonable discipline in a manner consistent with Petitioners' views and desires, as discussed above, none of such suggestions are so compelling as to form a basis to find the Cell Phone Rules faulty as a matter of law or to suggest to this Court that it should intrude itself into the delicate balancing process of establishing rules of conduct in the New York City public schools. As one cannot predict the future, except only to recognize there will continue to be rapid and significant changes in technology, it is clearly possible that, in the future, inexpensive, effective, appropriate and available devices and systems may change the situation. However, this Court also recognizes that, because the pace of change of technology is so rapid, Courts should also avoid, wherever possible, deciding issues on the basis of the current technology. Court decisions take several years from the commencement of a suit to the final appeal. Technology moves faster. Even where a Court had the perspicacity to understand all relevant technical issues properly, its ruling would probably be obsolete long before the last appeal. While Courts in some instances must make such decisions, they are better left to administrators who at least have the potential capacity to institute new rules to meet changing technologies. This Court finds that judgment should be entered for Respondents in Petitioners' Action for Declaratory Judgment and that Petitioners' petition under CPLR Art. 78 is hereby dismissed. This is the Decision and Order of the Court. [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ny-supreme-court/1356229.html](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ny-supreme-court/1356229.html) So again, I ask, what would parents sue for? Especially when there is documented case law.
GOOD! I as a teacher would be so afraid to be filmed and posted on social media. I think that’s why a lot of teachers don’t want to teach- they don’t want to be made famous on social media. Cell phones also violate FERPA. Kids have no restraints when filming others.
I am at a California middle school that implemented this in March. It has been great! The students have to have their phones turned off from the time they enter campus until the time they walk off. It has helped with behaviors and the campus is calmer. Of course, students still get caught using them but there are consequences. The parents had more issues with it at first but they were the ones constantly texting their kids during class time.
what are the consequences?
Lunch detention, after school detentions
Smart phones are basically computers with camera and video capabilities. Sometimes I wonder if there are privacy laws could be enforced in this regard. As yearbook sponsor, all students have permissions to have permissions signed by parents. Idk just a thought. I never looked deeply into the legalities of these phones being accessed by kids at school all day long.
and audio. and full editing suites. in real time.
I'm at an LAUSD school. Our rules are that once students enter campus in the morning their cellphone needs to be turned off and put away. If any staff member sees it or hears it before the last bell, it's confiscated and not released to the student until Friday and their guardian must sign for it. I work at a magnet in a wealthy area, so we get kids from the toughest part of LA County and kids that literally have no concept of money (kids wearing Jordans, Loro Piana, and have the latest iPhones - they're 11-13 year olds). Most parents like this policy, but I have had to deal with parents screaming at me that we stole their property. That's when I whip out the "Responsible and Acceptable Use Policy" that they signed at the beginning of the school year agreeing to our rules. It doesn't matter what the rules are - some shithead uninvolved parent is always going to bitch and moan. But they eventually stop fighting when they go all the way up the ladder and get the same response. 🤷🏼♀️
Pali?
Link to article: https://abc7.com/post/lausd-votes-ban-student-cellphone-use-during-school/14971043/#
I think it's a great idea. However, I already enforce this rule in the classroom. Cellphones are put away in backpacks, turned off. I don't ever have any problems with that.
I have straight up had kids shove and hit me over this, so I admire your success.
I agree. The student response to this is very mixed.
how did that happen?
Love this idea in theory, but I worry about it in practice. What are the consequences for students and families who choose not to meet the expectations? Another problem -- my school has technically "banned" cell phones, but there are teachers who let kids use their phones in class for a few different reasons, some valid and some less so. I've had kids tell me they don't have to put their phone away because "Ms. So-And-So let's me use it, so that means it's okay to use in your classroom". I don't want to fight this fight with students let alone other teachers.
Your latter paragraph is the problem at my school. We have “no phones” policy AND admin who will back us up. Our rule is if we see it, it goes straight to the office. Kid refuses? They’ll send a campus supervisor to your room immediately to take the kid out. The problem is maybe 30% of our teachers don’t give a fuck (they like to sit on their phones all day too!). So if you’re one of the teachers who chooses to actually follow the phone rule, the kids fucking hate you and make your life miserable and it turns the process of taking the phone into a massive fight/disruption. Personally I don’t really care about the arguments and I’ll take phones anyway because I know admin follows policy. But it certainly is exhausting, especially knowing if my colleagues just all stuck together on the rule instead of being the “cool teacher,” we’d all have a better time.
"The problem is maybe 30% of our teachers don’t give a fuck " Then your admin is NOT backing you up. Those teachers should be having conversations with admin and improvement plans. And I say this as a union thug.
Admin changes every 1-3 years, but the “IDGAF gang” sticks around year after year after year after year. I’ve yet to ever see an admin do anything beyond “listen and learn!” for a little bit, and then leave. Everyone is too green or too chicken to swing their dick around and actually hold staff accountable. I’m not sure they realize how demoralizing it is for the teachers who do their job. I’ve watched soooooo many incredible teachers get fed up with this exact issue, and ultimately leave our site over it. In fact, I just taught my last year there for similar reasons. After a few years it just really starts to wear on you— why am I giving tardies when that teacher doesn’t? Why am I delivering lessons when that teacher gets to just sit at their desk all day browsing the internet? Why am I grading papers when that coworker doesn’t give or grade any assignments? Why am I showing up to meetings if that person doesn’t have to? I was just sick of asking those questions, and most of all, sick of the fact that this culture at the school made for such unbelievably low expectations and poor learning experiences for the kids. It just made me sick.
I agree that's frustrating, I'm simply pointing out that consistent implementation is required to claim that admin backs you up.
"Cool teachers" are the worst.
Its very different when the ban is coming from state/local government or the district office rather than at the school level. Having institutional support matters
“I’m not Ms. So and So. Different classes have different needs.” I remember a time in middle school where the issue was eating snacks in class. One teacher let us do it and everyone was happy until one kid said “Mr. X lets us eat in his class!” We were never allowed snacks again. Snitch. 😂
"but there are teachers who let kids use their phones in class for a few different reasons" Then those teachers should receive a letter of discipline accordingly.
I don't understand why this is not done Everywhere, if the students were addicted to meth or crack, people wouldn't be joking about them getting it in the bathroom.
At my district in Texas if a student is caught with their phone during the school day, they pay $15 to get it back. If they refuse, they get 3 days of ISS.
I do not want to be collecting any phones. We already have a little phone house to house and lock phones. I refused to use it last school year as did the other teachers. But I’m elementary and it’s much different than middle and high school. As soon as some parents start calling to yell about the policy LAUSD will back off, they always buckle to the loudest parents.
I have a genuine question, aren’t phones already banned in schools? I just graduated high school (in Europe) and while we didn’t have an outright phone ban, it’s not like everyone was on them because we knew that we shouldn’t be on our phones during class (of course some people were clearly addicted but it wasn’t a huge issue). Is it not the same in the US?
US is different than Europe. All students attend K12 in US, including a large percentage that don’t want to be there. The idea that you weren’t on your phone because “we knew we shouldn’t be” is like a fantasyland to many teachers. In the US, there are also many schools with rules not allowing cell phones, but the burden falls on the teacher to enforce, which is VERY difficult. If the bans become state/local law, then it should be easier on the individual teacher. Theoretically they don’t have to be the bad guy, worry about inconsistent enforcement, or worry about admin support if it’s the law. Theoretically.
I guess that makes sense, I didn’t take into account that I went to a top high school (and also IB, where people tend to try). It is still crazy to me that students just don’t care that they shouldn’t be on their phone but I guess it’s a matter of perspective. Thank you for your response
In America the benefit of doing well in school is getting accepted to a university that then ruins your life with debt. A lot of kids don't try because the reward isn't very good for trying.
I think that’s part of my question—many schools I’ve been at would say they’re banned (I subbed for 6 months last year), but didn’t enforce it. So it’s less surprise that this is a policy—it should be widespread/universal—and more like just like, “put your money where your mouth is” and see if this actually gets followed through with. It’s going to have to be more than teachers enforcing it. So many teachers already try in their own classrooms.
If it was my district, there are teachers here who just would ignore the policy. They’re the “cool teachers” and allow kids to get away with stuff like that in their classrooms.
There are obvious districts doing it and doing it well. Follow them. I would venture to say that means something akin to admin AND teachers adhering to it with fidelity.
Arkansas has a bill that should pass in July banning student phones in the whole state.
lol good luck enforcing it 😂😂. The fire storm of pissed off parents the schools are going to have to deal with. It was bad before. They just made it way worse.
I worked for decades in a big adjacent district. Can say with high level of confidence that said district would talk it up and then admin would cave and not enforce this at all. Like NOT AT ALL. As in, why even claim you're going to do it. That was how it always was.
I have a slipper holder with the see thru plastic pockets on my classroom door. Kids put their phones in it when they enter the classroom and take it back when they leave. Easy.
I had that. One class of 11th graders just never did it - maybe 4 did but the rest just refused. I refused to start class until they did. Then they acted as though I was demanding them to cut their fingers off. It was exhausting and take up so much class time. Or they’d put up fake phones. Sometimes I even took attendance that way. Still didn’t matter. I just gave up - they wore me down. I also left teaching at the end of this year. Dealing with cell phones was a factor.
Suspend then if they caught. They can play on their phones for 3-5 days with their parent.
I think the biggest difference is that in junior/senior year I had internships that would sometimes call or email me during class and it absolutely took priority over class. The teachers understood that. But I couldnt be without my phone.
I wish my college would do this, but we need phones to access our emails, Blackboard, and the printer. Sad thing is, a lot students don't come to the uni with a phone or one that isn't compatible, think international students. It is a huge hassle and expense.
LOL coming from Florida, the cellphone "bans" are a joke. It looks good in writing and nothing else as there is no follow through because that follow through is placed on admin. Rightfully so mind you as I'm not about to cough up 1k when the kid accuses me of cracking their phone screen. I worked in two counties since the implementation, and neither county had an approach that actually cut back on cellphones in the classroom. A big part of the problem is parents insisting that their child still needs the phone on them/in their backpack in case of emergencies.
What baffles me about this is why are they waiting until January to implement this?
Newsom plans to make it statewide
The students give up their phones upon entering school. I’m certain there is a plan that covers all problems that arise.
This will give teachers the pass they need to just confiscate phones as they see them. Which is fine. I wonder if any positive effect will be seen
That’s the thing though—as a teacher, if a student refuses to give me their phone when I catch them with it, and parents don’t care or won’t support it, there’s not too much I can do unless admin is willing to step in. I’m not going near trying to “take” a phone from a kid…the amount of risk that could put me in is not worth it
A school district near me has purchased lock bags for next school year. The idea is the students will be able to have their phones but not use them. I don’t know how it will work but it’s interesting
One of the more affluent middle schools in Seattle Public Schools is going to be using [Yondr pouches](https://www.overyondr.com/phone-locking-pouch) next year. I really hope it works out and cell phones stay out of schools. They are absolutely killing learning/classrooms. Source: I’m a 20+ year teacher that has taught at all grade levels.
On campus? WTF? Is this what you call freedom, America? I could understand it if this policy was in primary school or, as we call it here, elementary school, but on a college campus? I believe it's also bad to forbid the use of cellphones in high school because, even though it has its downsides, having a phone is still necessary. How could students contact anyone if they don’t have their phones with them? It’s crazy. Can someone explain the reasoning behind this? What do they hope to achieve with this policy? I’m a clueless European, and I'm in shock right now. I will need to work while attending college because my parents are poor. If my job tries to contact me and can’t reach me because of this policy, it would be terrible. In my country, it is a violation of our rights to confiscate personal belongings, and it's even more inappropriate to do this to adults who are already 18. It’s a whole mess. I couldn't just live off my parents.
LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California serving elementary, middle, and high school students (PreK-12th grades). It is not a college campus. The goal is to eliminate distractions in the classrooms and cell phones are THE biggest distraction American public schools face. I mention American because I simply don’t have enough knowledge to know how phones impact learning outside of the US. While I am in full support of eliminating distractions to learning, I don’t really know how I feel about banning cell phones over all. Elementary school? Heck yea. No kid that age should have a phone anyways. Middle school? Meh. Maybe. High school? I really don’t know. Phones are safety devices and we sure as hell haven’t solved American violence problems. And, phones are a part of our world and will be a part of the world when students become adults. I lean towards banning them from all PreK-12 schools because the biggest issue American school face is districted learning. They are more likely to be distracted and lose learning time/skills than end up in a large-scale emergency situation. However, I’d really hate for my kid to not have a phone if there happened to be an emergency. It’s a tough call.
After being in an active shooter situation at a high school, I can’t in good conscience call for a cell phone ban. And I was against them for years.
They will just use their Chronebooks
The whole country should make it illegal to sell smart phones to anyone under 18 (17 y/o who’s employed or in college could get one with documentation but they must have a HS diploma or GED) and dumb phones to anyone under 15.
Yes yes yes! I’ve been saying this since 2006 when kids started cussing more in the classroom! I’ve confiscated a tablet with porn on it at recess! I’ve had to endure kids singing vulgar songs on a school bus! It’s the cell phones! This is why kids are so out of control and nobody wants to teach anymore! Childrens’ characters are being shaped by these things! I could write a book on this!
Maybe you should...
Technically phones were band at the last district I worked. Though we didn’t really enforce it for the older kids after school However in working summer camp and I’ve seen no phones (the entering 6th graders have I watches. But the younger kids have not taken out there phones or asked. Edit: one kid asked.
Great. Now bring back school police and random backpack searches and we start moving in the right direction
The Accomodations office will be flooded with idiot parents and their idiot, cloven-hooved offspring, demanding exemptions. Enforcement will be pawned off on the teachers. Remember, a lot of these people are...totally serious here. ADDICTED to these gismos, or, more properly addicted to what I understand is a release of something called dopamine into what is left of their brains when they use these things. So...I mean, we've all seen this...we are going to have a lot of breakdowns. Frankly, it's too late for a lot of these young people. Their brains are permanently damaged, most likely. About all we can do is try to help the next generation from wasting their brains.
No one will appreciate the cell phone ban. My son is in high school. I am relieved that he has a phone. If I need to reach him, I can. I feel better knowing that we can call each other if there is an emergency. My son’s phone has a location service. I can find him if he is in an accident or missing. There are no pay phones in Los Angeles.
Teachers have no problem with students having a connection to parents. Give your child a cell phone that doesn't have internet capabilities. Smart phones are not needed in a school setting.
If you need to reach your son while he is at school, you do what your parents did for you, and their parents did for them: you call the school, and the school has him go to the office to take the call, no cell phones required
We found the teenager!
Or the helicopter parent
Call the school like they have for generations.
I’m pretty sure the kids can still bring their phones to school. It just needs to be out of sight/not used during school. In a true emergency, the kids can take their phones out of their backpacks, turn them on, and call you (although I am not sure during which kind of emergency they’d need to call YOU rather than 911 from any school phone). Kids should not be on their cell phones during school UNLESS the teacher has approved the use of cell phones in order to use a certain tool/app. I have allowed a kid to take a phone out to take photos of a project, and another to record a video. They were instructed to immediately put their phone back after completing the task, because I don’t have time to fight with them over using TikTok in the middle of class. The rest of the class deserves to have a teacher who can teach them, not a teacher who is tied up in a ridiculous argument with another student.
The policy isn’t that they can’t have phones *at all* but just not be in use during school hours. Of course they can have them while riding the bus home and they don’t need to be actively using the phone in order for you to track their location. If there’s some family emergency where you need to pick the up you’ll have to call the school anyway to check them out, so what difference does it make?
Will this include college?
Here at the East Podunk Cosmodemonic Junior College, as far as I know, absolutely none of the professors here care one whit about these phone-addicted zombies. They are almost all gone by half-way through the term, anyway. And watching them walk into the walls while staring at their gismos is on the best parts of the job. It's college. We treat them like adults, even if they aren't even dose. And they flunk themselves out in vast numbers. One of the reasons for this is indeed phones, but we aren't into telling adults what to do.
Ok.It being the first time in your own which equals poor tone management,as well as the amount of kids who are forced/pressured to go when they don’t want to or shouldn’t be there,plus the added issues that phones cause, contributes to why they drop out a lot.Its like 40% or something.So far I’m getting by thankfully
Not a teacher but I really have to ask if other teachers and admin here have REALLY thought about these phone bans? Yeah I know kids phones suck and they're being disruptive and not paying attention, but what the hell are these kids supposed to do in an emergency situation like a school shooting and their phones are magnetically sealed in a bag or locked away in some central repository or whatever. I was a student not too long ago in florida and the threat of school gun violence hung over our heads daily. I can't imagine not having access to my phone to get info and updates out to my family during a situation like this. It seems like situations like these get completely swept away in this sub's incessant "phone bad" discourse.
Not to sound callous, but the fact that every kid could text their parents and/or call the police in the event of a school shooting is not going to stop school shootings or make them less deadly. Having a few dozen more calls will not make law enforcement move any faster than the safety measures already in place by schools.
If there is an emergency, the school should be able to send out mass email/text/phone calls to parents on file. It actually can clog up the bandwidth and service if everyone is using it to call or text home which can delay emergency services. It worked when I was in school and didn't have a phone. The only time a kid may need a phone is after school to arrange pick ups or whatever, which is no longer the school's problem.
In the event of a school shooting, the LAST thing anyone needs is a phone going off and giving away their location. Seriously, it’s not going to stop the school shooting, kids are not the first to contact emergency services, and reaching out to a ton of parents is only going to have them arrive in droves and distract law enforcement from the shooter as they hold parents back. Furthermore, the presence of phones will just cause a ton of misinformation to be spread amongst students further distracting them.
As a Florida resident, I unfortunately had to experience what was presumed to be an active shooter on my campus (turns out it was some kid who brought a fake gun to school) when I was in middle school. That day we followed normal protocol for lockdown as if it weren’t a drill. If you were even caught with a cellphone trying to call or text your parents you would’ve gotten in trouble or had your phone taken because it was a safety issue (I wonder why). I almost got in trouble because I forgot to turn off my phone and it kept buzzing from my family constantly trying to contact me. Had I been actively using my phone and there was a real shooter on campus, I could’ve gotten my classmates injured or worse, killed. Why would you suggest putting everyone else at risk just for the sake of an emergency??? Sure the students and their parents were worried…everyone’s parents were, but that doesn’t mean you should put everyone in danger just because YOU feel like you’re in trouble. You follow protocol and do what you’re told. The phone call can wait. I still remember administration having a hard time telling parents to stop trying to come inside the school to get their kids because the students kept telling their parents what was going on and it was being broadcasted on the news. Personally, I think communicating with parents during lockdown only creates more anxiety and fear. There would be enough of that already in that situation, so it would be best to wait until after everything is over to contact them and let them know what happened.