<p>At my child’s school, the individual teachers set the phone policy for their class room. It seems that the better teachers prohibit them completely but other teachers don’t care or don’t have the energy to enforce. </p>
<p>I was just curious to see if my child’s school phone policy would be considered lenient or if nearly constant phone use is the norm at most high schools.</p>
<p>At my D’s high school, there is a strict no phone policy. If they are caught with their phone, it is confiscated and the child must pay $50 return fee. If it happens twice, the fee goes up to $75. The dean makes it clear to parents that the child needs to pay the fee. The money is pooled and at the end of the year used to purchase something for the entire school.</p>
<p>That’s a hefty fee for a young student who probably doesn’t even work.</p>
<p>Very hefty fee. They also occasionally do a random “cell phone check”. The girls have to empty pockets, purses, etc. The bottom line is they have few problems with cell phones being used in class!</p>
<p>We have experience with three different high schools between my two kids. All three high schools have the policy that kids were not to carry phones with them, but it was ok for them to have them in their lockers.</p>
<p>Also, all three schools knew that kids carried the phones with them and did not seem to care as long as the phone was not making noise and was not being used during class time.</p>
<p>My S is 15 and a hs sophomore. He has some LD’s which makes it hard for him to keep up while writing notes. He has gotten permission from some teachers to use his phone to take pictures of the white boards during the last 5 minutes of class.</p>
<p>I told both kids to have their phones with them but turned down or off. I did not want them caught in a Columbine type situation and not be able to call out in an emergency.</p>
<p>Likewise each teacher has policy. None allow them out during testing. Most don’t allow them during lecture, but all allow during free time. Have to be on silent or if they ring/beep can be taken away. Most of the school however has dead spots where they won’t work anyway.</p>
<p>Our kids aren’t allowed to have them out/visible. Pocket/purse/backpack and silent is fine. The entire building is blocked from coverage, cel and data, so the usage would be limited to notes they might use to cheat…this gens version of tiny scraps of paper or writing things on their hands?? Anyway, the policy is as effective as anything else. Our boys always found they needed to go to airplane mode in the school with the blockers or the battery would drain searching for a signal. If they get confiscated a parent has to come to school to retrieve it. The parent will usually find this inconvenience a pain and deal with their kid. </p>
<p>The cel blocking is a pain when you’re in the bldg late for ECs as a parent and are unreachable by your spouse or other kids, or your student is there late and unreachable (now have a direct # to a classroom phone). If you need to make a call you have to go outside the building by about 20yrds. The kids also can’t simply call if they’re staying after, etc. They scatter out to get coverage and text/call. It’s a pain, but I get why they use blockers. I wish they’d turn them off by 5pm when students are no longer in class or making up missed work.</p>
<p>Our county just instituted a BYOT policy - bring your own technology. Last year phones were not allowed but it was enforced differently by each teacher. My D never had an issue communicating with me when she wanted. This year they can have their phones out and I haven’t heard of any issues. This is a large, diverse public high school.</p>
<p>Rom, I wonder if we live in the same county.</p>
<p>Our county public school system also changed its policy this year. High school students are allowed to have their phones with them, and may use them between classes and during lunch. Previously the phones had to be off and out of sight during school hours. </p>
<p>Despite a small group of parents protesting the change, there have been no problems that I’m aware of. </p>
<p>We have several high schools testing a further change which encourages the use of “technology in the classroom”, where high schoolers can use personal devices, including phones, in the classrooms. Every school in the county already has free wifi, which kids use during lunch, and before and after school anyway.</p>
<p>Cell phones may be used between classes and during lunch at my son’s public school. It is up to the teacher during class. Some require it out of sight, some require it to be visible on the desk (presumably so that it’s not being used on the sly). All students are issued laptops for use in class, which I think is a much bigger annoyance. My d (who graduated last year) said cheating on the laptops is rampant.</p>
<p>I teach at a small k-12 private school, and kids are expected to keep phones off and out of sight. I never see them until the final bell rings, then they’re everywhere.</p>
<p>At my school the official policy was that phones had to stay in lockers. (This did result in at least one person sticking their head inside a locker to make a phone call and technically not break the rules.) The policy was not very strictly enforced overall, though, and depended on the teacher. I think a big concern was cheating.</p>
<p>Once before an organic chemistry test, the teacher declared an amnesty and said that if anyone had their phones on them, they could go put them in their lockers immediately with no consequences. 2/3 of the class went to their lockers.</p>
<p>If I were a teacher and didn’t want my students using their phones in class, I would have a box they could put them in at the beginning of the class and pick them up at the end. No denying that they had them (like my school liked to do) but giving them the chance to remove the temptation of having that thing burning a hole in your pocket full of apps/texting possibilities for an hour.</p>
<p>The policy at my daughter’s High School was that phones had to be out of sight (so on vibrate or off if you have it on your person). The kids were allowed to use them only during lunch and after classes at the end of the day. If caught a parent had to come to the school to pick the phone up. </p>
<p>My favorite cell phone story was one winter when the weather was threatening, the school decided to change the chorus concert from the next day to that night. The principal told the chorus class -take out your cell phone and call your parents right now to tell them. My daughter thought is was funny to see all 50 or so kids in the class all on their phones at the same time.</p>
<p>I had a teacher tell me recently she occasionally has them pull out their phones in class. She teaches a current events type class and will have them pull up Twitter to look at some things…</p>
<p>During school hours, phones are to be kept off and put away. My children (who don’t have their own cell phones) have told me that this rule is violated all the time. Some students text and tweet from the bathroom or from under their desks if they can keep the phone hidden. The teachers do the best they can, but they can’t see everything. After school hours, students can use their phones.</p>
<p>S2’s school policy is for phones to be out of sight during class time. But due to the terrain here in WV, his school gets very poor reception so it’s pretty much moot anyway.</p>
<p>All of my kids’ schools had the same policies that if the phone was visible it was confiscated. The private schools required parents to pick up and pay a fine. The public school required kid to pick up after school. WHich was funny, because the official policy at the public school was no phones at all. But it was never even remotely enforced.</p>
<p>Same official policy as ^ a decade ago. Middle school students -it was thought- not many had cell phones. It was the DC suburbs on 9/11. Every kid, it seemed, produced a cell phone calling to check if Mom & Dad were ok.</p>
<p>When my D was in high school, on the days that the mobile metal detectors were in the building, the teachers and administrators would stand up the block from the school and tell all the kids to leave their phones with the parents if they were in the car or to give them to the teachers to be picked up after the detectors had left.</p>
<p>My D’ school allows phones during lunch and free time, as well as in some classes. While the kids all have school-issued laptops, they are often slow, and the kids are allowed to use their phones for research. They are ENCOURAGED to use them in digital arts class to take photos and use photo apps for class project. </p>
<p>D goes to school in another city 20 minutes from home and there is no bus. So I need her to be able to contact me or vice versa if there is a problem of some kind, like last week when she got food poisoning and got sick mid-day. I can’t see the point of schools which proudly ban all phones from even being in the building. If they are in a purse or a locker, what harm is there? Glad we don’t have such a school.</p>
<p>We went from “none at all, ever” to “none - but if they’re in your locker and quiet, nobody will look or take it” to “only at lunch” to “as long as it isn’t during class”- all in the 5 1/2 years my kids were in the high school. I think they just decided the battle isn’t worth it in the hallways or at lunch.</p>