California considers limits/ban on cell phones in schools

[cabanafrau]

It really depends on the class. I've taken a lot of college level engineering/science/math heavy courses. It isn't uncommon for professors to ask students not to use laptops or tablets in class because they can slow down note taking when there are a lot of formulas or example problems involved.

That's not remotely what I was referring to, which is why I specifically used the word arbitrarily. I took the cue from the poster I quoted that the teacher's ban extending even to the district provided Chrome Books was meaningful, as I very much doubted she was simply upset that her precious moppets weren't getting to use the computer for the sake of using the computer. Surely if you're familiar with engineering/science/math heavy curriculum you can also appreciate the value of employing the appropriate tool for the appropriate task. School aged students of today will not make it on my wing and a prayer, seat of my pants computer skills. If we want them to use technology appropriately and efficiently we have to demonstrate when and how that is accomplished.

ETA For her job in a very specialized lab situation in college my daughter had to specifically segment off a portion of her Mac Book to function as a PC to handle some of the tasks she performed as part of her job duties. Other tasks she handled within the Mac OS. To say that she was using them for engineering/science/math heavy tasks is a serious understatement. She took great pains to thoroughly plot out what computer she wanted to purchase for college specifically because her majors were engineering/science/math heavy and the school stated either OS would work, merely recommended minimum memory and speed specifications to handle the rigors of the coursework.

 

[Southernmiss]

How did we ever survive before cell phones. Good grief.

People survived before toilets, autos, air conditioning and heating and a whole host of today's necessities.

A wired phone in every classroom is foreign to me. Was there when I was in school, but not my kid's schools.

 

[cabanafrau]

I wonder how many school age kids actually have their ringer turned on. I know none of my kids do.

My daughters only turn it on at night because they use it as an alarm. They turn it off when they respond to the alarm and turn it back on again when going to bed.

 

[aprilgail]

Our high school and even middle school kids actually use their phones to research and other assigned tasks in school. There are teaching techniques that do use phones.

Our schools do not have Ipads for all in the classroom.

My daughter graduated 2 years ago but when she was in Jr and Sr high the teacher would have them use their phones to look things up on the internet-the kids that didn't have a phone (which was very few) would have to grub off a kid that had one. Our classrooms only have intercoms and many times when I would go to the school to pick my daughter up early the front office would tell me just to text her that I was here and she should come down to the office. She would also text me during the day to let me know if she was staying after school that day or if I should pick her up at normal time. There are no pay phones anymore and they are not allowed to use the office phones so if they don't have a cell with them it would be a pain in the butt to me as a parent!

 

[MamaBelle4]

I'm going to eat the words I've posted on here before. My school aged children each have their own phone.

There have been incidents at the kids' school. And, frankly, I feel better knowing they can contact me if something happens and I don't need to wait for the school to contact the parents.

However, I also have Family Link on their devices. They are allowed limited time throughout the week and weekends and their phones automatically shut down at bed time.

 

[jerseygal]

My kids have been out of High School for 10 years now, but their school still requires cell phones to be in their locker or car.

If passed, this might not sit well with some parents who seem to almost give their kids cell phones while they are still in the crib.


https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-school-smartphone-ban-20190320-story.html

That is the truth, kids are getting cell phones younger and younger, many parents have no idea what the heck these little kids are doing on social media!

 

[wenrob]

It really depends on the class. I've taken a lot of college level engineering/science/math heavy courses. It isn't uncommon for professors to ask students not to use laptops or tablets in class because they can slow down note taking when there are a lot of formulas or example problems involved.

This is a 7th grade English class. Same curriculum taught by the other three English teachers in the school. All lessons/assignments are available through Google Classrooms except for hers because she locks them down. If kids miss school they can catch up with the Chromebook. One of the benefits/reasons for them being assigned is to keep kids from falling behind if they’ve been out sick. To the best of my knowledge she is the only teacher in the school that doesn’t use the system. If you were to have a conversation with this lady you’d know cabanafrau nailed it.

I don’t know the reasons for my DD’s professor’s ban.

I wonder how many school age kids actually have their ringer turned on. I know none of my kids do.

None of mine keep their ringer on.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

And just ran into this, a proposal to make e-mailed store receipts the default in stores. Yes, California is on a different planet

https://calmatters.org/articles/email-receipts-replace-paper-california-lawmakers/

Better than getting four feet of receipt paper for buying one thing at CVS.

 

[jhoannam]

That is horrifying, what on earth where they thinking?

We had a tornado during the school day a few years ago, it actually touched down within a mile of the elementary school where DS attended and knocked out power to the entire neighborhood. His teacher used her CELL PHONE to call the parents to let them know we needed to pick up our kids once the all clear was sounded because school was cancelled for the rest of the day. The school phone system went with the power lines.

Exactly, kids don't NEED cell phones in school.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

That's not remotely what I was referring to, which is why I specifically used the word arbitrarily. I took the cue from the poster I quoted that the teacher's ban extending even to the district provided Chrome Books was meaningful, as I very much doubted she was simply upset that her precious moppets weren't getting to use the computer for the sake of using the computer. Surely if you're familiar with engineering/science/math heavy curriculum you can also appreciate the value of employing the appropriate tool for the appropriate task. School aged students of today will not make it on my wing and a prayer, seat of my pants computer skills. If we want them to use technology appropriately and efficiently we have to demonstrate when and how that is accomplished.

I wasn't attacking you, no need to be defensive. Just making a comment about how the laptops / ipads / etc might not be a useful in class tool in every situation.

I would hate to see high school students become so reliant on computers for their classwork that they don't know how to handle a college level class that doesn't allow them. I'm currently working on my PhD in civil engineering, so this isn't a "back in the day" observation. I've taken 3 classes (3000 up to 7000 level college classes) in the last 2 years that did not allow computers or phones to be used in the classroom.

I also have a friend who teaches freshman literature at a state college. She does not allow any electronics in her classroom during lectures. She feels that it's too much of a distraction. The kids are more likely to be surfing the web and messaging friends than actually taking notes.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Well, when the emergency happened all of that went out the window. The tornado warnings started right as they released the buses. They e-mailed all parents and said they were taking the kids back to the school to shelter in place. About 15 minutes later, I get a text from my son saying, "I don't know where we're going - we just passed the school". I call the main office, no answer. 20 minutes later, my son texts me and says that they took him and his brother to a completely different school a few miles away, and that he's in a gym with 1000 other people. I know that school - the gym is in the middle of an open field and is not a storm shelter. But it appears not all of his friends are there - he says some kids were taken to a different school but he doesn't know where. Still no word from the school - I'm getting texts from my friends (whose kids don't have cell phones) seeing if my boys can try to find out if other kids are there. Nobody knows what's happening.

So my answer is yes - I want my kids to have cell phones, because I don't trust the school to keep its promise in making it not necessary for them to have

Do I think it will happen in my kids' school? No. But I'm sure that's what the parents of kids at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS, Umpqua Community College, Santa Fe HS, Oikos University, West Nickel Mines School, N. Illinois Univ., Marysville Pilchuck HS, Marshall County HS, Columbine HS, and Heath HS also thought.

If there is an issue at my kids' school, I want them to be able to reach out to me or DW. And no, I don't trust the school to notify us (even though they have a text feature, an email, feature, and a phone feature).

Reminds me of when my niece's bus was "involved" in an accident. I was visiting my SIL at the time. DH heard on the radio that there was an incident involving a bus from the school. After an hour of no news and no kids, my SIL called the school. They confirmed the incident but would not tell SIL what bus was involved. About an hour later the kids walked through the door. It was the bus in front of theirs and they were caught in the traffic.

 

[wenrob]

I'm going to eat the words I've posted on here before. My school aged children each have their own phone.

There have been incidents at the kids' school. And, frankly, I feel better knowing they can contact me if something happens and I don't need to wait for the school to contact the parents.

However, I also have Family Link on their devices. They are allowed limited time throughout the week and weekends and their phones automatically shut down at bed time.

I have my kids devices set up like this. The only thing they can do after 9pm is call 911.

That is the truth, kids are getting cell phones younger and younger, many parents have no idea what the heck these little kids are doing on social media!

This is why parents need to know what they’re putting in the kids hands and need to pay attention to what their kids are doing. I use the tools available to me to lock down what I can and then I need to take it on faith they’re applying the lessons I’ve taught and living by the rules I’ve set down. They know the worst thing they can do is break my trust. So far, that hasn’t happened.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

ETA For her job in a very specialized lab situation in college my daughter had to specifically segment off a portion of her Mac Book to function as a PC to handle some of the tasks she performed as part of her job duties. Other tasks she handled within the Mac OS. To say that she was using them for engineering/science/math heavy tasks is a serious understatement. She took great pains to thoroughly plot out what computer she wanted to purchase for college specifically because her majors were engineering/science/math heavy and the school stated either OS would work, merely recommended minimum memory and speed specifications to handle the rigors of the coursework.[/QUOTE]

This isn't the same as using the computer in the classroom. It isn't uncommon for labs and classroom settings to have different requirements. What may be necessary for the lab may not be needed in the classroom. Just because we weren't allowed to use the electronics in the classroom did not mean they weren't used for labs or homework assignments.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Exactly, kids don't NEED cell phones in school.

Well, these were third graders, not high school students. Elementary school kids are a bit more contained than high schoolers. I didn't start letting my oldest take his phone to school until 6th grade when he started riding the bus to and from.

That comment was really directed at those who think that there are functioning land line phones in every classroom and that they are a much better option than cell phones.

 

[jrmasm]

Exactly, kids don't NEED cell phones in school.

Our school district has a BYOD policy so they need something to access the internet while in school. Very few netbooks are available to borrow.

 

[wgeo]

I'm glad my kids have their cell phones at school. Do they need them? No, but things would be a lot harder without them. My 9th grader will text me and ask if he can stay after school to work with a teacher/practice or do whatever. Since that means I would have to drive and pick him up we need to communicate somehow. There are no landline phones in the classrooms at his school. There are in the offices and certain administrative areas, but those areas are locked off and not accessible to students. When he is on away trips, the teachers tell the kids on the bus when to text their parents to show up at the school so that parents don't have to sit around guessing when the game might end, and the teachers don't have to sit around forever waiting for parents to show up. Did I survive without that when I was in high school? Sure, but I also had an activity bus that I could catch if I stayed after school, those don't exist here. And when we got home late from a game we all stood in line at the payphones to call our parents. There are no payphones at my son's school - so that's not an option.

My daughter is in 8th grade and she doesn't have bus service at all to her school. It's 1.9 miles between home and her school so I pick her up. However, we live in FL and during bad weather (think lightning storms which are frequent) they will often either hold the students 10-15 minutes late OR let them out of school 10 minutes early in an attempt to give the kids a chance to beat the storm. The only way that I know if they are doing that is if she texts me. Could she walk home in the storm while I think she's still in the classroom? Sure, but that wouldn't be a great choice. Could I sit in the car during a lightning storm waiting for the school to let her out? Sure, but that's not particularly fun either.

This doesn't even address the lockdown/safety issue. Times have changed period. Just because we got through school without cell phones, does not mean that kids shouldn't have them today. We survived without airbags too, but I'm very happy to have them in my car now.

Edited to add: Can't believe I forgot - but a few months ago a student was hit by a car at my son's busstop. The busstop is almost 3/4 mile from our house so we had no idea anything had happened. I think being able to communicate with my son when that happened was important. Did he NEED to communicate with me? No, but it sure calmed both of us down - and I don't see that as a bad thing.

 

[Magical2017]

I also have a friend who teaches freshman literature at a state college. She does not allow any electronics in her classroom during lectures. She feels that it's too much of a distraction. The kids are more likely to be surfing the web and messaging friends than actually taking notes.[/QUOTE]

I teach a methods course to pre-service teachers at a university and ask students to put devices away unless we need them for an in-class activity, or they have an accommodation that requires them to take notes on a device. Sometimes someone has a special circumstance and needs to check their phone, but they are usually very respectful and let me know they need to check their phone due to a personal issue (I don't pry).

I feel that they are adults who are paying to be there but sometimes there is someone whose technology use is distracting. We do a lot of collaborative work (these are pre-service teachers) that require them to participate in activities. It is a math methods course, so we focusing on pedagogy and often role-play and discuss various ways to teach topics. If one student is constantly doing work for other classes or texting the entire class, they are not participating in the partner or group work that we build on each week. I have seen people shopping on Amazon or posting on Facebook. I never call a student out in front of their cohort, but I have had private conversations with some students--sometimes things improve, and other times it makes no difference. We do have a Professionalism grade for our education majors, but the few students who are on constantly do not seem to care if points are deducted. In the end, you get out of your classes what you put into them. They will be classroom teachers in a year or two, so will mostly likely be dealing with the same issue.

​

 

[soccerdad72]

My daughters only turn it on at night because they use it as an alarm. They turn it off when they respond to the alarm and turn it back on again when going to bed.

Same here with my older son - he told us the other night he doesn't like the snooze option on his phone alarm, so instead, apparently he sets 6 or 7 different alarms, spaced out a few minutes apart.

 

[cabanafrau]

Same here with my older son - he told us the other night he doesn't like the snooze option on his phone alarm, so instead, apparently he sets 6 or 7 different alarms, spaced out a few minutes apart.

Mine aren't actually at home anymore, college grad and college student, so I haven't a clue as to the down and dirty details. I only know because they mock me for having my ringer on, because apparently that's how the old folk do it.

Clearly they're lovely people. We're ever so proud.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

At our school the phones are supposed to be stored in their lockers. They do not enforce it. As a result kids sneak them out and text each other and play games.

I believe the rules in my assigned district are basically "cell phones are to be neither seen nor heard" along with "not used during instructional time" I believe they are allowed to use it during lunch and during passing periods.

The new high school which had its first group of students last school year doesn't even have lockers so that would be a no go heree.