Our school district just banned cell phones for most students all day! The only exception is for high school students but only during lunch breaks. As a teacher, I'm cheering for fewer disruptions, but as a parent, I'm worried about emergencies. What do you think? Is this a good policy or a step too far?

I personally think all cell phones should be banned from the classroom. my humble opinion there is no way a student can be learning and listening to what the teacher says while they’re scrolling through their phone. We are all guilty of that and I personally know if I’m attending a professional development and I am trying to look at my phone, I am not at all paying attention to what the speaker has to say. so therefore, I put my phone up out of respect and will access it during breaks or after the class is over. A cell phone is a privilege, not a right, and I think the pendulum has swung in the wrong direction, but hopefully everything will eventually equal out.

Good grief. The school still has a landline phone. In case of an emergency, emergency management teams have already said that everyone trying to call out is a problem, and it interferes with response time.
Kids have already proven time and again that giving them the choice to do the right thing and put away their devices doesn’t work because they’re already addicted, just like their parents. They don’t need their devices in class because most schools give them a Chromebook. As educators, we are being hamstrung with this. Your child can’t pay attention and learn new information or skills because their focus is not on the classroom. If they are allowed to keep their phones on their person, this will not improve. I am 100% in support of AT LEAST requiring phone pouches so they can’t access their device during class. My kids will be putting their phones in wall cubbies coordinating with their seat number this year. If they choose not to do that, then if I see their phone, it will be an office referral and phone confiscation. I’m done wasting time dealing with this.

I think it is fantastic to ban the phones in school both as a mother and as a teacher. Kids need to be focussed and engaged in the lessons at hand and if the kids are too distracted by their phones, teachers don’t stand a chance against the phones. My kid just graduated. His experience would have been more educational if they banned the phones and actually spent time teaching. He said the teachers don’t care and most of them were on their phones too. Bring back actual learning and real discussions, classwork, reading, and writing- the tech is dumbing down our kids.

I work in an urban school district. Our middle school students are using their phones to take pictures of fellow students in the bathrooms, videoing fights, and bullying others on social media during the school day. If there is an emergency Geesh guess we would have to use the classroom phones or call the office like the olden days less than 10 yers ago. I applaud the cellphone ban! How did we ever survive before cell phones!

I think they should allow them to have phones in class as long as they don’t disrupt others learning and you from teaching. Heck, let them wear headphones and be on it all day as long as they don’t prevent others from learning. Life is about choices, so they will have to deal with the consequences. Like you said, if there is an emergency, they’ll need it! If parents don’t set that expectation, I’m not sure how to reinforce it in class. Honestly, I wouldn’t have the energy to reinforce it. I’d be like, “Look, if you want to use your phone, no problem. Here’s all I ask: Don’t prevent me from doing my job or others from learning. If you don’t do well in my class bc of the cell phone, that’s on you. Step out of the room if you need to, but again, you’ll have to deal with the consequences of doing so during class.”

Even in elementary, kids who disrupt my teaching or disrupt others from learning, they are kicked out into a partner teachers room and I’m likely to forget about them since I’m continuing my instructional day. During their time at recess or later while the class is working, we make a phone call home together so the child can explain why he/she was removed. It usually takes ONE kid for the class to figure out I’m serious.

And as a parent, I need to know what is happening to my child! She is not one to abuse cell phones, but knowing that the school is setting a policy that could affect my child’s safety doesn’t sit well.

I’m wondering the logistics of how they are going to ban cell phones and reinforce it! 🤯

It is what it is! The policy won’t please everyone. The ones that resist are going to continue to disrupt learning with or without the policy. More wasting time to do the referrals just like any other behavior issue. And just like any policy, it’s only as good as its implementation, consistency, and follow through on consequences…and that takes time and energy!!! Time and energy that educators and admin. just don’t have any more time for. Best wishes and good luck with the cell phone policy!

There are also parents contacting students during school about a vast spectrum of emergencies. Parents show no discernment or common sense.

Everything from interrupting class to ask where the kid put the ketchup, to basically spew remote verbal abuse regarding something they think the kid did wrong, to announcing death/divorce/trauma to a kid sitting in class.

Do classrooms in Pennsylvania not have phones?

I think it’s just another one of those policies that schools didn’t think through logistically! Great ideas but terrible at execution!

I k n ow what we went through last year because of cell phones being allowed in the classrooms. I understand the parent aspect of wanting your child to have contact in case of emergency, but we had way too much bullying and kids being recorded without permission!

That policy seems like a good idea on paper. But I'm sure there will be a lot of resistance to it however, some people just think they need to be tethered to their kids at all times. And asking the kids to put their phones away during class is just hopeless. I wouldn't mind if there was a rule against having phones in our school, but we're not anywhere close to that happening, so far as I can tell.

I would love to have them banned in middle school, because the little sneaks hide their air pods and listen to music