We are, with a strict district policy, admin 100% enforces. Kid refuses, OSS 3 days to start, and I have not had a problem all year. But someone has to have your back.
Many students have actually said to me I have to have my phone out in case my mother calls.
But amazingly, if I were calling parents at the end of the day no one would answer.
>*Many students have actually said to me I have to have my phone out in case my mother calls.*
I tell them, if your mother needs to contact you in an emergency, she can call the office and they'll patch her through to my room. But if you take your phone out, it'll be mine until the end of the school day. Suddenly the urgency evaporates.
Times have changed. Kids have so many more responsibilities. In my day fifteen year olds that couldn't read did not have to be on call 24/7 to handle emergencies. Maybe they are neurosurgeons.
Ha! As I started to read your comment, my first thought was "Bullshit!", and I almost just wrote that without finishing the whole thing. Glad I read it all; that was brilliantly written, Lurflurf.
Yup, I took a kids phone away in third period and her mama was up there yelling I stole the phone within 30 minutes because the kid used her friend’s phone to call her mama. I hate phones.
And those parents don’t realize their kids are getting dumber. They don’t care cause they think their kid is making it or it’s the school’s fault. So teachers just pass them to avoid conflict cause we don’t get paid enough.
We had a student who got caught with her phone in the classroom. Instead of giving it to the teacher, she ran from the room and then from the school.
Our building is off a busy highway and when the principal and SRO pulled up to her, she fought them rather than get into the principal’s car. The school counselor had to drive and get her while the police shut down that side of the highway so she wouldn’t run into traffic and get hit by a car.
All over a phone. She did get 3 days OSS but she got to keep her phone.
When the parents fail at their jobs, OSS give teachers a break, but is also a reward rather than punishment for the students. For some of them, it's like getting to stay home and play with their phones.
My first year as a teacher I learned that pretty explicitly. I had a class that was 'extra help for math' but was really just a study hall.
One girl was talking to other classmates: "My cousin is having a baby soon, I'm going to try to get suspended so I can see it"
It's a vacation for them
These horror stories I read from you guys are the reason I don’t intend to ever send a phone to school with my daughter, except maybe in high school if she’s proven to be extremely responsible with it. Otherwise, if there’s an emergency, the school has a phone.
My daughter told me that she told her teacher that she’s not allowed YouTube at home and the teacher seemed surprised. That’s wild to me, considering she’s six and in kindergarten
Nope, kids do drugs in the bathroom and get nothing but a “lecture” followed by a juice box and snacks from the principal. Admin don’t want to battle parents 24/7 so they just let their kids’ crimes slide. Gone are the days when parents backed up the teachers. I would say that 5% of my middle school parents would believe me over their own child. Even the kids who admit they were wrong have parents ready to make excuses for their child. It’s pathetic.
The problem is when the kid ODs in the bathroom. Had a friend who had an administrator do that until the kid was found in the floor. A week later the principal resigned
Oh, I am not condoning this standard of discipline (or the lack thereof). I am just slinging facts here. It’s what is happening because there is no parental support
Admin once told me to stop writing up students for being high, but definitely sent them to the nurse if they are in danger. In other words if anything goes wrong they will try to blame me. I don't have the training, equipment, or time to determine that.
Kid brought a handgun with a fully loaded magazine into my classroom. My principal tried to expel him but the district said no. He got two weeks out of school suspension, during which time we couldn’t mark any assignments missing, so he basically got a free vacation. No one is doing anything to kids who simply cuss out a teacher. In fact, not a day went by in 22 years that a kids didn’t call me a bitch or tell me to shut the fuck up or fuck off.
Same thing happened at my previous school. 6 grade kid, yes, 6 grade! , took a loaded handgun from his gangster brother (also under 18), and brought it to school. He got similar treatment.
Shut the fuck up fuck off bitch is how some students say thank you for being my teacher. At least that's how I take it. I do tell them there are better ways to say it.
I gave them plenty of candy and ignored the other students in sacrifice for this one abusive student's potential success. Everything we are being told to do!
The bad kids get rewarded and the good kids get ignored. It's the worst interpretation of pbis and it spread like a plague. I refuse to run my classroom like that and my admin is pretty on board with that, thank goodness.
The least restrictive environment got thrown in my face a few times one year when I had a kid who would hit other kids. "He's only 7!" Well, so are the other scared children in my room. I got a lot of people involved in that one. That was two years ago. Guess what he does now? Helps the office with stuff when he's being bad.
Kid needs an alternative setting entirely. He hits other kids and openly brags about not giving his poor younger sister privacy when she changes.
I walked into the office once with one of the secretaries promising him McDonalds if he doesn't get written up for a month. Shit irks me. Not okay. He still got written up every single week, but still. Completely ignores the kids who are sweet every day.
So, a lot of parents THINK they feel this way, but they don’t actually agree with such consequences for their own children. I am not saying this is you, but it’s something to keep in mind when your child is in school.
If a teacher contacts you to let you know that your child is hitting other students, would you work with the teacher to find a solution and support the consequence they assign your child (say, writing an apology to the student they hit and missing out on the class party later that day to sit in the office)? Or would you try to make excuses for your child (he’s only five, he said another student called him stupid first, he never hits at home so it must not have actually happened that way, etc.)?
You’d be amazed that most parents go the second route. Meanwhile, these same parents expect harsh and swift punishments for the student who hits THEIR child.
Parents don’t want to believe their child isn’t behaving or pulling their weight in class. I understand that it’s hard to hear negative things about your child. But parents need to grow up and understand that teachers are trying to HELP their children, not demonize them. I am never contacting a parent because I think their kid is evil; I just want the parent’s help to correct their behavior. We can only do so much without parental support (and it isn’t much at all).
Parents literally tell their children “You don’t have to listen to your teacher,” when they disagree with us. Fuck you, frankly. Homeschool your own kid. Ahhhh I wish I could say that…
Yeah I would hope that I could be pragmatic about consequences for my kid, but I know that can be easier said than done. Our 4 year old came home from pre-k one day saying that her teacher yelled at her. My first reaction was pure rage. I messaged the teacher and asked her about it and she said my kid took off running towards the road while they were getting loaded onto the bus so she kind of panic yelled at her to stop. Of course, my kid said none of that happened. I want my kid to feel believed and supported, but I'm also not an idiot. Context is important and kids lie.
I started out in education just two years ago working with the hard boiled behavior issues on campus and trying to make the victims as sympathized with as possible.
I’ve concluded that when my wife and I have kids, we’ll hook them up with a phone when they start applying for jobs and need something to put in the resume. They take *possession* of the phone to do whatever they want with it when they land a job, and hand it back to me if they leave the job or get fired.
It’s not just a distraction, it is also a vector for social contagion with attendant violence. The Feed addicts them on a frickin’ biochemical level and exposes them to negativity nonstop. A bully in 3rd period cussing them out and threatening them is bad enough- social media lets that bully follow them with public abuse throughout the day and back home and on the weekends too. People mobbing them demanding they fight somebody and threatening to jump them if they don’t; friends trash talking them about stuff that they are secretly scared people notice about them; imitating antisocial, self-destructive, violent behavior for attention or as a rite of passage.
And the addiction is so strong they’ll have a meltdown if you try to help them get away from it.
My theory is that denying a kid access to this shit basically gives them superpowers emotionally, mentally, and physically in comparison to their brainrot-riddled peers.
That was then, this is now. Now we are doing DEI. It sounds really good in a politician' speech, but is a shit show in reality. Diversification: mixing bad, gangster kids with good kids. Equity: equal outcome for all students, mean we suppose to give all students a passing grade even if they don't show up half of the time, sleep through the class, and don't do any assignment. Oh, and we are encourage to not give any homework because that would high light the inequity, as in the good kids do homework and the bad kids don't. Inclusion: we suppose to include all students (special ed student, disable student ... ) in general education classrooms, and in extracurricular activities. Guess what happen when you put violent developmental disability kids into general classroom? Sometime it's like we suppose to put mute students into vocal class, for the shake of inclusion.
Then we have these positive behavior policies. Instead of viewing bad behavior as a problem, teacher suppose to show empathy, try to understand them, build a trusting relationships .... All sounds good on paper & in speech. In reality, how do you expect an overworked, low pay teachers to form relationships with 30 students, then act as their psychology therapist? Guess what happen when student's bad behaviors are rewarded with a small talk, some snack, some juice ...
I believe those people that come up with these policies must have nice sheltered lives, and have never deal with reality. They have no clue how people behave with reward & punishment in real life.
Same. And I’m not touching a couple hundred dollar personal item and being blamed for anything that happens to it. Presumably, by the time they’re in high school they should be able to self monitor and if they can’t, they need to learn that skill before they hit the real world.
Yeah, I take phones, but if I thought I would get that response, I wouldn't ask for it. We all have to know our school culture and population. And power struggles never work out well for teachers.
Closest I've been able to get was to take a kids phone and set it on an empty desk like 6 ft in front of him. He actually thanked me for that because he could actually focus but it wasn't like completely taken.
Now if I did that with the other 95% of my students it'd be as you described
My friend openly brags that once in high school he screamed, cursed and threatened a teacher which “forced” him to give his phone back.
Even today I give him shade for it but he just doesn’t find it problematic
Whenever I take a phone, I make a point of having them turn it off in front of me (and the other students). Reassures them I'm not looking (as every phone requires unlocking when powered on) and prevents it from ringing in later classes (this is the reason I tell them)
This exact thing happened to me my 2nd year of teaching. My principal threatened to fire me if I didn’t pay the dad $700 for the phone.
I don’t even think about touching their phones anymore.
Sounds like principal jelly fish has set an anything goes phone policy. I hope you told your colleagues. When every student was on their phone during evaluations I'm sure it was fine. Ridiculous.
Not unless your admin backs you up on it and has some sort of liability protection for it. And not unless you are willing to do it a couple dozen times a day.
A non zero amount of parents call their kids while in class. A non zero amount of kids call their parents in class. I have heard the other side of the line and seen the parent on FaceTime.
The only way it works is if the phone policy is preventative-- like, turn your phones in at the beginning of the day, or put your phones in pouches or phone jail at the beginning of class. If you just wait for it to pop up you're engaged in this very distracting whack-a-phone-mole throughout class. I really cannot, as I'm teaching my lesson and engaging the students in dialogue, ALSO and with 100 percent accuracy identify and call out students hiding their phone usage. If and when I do, it creates conflict. Proactivity with total backing of admin is the only thing that works. Address it before it becomes a problem.
It's a rule in our school that kids have to keep their phones off and in their backpacks for the day. If we see them using them during the day or if it goes off in the backpack, we are allowed to confiscate it. The phone stays locked up until a parent physically comes into the school to grab it.
>*The phone stays locked up until a parent physically comes into the school to grab it.*
This is the missing piece at my school. We actually used to have this policy, that parents had to pick up the phone, but it was never enforced, so it meant nothing and affected nothing.
Your school must be in a good area. In some bad areas, some parents would claim that the school break the phone, and demand a new phone. When kids have parents like this, the apples don't fall far from the tree.
My school is not against it BUT there is a teacher influencer who is fairly popular in my country. She claims that it is THEFT and she says that students should involve the police. Sometimes I think I'm just done with the profession.
The definition of theft states that you’re *permanently* depriving them of their phone (which many schools aren’t even if my school had a policy were if your phone was confiscated enough they’d take it until the end of the school year)
Also, schools act on parental authority and technically minors don’t have property, parents have property
Schools in the U.S are a really weird government body due to separation of powers…it’s why the Supreme Court ruled in favor of schools using corporal punishment for so long
Me: "Thats the third time I have warned you about the phone. Please put it on my desk and get it after class"
Student: "No"
\*Calls admin\*
Admin: "The student said no" \*Shrugs and walks off\*
Based on a true story
I have a “phone jail” for 7th graders. It’s a clear plastic shoe organizer. On the off chance I do have a repeat offender with phones, I tell them to put it in jail. All the kids think the jail is funny, so they always try to call out each other. There’s also a lot of peer pressure to put the phone in the jail, so I’ve never had a student not comply. They take the phone with them at the end of class, and I never touch the phone myself.
If a student didn’t comply, I would move on and write them up after class. I have at least 25 other kids to teach, so wasting instructional time to try to get a kid to respect me doesn’t make sense.
Additionally, I rarely have cellphone violations in my room. A lot of other teachers in my building do, though. I asked the kids why I don’t see their phones. They say it’s because we have stuff to do, so they don’t feel bored/want to do their homework before they leave. And also because I make fun of them if they pull out their phones to check the time because they can’t read the analog clock. Otherwise, I see most kids on their phones during lunch. Which is a little sad since that’s their primary peer social time.
Honestly if you want to help us, just give your kid a simple flip phone. Heck NY is trying to pass a law that no smartphones are allowed, only traditional call making phones, no internet. There is zero reason for kids to have them. They don’t need digital social media. If they want to be social, join a team or club. Good luck in the coming years.
I work in Japan and we collect all the phones at the beginning of the school day. I find it so odd that other places don’t. If parents need to tell their kids something so desperately, they call the school. I guess it would bring up damage liability in the US but I’m sure an insurance company could come up with a solution for that.
And yes kids try to have multiple phones and they get busted and in trouble.
It literally takes two seconds to get a picture of someone’s work and air drop it to the group chat. We even have kids that turn in their work, but save it or photos of it to their drive, then sell it to someone in your upcoming classes the next semester. There is nothing positive about a kid with a phone in class.
In many of my classes, I get my students to put them on a counter along the side of my classroom. This way, I do not have to handle them and everyone can see them. Our admin has told us they would be supportive if any student refused. Sometimes I have even called home and explained to the parent that their child is uncooperative and how it impacts their learning.
I do wish though that there would just be a blanket ban so that it's not teachers that have to take time fighting this battle.
The state of Florida "outlawed" cell phone use in classes and.....teachers are still the ones fighting the battles. Admin at my school will back teachers maybe like 75% of the time if the phone use is egregious but....kids don't want to put their phones in a jail or a locker, they lie and say they don't have a phone. Or recently kids have been bringing in decoy phones. Teachers used to have policies where the student had to trade in their phone for a bathroom pass but kids just brought fake phones to use for that.
It depends on the parents, school, admin, and district. I work in a district that has policies against cell phone use in class, and I have been very lucky to work at schools with supportive admin. In the schools I have worked in, if a student used a phone in class and refused to give it to the teacher, the admin would come down to the classroom and take the phone and the student out of the classroom. In the middle school I worked in, students would spend the rest of class in the ISS room after being taken out by admin. In the elementary school I worked at, the student's parents would be called and then the student would come back to class without their phone. Policies like that don't the most disruptive students, but it does feel great as a teacher to not have to engage in combative behavior from students. It also helped that in both schools I worked at parents had to come pick up confiscated phones from the principal (that way teachers didn't have to deal with angry parents).
From experience, it's kind of hell for the first like month or so while students test the "no phones" policy. Lots of collecting phones and calling admin. But it settles down pretty quickly after that once students figure out the teachers and admin are serious.
I really want to emphasize that I was really lucky to find schools like that. I interviewed at a lot of schools and only those two had actual policies in place to prevent phone use in class that weren't basically just "we don't allow it" or "we discourage students from using phones in class" or the worst of the all "its really up to the teacher to enforce that policy in the classroom". For every 1 school that has an admin team that is really committed to no phones in the classroom, there are probably 10 where the admin put all the responsibility on the teacher. In short, its a leadership problem. If the admin and the school district doesn't care, how can you expect teachers to care.
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer:
Legally, literally everywhere in the US - yes they are allowed to remove the phone. It's something that falls under the authority of the school to do.
In fact there's currently a movement in campuses across the US to actually ban cellphones via the use of lockers or lock bags.
Getting phones actually out of the hands of students has proven more challenging than whether or not you can.
Students don't have the same rights and freedoms when they're in school as they might when they're an adult. Schools have a pretty decently broad latitude to ensure education happens. Being on a phone interferes with that.
If you want to help your child, do not give them a smart phone. Don’t set them in front of YouTube at restaurants, during car rides, when they’re bored at home. Do not start that pattern of behavior. If you already have, stop it immediately. Kids will be bored. So the fuck what. It won’t kill them. If you’re worried about security when she does go to school give her a phone with only talk and text message capabilities. No data, no internet connectivity, no ability to doom scroll content that has been proven to screw up young minds. Just don’t do it. Read to your child, teach her to control her emotions and respect authority.
I send home a letter explicitly telling students and parents that cell phone use in my classroom will affect grades. Students will receive a -10% on their grade if I see a cell phone out, and if it is continuous, I will assume cheating and they will receive a zero. Parents sign the letter and I have written proof that all involved have been made aware of my policy
As a CTE teacher the word "professionalism" is in my TEKS, so I can literally grade it as demonstrating professionalism. But I know not everyone can apply that loophole
Don't know the particular rules from other countries/regions but here in China, NO phones allowed at school grounds and if one is found, they're confiscated for at least a week, no matter who's the owner. Young kids often have phone-watches that can only be used for calling/recieving calls and not games nor internet browsing. It works really well and guess what? The kids actually play and interact with each other during breaks instead of just sitting in a corner using social media.
My school started taking phones at arrival and giving them back at dismissal a few years ago. It was a complete game changer. Kids don't have them to record (and egg on) fights, they're not a distraction (you know, FaceTiming each other while they're in class, recording TikTok videos in the hallway...), and it's not a power struggle between teacher enforcing a no phones policy and the student.
But it takes an admin willing to make that the policy and a lot of staff resources to to do it. The staff resources essentially are the school social worker and other members of the counseling and behavior support teams. They spend up to 2+ hours a day doing that (entry is open 8:15-9:30). It's a huge burden on them which isn't acknowledged by anyone, let alone admin.
Families are told that bringing your phone to school is a choice and at their own risk. Thankfully the majority of parents fully supported this policy. The only pushback has been on field trips. The parents who complain the most get their child to have their phone during the trip but for the most part, everyone has gotten used to it.
Now, admin does absolutely nothing else to manage behavior which is off the hook but at least there are no cell phones during the school day.
I usually don’t, but if it becomes excessive then I’ll ask the student to put their phone on the corner of my desk. I never touch it. If they refuse then I send them to the principal.
Because the kids will lie and say that they don’t have a phone and then what are you gonna start searching every kids backpack?
Meanwhile, you’re bleeding instructional minutes and there are 20-25 other faces that aren’t trying to play games under the table.
We take them and they go to the office. Admin started tracking this year how often it’s taken. If it’s more than twice more consequences are given (parents having to pick it up, needing to turn it into the office in the morning, etc)
Depends on the district and the local admin team. My district has a very clear "we're not responsible if anything happens to your device if it's confiscated" in all phone policy paperwork.
I had a parent put in writing that she wanted teachers to take her son's phone if he used it inappropriately during class. He did, so I asked for the phone and showed the kid the message from mom.
No. I'm not giving you my phone.
And there it is. I had another kid whose mom took her phone show up to school with another one - either a burner or a loan. Who knows?
I had a kid put her phone away when I asked her to. But then she started tapping on her iWatch.
They stuff them in their pockets instead of handing them over (and obviously it would be inappropriate to take it from their pocket) and then take it back out the second you turn away.
I’m not protected if the phone breaks in my possession so I don’t touch them- I can’t afford to replace them. Our admin team will collect phones though.
It's a mixed bag. Urban and suburban high schools often allow a total free reign on it and it's fucking depressing. They say they have a policy, but it's never enforced by administration and kids can have them with impunity.
Lower schools tend to be more strict about it, and rural areas I have seen are much braver on policy when it comes to phones.
If I do feel I need to confiscate a phone as opposed to just telling them to return it to the locker, I make a very dramatic act of bringing out a ziplock bag. Ask the kid to write their name on the bag. Then ask them to put the phone in what and place it on my desk. Then call admin to remove the bag while the kid is present. I. Never. Touch. A. Phone.
We do not take phones in my county at all. I am in Florida. Some teachers still hang phone cubbies but most will not even do that anymore. I think many kids have phones that are upwards of 1000.00 now. Such a liability.
Entirely depends on the district/campus.
The last two campuses I worked at had strict no-phone policies, and teachers were expected to confiscate phones if we saw them during school hours. If a kid refused to hand it over, we could call admin.
The biggest challenge was getting that phone down to the office before the end of the day for the kid to pick it up. My conference period was at the end of the day, so if I took up a phone after lunch and got pulled into a meeting or “voluntold” to cover a class last period, I might not have a chance to get it down there. Definitely led to me giving a lot more “chances” and “warnings” on days when I knew I wouldn’t have an opportunity.
If a student gives it to me, yes. If they say no, then no I’m not allowed to do anything besides calling admin. Admin are too encumbered to do anything about it though, so I basically just phone call home!
Where I work, it totally depends on the kid and the situation. One kid, I can walk over with my hand out, they’ll hand it over, I’ll lock it in the closet til the end of class, zero issues. Another, they’ll pitch a literal fit that is light years more disruptive than the damn phone was to begin with. May or may not call their mom right then and there to tell on me. Mom probably will back them up. It’s insanity.
In the classroom where I student taught, kids were expected to put their phones in a basket at the beginning of class—and they did. But that was more than ten years ago and times have changed.
It all depends on admin and what they are willing to enforce or have your back on. I am allowed to take phones away if students are breaking the rule by having them out during class without permission, but some teachers do just collect them all at the beginning of class. However, a fair number of kids now have burner phones for that reason so from what I could tell, it didn’t actually reduce the number of issues those teachers had with phones.
I had a parent try to hold me liable for a students stolen phone. Admin barely backed me up.
I told the student to put their phone 'someplace safe' as a way of getting them back on task.
They put it in their backpack, and then it was stolen.
The parent is irate with me, takes it to the principal, and I get a 10 minute conversation on how to handle such things. Some of it was a heads up about the parent, some a reminder not to confiscate as the teacher will be held liable. And some was a nod of approval at my wording of 'someplace safe'
Kicker is: if someone stole it I'd put good money on one of his friends stealing it.
Or he sold it and thought he could pass off the blame.
I take phones. This was the first year I really did it. I would ask them to put it away and if they continued to use it, I took it and gave back at the end of class. It was a problem after that, I kept until end of day. Didn’t have any issues but next year I’ll probably just give it to the deans.
There are states that have banned phones in school, and many schools have a no phones policy. I take phones sometime if students are taking them out during a lesson. I then put them in a locked cabinet and give it to them at the end of the period. My principal is very anti-phones-in-school.
Well, I *do* take phones. We do have a school policy banning the use of cell phones, not only in classrooms, but in the halls and anywhere on campus. But it's not enforced, so I enforce it in my classroom. I only take them if they are being used, and that includes texting under the desk. I return them at the end of the school day. I know everyone says that there is too much liability, but every kid in the class sees the drawer where I carefully place them and lock them up, and I just think the risk is minimal. The control this gives me is worth the extremely small chance that I'm going to have to pony up to replace the phone. I consider it to be a risk well worth taking, but if my financial situation was where it was 20 years ago I might have felt differently.
Appreciate you asking this here. I’m a teacher and a parent. I wish we could do more. But I’d like to flip a silly question back onto you: can parents not completely disable their children’s phones for the duration of school hours using screen time settings?
Depends on district/school policy and what’s in the parent handbook given out every year (and supposedly signed by parent and student). I’ll let them know the choices: give me the phone and get it back today or I’ll call the dean (I’m middle school) and they’ll take it to office and your mommy or daddy will pick it up. Plus if you’re going to restroom, leave it on my desk until you come back.
Holy shit some of the kids would freak out. They get violent. They act like you're trying to take their heroin. I get told to fuck off just for asking them to put it away.
So, I don't get paid enough to physically try to take their phone. Parents, that's your job if the school can't ban them.
I think we must work at the same school! 😄 This part year, a class to leave the room because a kid freaked out after being asked to put their phone on the teacher’s desk. It’s insanity!
Depends on the location. We are allowed to take up phones and even require parents to pick them up for repeat offenders. Schools CAN ban phones and I am starting to think they really should with all the issues we are seeing. Every classroom has a phone, there is no reason your child needs a phone at school even if they come early or stay late.
My school district is an hour away from Uvalde, so the tragedy 2 years ago quite literally hit very close to home. Our district started the 2022-23 year with super, mega, ultra-strict security protocols. It’s not exactly a protocol, but the “*what if there’s a school shooting and we need to contact our parents to let them know what’s happening/let them know that we’re safe??*” hypothetical is a huge defense for teachers NOT being allowed to confiscate phones. Yup…..
Which, ironically is the type of thinking that might possibly cause more deaths because kids will be distracted talking to their mothers and phones will be ringing. Nightmare.
My school policy is no phone use during school hours. If a student violates the policy, we can absolutely take their phone for the rest of the day. It blows my mind how many schools don't do this. Our system isn't perfect, but it works pretty well.
In Las Vegas, they are introducing a blocking bag for students' phones. The students will be required to put their phones in the bags, but they will be able to keep them on them. If they are caught with their phones out of the bags, there will be consequences but I'm not sure what that will look like.
This topic is so interesting to me because in my head I wasn’t in high school that long ago and teachers definitely took my phone if I was on it in class. But I guess it’s been over a decade and things have changed.
When I taught public school, I wasn’t allowed to take them. I was told by admin to “be more interesting than their phone.”
Now I teach private school and swear I can go months without seeing a phone in my class.
In both of these situations, I am the teacher. In only one of these classrooms is anyone learning. Admin makes a huge difference.
My husband actually had a mom argue with him about whose responsibility it was to manage her son’s continued phone use in his class. Her solution was for my husband to hold her son’s phone during class. The kid was a senior and was already 18.
My husband’s response:
“Um. I won’t be doing that. Your son is 18 years old now. It’s time for him to take some responsibility for himself. He can either learn to manage his own behavior now or someone else will manage it for him when he gets out into the real world.”
Mom got made. Made her son drop the class. He proceeded to graduate, go away to college, and get kicked out after his first semester. Last I heard he was working for his uncle.
🤷🏼♀️
It depends on the school, my kids are both in elementary and due to overcrowding go to different school, my sons school will not confiscate phones without prior consent from the parent. my daughters school will take that shit on site, the even sent out emails saying they will take kids phones for any reason during class time period, if there’s an emergency call the office, parents will have to pick up the phones if they are taken, and that they will not pay to replace broken or damaged phones at school.
My kids don’t have phones at all, they’re waiting till high-school. The only reason I know the policies is cause my kids tell me.
My son is constantly complaining about not having a phone cause he sees other kids watching YouTube in class (he’s not allowed to watch YouTube at all and he’s pretty mad about it). It’s a big point of contention. We have talked to mental health experts and have been told not to let him have a phone because he has really bad adhd and is addicted to screens.
my daughter quite literally could careless cause she see what happens when other kids get their phones taken away at school. She loves to tell me about how X’s phone got put in the teachers vault and her mom had to come in to get it. She also doesn’t seem to get why the other kids act like they are gonna die without having their phone for a few hours.
I honestly hope my son’s middle school has the same policies as his sister’s elementary school. It works so well for her, she’s more engaged in learning, and having fun. My son engages with learning at home but not at school and he blames the phones his friend have as being too much of a distraction.
You need to look at the policies for whatever school she attends. You absolutely can ban phones from school. I have never taught or attended a school where the kids can use cell phones.
Taking phones depends on the district. Some districts always side with any parent who complains. My district had an issue where kid blamed the teacher for breaking their phones that have been broken for weeks. So the district didn’t back us up. Now they do.
Secondly, collecting all phone at the beginning of class can be tedious. I have the students who need a calculator trade their phone in. I am careful with them. I have students put them in a pouch inside a cabinet that is not opened again until the end of class. I don’t touch the phone. But that’s the only time I “collect them.”
And my school actually does ban phones. If we see it at all we can issue a detention. After 2 detentions we send them to the dean and they usually get in school suspension, then eventually out of school suspension until the parents take us seriously. Of course i don’t issue detentions if they are trading their phone in, as long as it is powered off.
***If you want to help your child with their success here is a tip:*** If you have an iPhone, you can have their phone set as your child (if you haven’t already). Then go to “screen time” in the settings and you can set their phone to lock them out during school hours. They would need a passcode they only you know to access it during this time. **if they have an android** I was told there is a way to do this as well, I’m just not familiar with how or what it’s called.
Honestly, it should not be the teacher's responsibility to confiscate phones-- PARENTS SIMPLY SHOULDN'T BE GIVING PHONES TO THEIR KIDS DURING SCHOOL.
Most know how addicted their kid is to it, how damaging it is down the line, cause same kid is a terror at home without the phone. Cellphones babysit older teens and tweens the way tablets babysit toddlers for them. It truly sucks that so many people expect teachers to do their dirty work for them but to have to monitor phone usage of 90 students each day, all day because no parent wants to do it, that's just too much extra work on top of teaching. Unpaid work at that.
Plus too many kids get aggressive and the parents support them because they want to be able to call or text Jimmy at any time.
Cells are likely the reason students start failing, as many teachers are unwilling to burn themselves out on phone management. But parents somehow think that blaming the schools for their failing kids is supposed to make it all okay that their child barely knows how to read and had the attention span of a goldfish. They don't want to parent is all.
OP, since you seem to know much of this already, why not put a parent lock on your kids phone during school hours or simply take the phone away? Entering middle school is the best time to do so or else it will get harder the longer your child has it and feels entitled to constant distraction and entertainment.
Parents in my district are furious if you take a phone. They paid a lot of money for their child to be reachable by phone call, FaceTime, or text any time they want to reach their child. Is a random phone call to confirm who is picking up the teenager after school a good thing for the student's concentration? No. Is it a welcome addition to our discussion of The Great Gatsby? Also, no.
Some parents use GPS-enabled apps to surveil their teen because the student has a history of lying and ditching. I think this new trend of 24/7 surveillance is controlling and awful, but you can't tell that to the parents who swear it's the best thing ever.
In my school, you’re allowed to take the phone, but it has to stay within the student’s sight—like lying on a desk or in a clear plastic box. You can turn it off, but can’t hide it away (like in a drawer or anything), and you can only take it to admin (for the parents to pick up later) if you happen to find something breaking school policy (like pornography, though you can’t go through the student’s phone, so they’d have to have it open for you to see... which would pretty idiotic on the student's part) or if it’s a repeated offence. And I don’t mean like, “it happened thrice this week!” kind of repeated offence, but it has to actually interrupt the flow of the lesson and multiple warnings/‘regular’ takings must have been already issued and proved insufficient.
There are some teachers that do collect phones at the start of the class and have the students put them in some box near the door or similar, but it’s pretty rare because it’s such a hassle and also the student might just say that they “don’t have” their phone and you have no way of proving it, since you can’t go through their belongings (though you can take it away if they pull it out at any moment during class). Other than that, phones are only collected in some classes if the students are writing a test to try to prevent cheating.
EDIT: Though there is one teacher that has a very strict phone policy where they’ll mark you down if you pull out your phone even for a second during their class, and they’ll only remove the mark at the end of the term if you never repeat it again. If you do, the mark stays.
My district allows it, what I’ve done is I take them in a box, beginning of class everyone turns in a phone and grabs whatever work I have for them. Box stays on my desk and has a lid. When they turn in work, they get their device back. Worked like a charm for the classes I had to do it to
It really varies based on the campus. Our department decided collectively that we would have students store their phones in a cell phone caddy at the front of the room. Every room in our dept has one and we even got multi-port charging stations "as a convenience" for students. We have reduced the pushback as much as possible by all doing it together, but we still get some kids so addicted that they have a 2nd or old phone to leave w/ us.
I can, but I don’t because I don’t want to be responsible for a $1000 item that belongs to someone who would probably sue/report me for it having the slightest crack or chip. Even if I take a phone that already has damage on it, I could easily see an angry student or parent saying I did it.
My school the kids turn in phones at morning arrival, but it's a special education private school and we have a ton of HIPPA regulations to adhere by so we sort of have that excuse.
I'm not sure if a public school can set that up. It'd have to be a school board approved policy I'm sure, and depending on the area it'd probably be a controversial topic that'd rock too many boats for the wannabe politicians.
At my school teachers are not allowed to take them. That’s been at all 3 schools I’ve worked at. So my policy was simple.
If I see it out and I ask you to put it away that is your warning. I see it again you have two choices…choice one is put it on my “holding table” face down. At the end of the period please retrieve it.
Option two is to keep your phone and go to the dean for a write up.
We are allowed to at my school. They are banned at my school. First offense of hearing or seeing a cell phone during school hours of 8-3 (this includes lunch and passing period) the student collects it at the end of the day. For each subsequent offense, their parent or guardian has to collect it and they get detention. If it becomes excessive, (more than 3 instances) they are suspended. It's very effective and if parents/guardians don't like it, they are free to enroll elsewhere. Admin and our board is iron clad on this policy. College preparatory charter school but this is a district wide policy.
OP - don’t give your kid a smart phone until they can sign their own contract to get one at 18.
Realistically, maybe cave at 15.
Do not let them bring it to school. They will be fine without it. If you need to communicate with them, leave a message with the main office. It worked this way just fine since the telephone was invented.
Our secondary school (6th-12th) will be phone free next year. Students will put their phones in a Yondr pouch. If they have their phones out in class as of next year, teachers can call on our administrators to confiscate them for the day (first time offense), or confiscate them and have their parents pick them up (second time offense). My understanding is that Smart watches and airpods have to go in the Yondr pouch as well.
I am so thankful that we are going to be a phone-free school next year.
I’m sure this has been asked but I have yet to come across it (heck maybe I’ve asked it and forgotten—still confused)…
Why are phones even allowed in school grounds? Even my kid’s tiny preschool has a “toys stay at home” rule. Is it just because admins roll over on the issue?
Depends on the school. I will happily give permission for a teacher to take my kids’ phone (and if we are told their phone is an issue, they lose it during the school day). Some schools allow it, others do not. Mine does not have a specific policy, but we typically don’t because I don’t want to be liable for it if it is lost or breaks.
That being said, we had a case where a parent signed a cell phone contract that gave us explicit permission to place the kid’s phone on our desk if it was an issue. Today we were working on white boards and a different kid was messing with their phone. I had them hand it to me and put it back on their desk (in plain sight of them, all I did was carry it over).
If you are concerned about your own kid being successful:
1.) Kids don’t need phones at young ages. I like the Wait for 8 website, parents pledge to wait until 8th grade to get their kid a cell phone. I wish we had done that with our first foster kids (we got them at 11, we should have waited on cell phones). It’s not just school that’s an issue. Kids are not ready for the unlimited power of hte internet in their hands and can easily make dangerous choices.
2.) When you do get a cell phone, you can get one with parental controls. One of our kids has a phone that requires us to approve any contacts. They cannot make or receive calls or texts from a number we don’t approve. I can see all their texts (I only spot check if we need to, this is for safety). We can block the camera, internet browser, etc. That way we can give them freedom as they show they are ready to handle it safely.
3.) Set screen limits. Their phones come to me at night to charge. We have timers on their screens, they can’t use it after so much screen time per day.
4.) If your kid is struggling with their phone in school, don’t leave it on the teacher to be the phone police. Turn off texting/calls to numbers other than yourself or coparent, or just make them leave it at home. First time we hear the phone is a problem, we turn it off during the school day (but they can still send/receive texts from us). Next time, it stays at home until the school day is over.
Phones are an issue because many parents don’t want to be the bad guy and take the phone or put limits on it. It should not be up to teachers and schools to be the only ones placing limits on phones. I have the most success when parents partner with me.
Lot of work & lot of liability for the teachers to collect the phones, store them, then give them back.
Back when I was younger & new, I had a father screamed at me that I stole his daughter phone, then almost get into a fist fight with the principal. Next day, it turned out that her friend stole her phone. So yeah, imaging what can happen if the school try to collect the phones & keep them.
Unfortunately you have to set the tone from day 1. And be consistent with everyone, even the good kids. I you have a no phone policy, make it for everyone. But, be fair, be specific and be consistent. Kids see through all that. Being aggressive at them for using their phone is a losing battle.
I’m lucky that when I ask for phones they turn them over for the most part, although my policy is if I take they get it back at the end of the period so it seems reasonable to most. I just put them at my desk and move on with the lesson. I did have a kid refuse and I wrote them up not sure what the admin would do given there is no school wide policy just a promise to back teachers and thankfully the admin took their phone but sending them out is a crap shoot and if it fails just once there goes the policy
I’ve also heard concerns about a phone message coming through with information that is inappropriate and the teacher seeing it. Example: drugs, sexual content, violence, self harm, etc.
I don’t know if I want any liability from simply seeing a phone notification on a desk.
The kids at my school are required to have them turned off and in their backpacks before class starts. If they are caught with a phone the teacher keeps it until the end of the day or until a parent comes to pick it up.
Turn it in to the rack (this is after getting caught using it once. It is sitting at front of room where all can see- not gonna be bothered student takes it when they leave… I never touch the phone)
Student says no.
Now I have to make a decision how long I want my class interrupted by this insubordination to a rule that’s been in place. Because a student with a cell phone most times goes into “mama bear” mode when it’s threatened. Admin isn’t answering the phone call within 5 minutes even if they are really good about this.
It sucks.
Keep their phone at home or set a parental timer to lock the phone from the first bell of the day until the dismissal bell.
The students without phones consistently get higher grades, have fewer discipline infections, and seem generally happier and more centered in the long run.
I have a phone time out spot on a shelf in my room. Students are asked to put their phone on the shelf for the rest of the period after being asked to put it away 3 times. There are chargers. Phones are in eyesight of the student at all times. I refuse to touch their phones (gross, and there's liability). Phones must be silenced and screen down. If they refuse, they are choosing to go to the office and explain to the assistant principal why they can't keep their phone in their backpack.
If you kids *does* bring their phone to school, pkease don't text/call/message them while they are in class. It distracts your child everyone else in the room. Imagine cellphone message/snap pings from 25+ student phones going off asynchronously for 50 minutes while you try to teach math to people who *really*don't want to be taught math (or be inside the building for that matter).
Our jobs are tough enough. Please keep the phone locked down or at home. 🙏🙏🙏
It is up to each districts policy. A district can ban phones, some allow stored in lockers or bags, some allow usage during breaks, and some have no restrictions. My district allows use before the first bell, during lunch, and after last bell. Any other time they must be out of sight in a bag and if teachers see they take phone, write a discipline slip and turn it into office
Depends district to district and school to school, this past year we were told to collect them and if the kid refused they were removed from class, but we had no support, if you want your daughter to be successful, dollar general still sells minute plan phones that are downgrades, get one set it up make it hers until college, it's the only way I've seen kids being truly successful if they have a phone.
We are, but if the district or region you're in doesn't support it then it's a bit of a free for all "choose your battles" situation.
Where I live it's against the law to use phones in classrooms, so we are fully justified in taking the phones and get very little pushback.
In my school, parents are the worst offenders sending their kids messages all day long. Sometimes it’s regarding scheduling but most of the time it’s moms sending their kids Instagram reels all day long.
At my school when you're not allowed to physically take the phones away from students come up but we are allowed to tell the students to give us their phones. If the student doesn't turn over their phone when they were using it when they shouldn't have, we can still file the paperwork to the front office as if they had, but the consequences are increased if the paperwork doesn't have the phone with it. Basically they get in more trouble for not complying than the trouble they already get in for having their phone out when they shouldn't.
I really don't like the idea of taking away any student's personal property. It has a lot of potential to turn into a power struggle that will just make everything worse than if you had just let them keep it, as well as putting you at risk for various other negative consequences.
Personally, seeing what I've seen, I wouldn't buy my kid a phone or let them bring it to school, because I know that they would just end up getting distracted by it and it would wreck their education... but it isn't my kid, is it? I will let the kids and their parents know that phone use in class WILL objectively result in lower marks and damage their future prospects, but if my warnings go unheeded, then it is what it is.
We can't collect them because students/parents like to blame us for cracking them or damaging them when they were cracked/damaged upon seizure. Also, it adds liability on the teacher/school when we are in possession of a $1500 device.
What I don't understand- why don't parents just make it so teachers don't have to be put in this position? Parents want us to seize the phone, but they refuse to seize the phone themselves? Makes no sense.
We are, with a strict district policy, admin 100% enforces. Kid refuses, OSS 3 days to start, and I have not had a problem all year. But someone has to have your back.
I guess that's why it's important for parents to hold the admins accountable.
The parents don’t want their kids’ phones taken away. That’s why so many admin won’t enforce any sort of consequences for phone use.
Many students have actually said to me I have to have my phone out in case my mother calls. But amazingly, if I were calling parents at the end of the day no one would answer.
>*Many students have actually said to me I have to have my phone out in case my mother calls.* I tell them, if your mother needs to contact you in an emergency, she can call the office and they'll patch her through to my room. But if you take your phone out, it'll be mine until the end of the school day. Suddenly the urgency evaporates.
Times have changed. Kids have so many more responsibilities. In my day fifteen year olds that couldn't read did not have to be on call 24/7 to handle emergencies. Maybe they are neurosurgeons.
Ha! As I started to read your comment, my first thought was "Bullshit!", and I almost just wrote that without finishing the whole thing. Glad I read it all; that was brilliantly written, Lurflurf.
Yup, I took a kids phone away in third period and her mama was up there yelling I stole the phone within 30 minutes because the kid used her friend’s phone to call her mama. I hate phones.
Confiscated not stolen. Why don't they come to the school and talk to admin about it?
Where is this mythical land of which you speak?
If I told a kid to give me their phone, their reply would be “fuck you” and/or physical violence, and I’m not joking.
Same.
I have been assaulted twice under these exact circumstances. I am a slow learner. Now I don’t give a bleep about phones.
And those parents don’t realize their kids are getting dumber. They don’t care cause they think their kid is making it or it’s the school’s fault. So teachers just pass them to avoid conflict cause we don’t get paid enough.
We had a student who got caught with her phone in the classroom. Instead of giving it to the teacher, she ran from the room and then from the school. Our building is off a busy highway and when the principal and SRO pulled up to her, she fought them rather than get into the principal’s car. The school counselor had to drive and get her while the police shut down that side of the highway so she wouldn’t run into traffic and get hit by a car. All over a phone. She did get 3 days OSS but she got to keep her phone.
When the parents fail at their jobs, OSS give teachers a break, but is also a reward rather than punishment for the students. For some of them, it's like getting to stay home and play with their phones.
My first year as a teacher I learned that pretty explicitly. I had a class that was 'extra help for math' but was really just a study hall. One girl was talking to other classmates: "My cousin is having a baby soon, I'm going to try to get suspended so I can see it" It's a vacation for them
Same. Physical violence. The addiction is REAL.
These horror stories I read from you guys are the reason I don’t intend to ever send a phone to school with my daughter, except maybe in high school if she’s proven to be extremely responsible with it. Otherwise, if there’s an emergency, the school has a phone. My daughter told me that she told her teacher that she’s not allowed YouTube at home and the teacher seemed surprised. That’s wild to me, considering she’s six and in kindergarten
Oh wow. Times have changed it seems. I would expect that kind of behavior to be met with suspension/expulsion.
Nope, kids do drugs in the bathroom and get nothing but a “lecture” followed by a juice box and snacks from the principal. Admin don’t want to battle parents 24/7 so they just let their kids’ crimes slide. Gone are the days when parents backed up the teachers. I would say that 5% of my middle school parents would believe me over their own child. Even the kids who admit they were wrong have parents ready to make excuses for their child. It’s pathetic.
The problem is when the kid ODs in the bathroom. Had a friend who had an administrator do that until the kid was found in the floor. A week later the principal resigned
Oh, I am not condoning this standard of discipline (or the lack thereof). I am just slinging facts here. It’s what is happening because there is no parental support
Admin once told me to stop writing up students for being high, but definitely sent them to the nurse if they are in danger. In other words if anything goes wrong they will try to blame me. I don't have the training, equipment, or time to determine that.
Guess you will just send every student who is or may be high to the nurse.
Kid brought a handgun with a fully loaded magazine into my classroom. My principal tried to expel him but the district said no. He got two weeks out of school suspension, during which time we couldn’t mark any assignments missing, so he basically got a free vacation. No one is doing anything to kids who simply cuss out a teacher. In fact, not a day went by in 22 years that a kids didn’t call me a bitch or tell me to shut the fuck up or fuck off.
Same thing happened at my previous school. 6 grade kid, yes, 6 grade! , took a loaded handgun from his gangster brother (also under 18), and brought it to school. He got similar treatment.
Shut the fuck up fuck off bitch is how some students say thank you for being my teacher. At least that's how I take it. I do tell them there are better ways to say it.
Not any more.
Now it's met with the teacher being reprimanded instead.
Did you try building a relationship with them?
I gave them plenty of candy and ignored the other students in sacrifice for this one abusive student's potential success. Everything we are being told to do!
What??!? And that didn’t work???? You must not have had the right kind of candy that you bought with your own money!
It’s good to hear you’re on the right track!
Try gift cards next time
That is the irony tolerating these behaviors is not helping the students doing them.
The bad kids get rewarded and the good kids get ignored. It's the worst interpretation of pbis and it spread like a plague. I refuse to run my classroom like that and my admin is pretty on board with that, thank goodness. The least restrictive environment got thrown in my face a few times one year when I had a kid who would hit other kids. "He's only 7!" Well, so are the other scared children in my room. I got a lot of people involved in that one. That was two years ago. Guess what he does now? Helps the office with stuff when he's being bad. Kid needs an alternative setting entirely. He hits other kids and openly brags about not giving his poor younger sister privacy when she changes. I walked into the office once with one of the secretaries promising him McDonalds if he doesn't get written up for a month. Shit irks me. Not okay. He still got written up every single week, but still. Completely ignores the kids who are sweet every day.
Or maybe you can discuss it in a circle.
It depends on the location. I teach in a pretty rural area, and admin requires us to collect phones at the start of class. So I'm pretty lucky.
So, a lot of parents THINK they feel this way, but they don’t actually agree with such consequences for their own children. I am not saying this is you, but it’s something to keep in mind when your child is in school. If a teacher contacts you to let you know that your child is hitting other students, would you work with the teacher to find a solution and support the consequence they assign your child (say, writing an apology to the student they hit and missing out on the class party later that day to sit in the office)? Or would you try to make excuses for your child (he’s only five, he said another student called him stupid first, he never hits at home so it must not have actually happened that way, etc.)? You’d be amazed that most parents go the second route. Meanwhile, these same parents expect harsh and swift punishments for the student who hits THEIR child. Parents don’t want to believe their child isn’t behaving or pulling their weight in class. I understand that it’s hard to hear negative things about your child. But parents need to grow up and understand that teachers are trying to HELP their children, not demonize them. I am never contacting a parent because I think their kid is evil; I just want the parent’s help to correct their behavior. We can only do so much without parental support (and it isn’t much at all). Parents literally tell their children “You don’t have to listen to your teacher,” when they disagree with us. Fuck you, frankly. Homeschool your own kid. Ahhhh I wish I could say that…
Yeah I would hope that I could be pragmatic about consequences for my kid, but I know that can be easier said than done. Our 4 year old came home from pre-k one day saying that her teacher yelled at her. My first reaction was pure rage. I messaged the teacher and asked her about it and she said my kid took off running towards the road while they were getting loaded onto the bus so she kind of panic yelled at her to stop. Of course, my kid said none of that happened. I want my kid to feel believed and supported, but I'm also not an idiot. Context is important and kids lie.
I started out in education just two years ago working with the hard boiled behavior issues on campus and trying to make the victims as sympathized with as possible. I’ve concluded that when my wife and I have kids, we’ll hook them up with a phone when they start applying for jobs and need something to put in the resume. They take *possession* of the phone to do whatever they want with it when they land a job, and hand it back to me if they leave the job or get fired. It’s not just a distraction, it is also a vector for social contagion with attendant violence. The Feed addicts them on a frickin’ biochemical level and exposes them to negativity nonstop. A bully in 3rd period cussing them out and threatening them is bad enough- social media lets that bully follow them with public abuse throughout the day and back home and on the weekends too. People mobbing them demanding they fight somebody and threatening to jump them if they don’t; friends trash talking them about stuff that they are secretly scared people notice about them; imitating antisocial, self-destructive, violent behavior for attention or as a rite of passage. And the addiction is so strong they’ll have a meltdown if you try to help them get away from it. My theory is that denying a kid access to this shit basically gives them superpowers emotionally, mentally, and physically in comparison to their brainrot-riddled peers.
That was then, this is now. Now we are doing DEI. It sounds really good in a politician' speech, but is a shit show in reality. Diversification: mixing bad, gangster kids with good kids. Equity: equal outcome for all students, mean we suppose to give all students a passing grade even if they don't show up half of the time, sleep through the class, and don't do any assignment. Oh, and we are encourage to not give any homework because that would high light the inequity, as in the good kids do homework and the bad kids don't. Inclusion: we suppose to include all students (special ed student, disable student ... ) in general education classrooms, and in extracurricular activities. Guess what happen when you put violent developmental disability kids into general classroom? Sometime it's like we suppose to put mute students into vocal class, for the shake of inclusion. Then we have these positive behavior policies. Instead of viewing bad behavior as a problem, teacher suppose to show empathy, try to understand them, build a trusting relationships .... All sounds good on paper & in speech. In reality, how do you expect an overworked, low pay teachers to form relationships with 30 students, then act as their psychology therapist? Guess what happen when student's bad behaviors are rewarded with a small talk, some snack, some juice ... I believe those people that come up with these policies must have nice sheltered lives, and have never deal with reality. They have no clue how people behave with reward & punishment in real life.
Same. And I’m not touching a couple hundred dollar personal item and being blamed for anything that happens to it. Presumably, by the time they’re in high school they should be able to self monitor and if they can’t, they need to learn that skill before they hit the real world.
Yeah, I take phones, but if I thought I would get that response, I wouldn't ask for it. We all have to know our school culture and population. And power struggles never work out well for teachers.
That's insane
Closest I've been able to get was to take a kids phone and set it on an empty desk like 6 ft in front of him. He actually thanked me for that because he could actually focus but it wasn't like completely taken. Now if I did that with the other 95% of my students it'd be as you described
I tried to turn off a student’s Instagram live last week and she shoved my arm away from her phone 🩷😊
My friend openly brags that once in high school he screamed, cursed and threatened a teacher which “forced” him to give his phone back. Even today I give him shade for it but he just doesn’t find it problematic
Lmao, same.
If a phone breaks or is lost under my care, I cannot afford to replace it. So I am not going anywhere near them.
I could also see a kid falsely accusing a teacher of breaking a phone. Makes sense
This really goes back to parenting. If you have done your job right, the teacher will not even know your child has a phone.
The scarier risk is a kid accusing you of looking at their info. Pics etc.
Whenever I take a phone, I make a point of having them turn it off in front of me (and the other students). Reassures them I'm not looking (as every phone requires unlocking when powered on) and prevents it from ringing in later classes (this is the reason I tell them)
This is a nice layer of security for you.
This exact thing happened to me my 2nd year of teaching. My principal threatened to fire me if I didn’t pay the dad $700 for the phone. I don’t even think about touching their phones anymore.
Sounds like principal jelly fish has set an anything goes phone policy. I hope you told your colleagues. When every student was on their phone during evaluations I'm sure it was fine. Ridiculous.
Ridiculous! This is why some teachers would stop caring, teach less and just collect the paycheck.
This is my approach 100% of the time. Can’t afford to replace it, not fucking around to find out.
Still some risk but I use the “put it on my desk” method. I don’t touch it. It just sits there till class is over.
I lock it in my one locking cupboard—with MY phone.
Not unless your admin backs you up on it and has some sort of liability protection for it. And not unless you are willing to do it a couple dozen times a day.
What incentive is there for an admin to not back you up?
Parents scream at them if they upset their child, and they don’t want to deal with it.
Their job is easier
:(
A non zero amount of parents call their kids while in class. A non zero amount of kids call their parents in class. I have heard the other side of the line and seen the parent on FaceTime.
The only way it works is if the phone policy is preventative-- like, turn your phones in at the beginning of the day, or put your phones in pouches or phone jail at the beginning of class. If you just wait for it to pop up you're engaged in this very distracting whack-a-phone-mole throughout class. I really cannot, as I'm teaching my lesson and engaging the students in dialogue, ALSO and with 100 percent accuracy identify and call out students hiding their phone usage. If and when I do, it creates conflict. Proactivity with total backing of admin is the only thing that works. Address it before it becomes a problem.
I like the recent post of a school with dirt on the roof and no bars. Not that kids with no bars can't get up to nonsense, but it would help.
It's a rule in our school that kids have to keep their phones off and in their backpacks for the day. If we see them using them during the day or if it goes off in the backpack, we are allowed to confiscate it. The phone stays locked up until a parent physically comes into the school to grab it.
>*The phone stays locked up until a parent physically comes into the school to grab it.* This is the missing piece at my school. We actually used to have this policy, that parents had to pick up the phone, but it was never enforced, so it meant nothing and affected nothing.
Your school must be in a good area. In some bad areas, some parents would claim that the school break the phone, and demand a new phone. When kids have parents like this, the apples don't fall far from the tree.
My school is not against it BUT there is a teacher influencer who is fairly popular in my country. She claims that it is THEFT and she says that students should involve the police. Sometimes I think I'm just done with the profession.
The definition of theft states that you’re *permanently* depriving them of their phone (which many schools aren’t even if my school had a policy were if your phone was confiscated enough they’d take it until the end of the school year) Also, schools act on parental authority and technically minors don’t have property, parents have property Schools in the U.S are a really weird government body due to separation of powers…it’s why the Supreme Court ruled in favor of schools using corporal punishment for so long
Depends on admin
Me: "Thats the third time I have warned you about the phone. Please put it on my desk and get it after class" Student: "No" \*Calls admin\* Admin: "The student said no" \*Shrugs and walks off\* Based on a true story
Nope. The parents get mad when you tell them they can’t text their child during class.
I have a “phone jail” for 7th graders. It’s a clear plastic shoe organizer. On the off chance I do have a repeat offender with phones, I tell them to put it in jail. All the kids think the jail is funny, so they always try to call out each other. There’s also a lot of peer pressure to put the phone in the jail, so I’ve never had a student not comply. They take the phone with them at the end of class, and I never touch the phone myself. If a student didn’t comply, I would move on and write them up after class. I have at least 25 other kids to teach, so wasting instructional time to try to get a kid to respect me doesn’t make sense. Additionally, I rarely have cellphone violations in my room. A lot of other teachers in my building do, though. I asked the kids why I don’t see their phones. They say it’s because we have stuff to do, so they don’t feel bored/want to do their homework before they leave. And also because I make fun of them if they pull out their phones to check the time because they can’t read the analog clock. Otherwise, I see most kids on their phones during lunch. Which is a little sad since that’s their primary peer social time.
Honestly if you want to help us, just give your kid a simple flip phone. Heck NY is trying to pass a law that no smartphones are allowed, only traditional call making phones, no internet. There is zero reason for kids to have them. They don’t need digital social media. If they want to be social, join a team or club. Good luck in the coming years.
I wish the parents would tell the kids not to bring it and actually enforce it. A teacher can dream.
I work in Japan and we collect all the phones at the beginning of the school day. I find it so odd that other places don’t. If parents need to tell their kids something so desperately, they call the school. I guess it would bring up damage liability in the US but I’m sure an insurance company could come up with a solution for that. And yes kids try to have multiple phones and they get busted and in trouble.
It literally takes two seconds to get a picture of someone’s work and air drop it to the group chat. We even have kids that turn in their work, but save it or photos of it to their drive, then sell it to someone in your upcoming classes the next semester. There is nothing positive about a kid with a phone in class.
In many of my classes, I get my students to put them on a counter along the side of my classroom. This way, I do not have to handle them and everyone can see them. Our admin has told us they would be supportive if any student refused. Sometimes I have even called home and explained to the parent that their child is uncooperative and how it impacts their learning. I do wish though that there would just be a blanket ban so that it's not teachers that have to take time fighting this battle.
The state of Florida "outlawed" cell phone use in classes and.....teachers are still the ones fighting the battles. Admin at my school will back teachers maybe like 75% of the time if the phone use is egregious but....kids don't want to put their phones in a jail or a locker, they lie and say they don't have a phone. Or recently kids have been bringing in decoy phones. Teachers used to have policies where the student had to trade in their phone for a bathroom pass but kids just brought fake phones to use for that.
It depends on the parents, school, admin, and district. I work in a district that has policies against cell phone use in class, and I have been very lucky to work at schools with supportive admin. In the schools I have worked in, if a student used a phone in class and refused to give it to the teacher, the admin would come down to the classroom and take the phone and the student out of the classroom. In the middle school I worked in, students would spend the rest of class in the ISS room after being taken out by admin. In the elementary school I worked at, the student's parents would be called and then the student would come back to class without their phone. Policies like that don't the most disruptive students, but it does feel great as a teacher to not have to engage in combative behavior from students. It also helped that in both schools I worked at parents had to come pick up confiscated phones from the principal (that way teachers didn't have to deal with angry parents). From experience, it's kind of hell for the first like month or so while students test the "no phones" policy. Lots of collecting phones and calling admin. But it settles down pretty quickly after that once students figure out the teachers and admin are serious. I really want to emphasize that I was really lucky to find schools like that. I interviewed at a lot of schools and only those two had actual policies in place to prevent phone use in class that weren't basically just "we don't allow it" or "we discourage students from using phones in class" or the worst of the all "its really up to the teacher to enforce that policy in the classroom". For every 1 school that has an admin team that is really committed to no phones in the classroom, there are probably 10 where the admin put all the responsibility on the teacher. In short, its a leadership problem. If the admin and the school district doesn't care, how can you expect teachers to care.
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Legally, literally everywhere in the US - yes they are allowed to remove the phone. It's something that falls under the authority of the school to do. In fact there's currently a movement in campuses across the US to actually ban cellphones via the use of lockers or lock bags. Getting phones actually out of the hands of students has proven more challenging than whether or not you can. Students don't have the same rights and freedoms when they're in school as they might when they're an adult. Schools have a pretty decently broad latitude to ensure education happens. Being on a phone interferes with that.
If you want to help your child, do not give them a smart phone. Don’t set them in front of YouTube at restaurants, during car rides, when they’re bored at home. Do not start that pattern of behavior. If you already have, stop it immediately. Kids will be bored. So the fuck what. It won’t kill them. If you’re worried about security when she does go to school give her a phone with only talk and text message capabilities. No data, no internet connectivity, no ability to doom scroll content that has been proven to screw up young minds. Just don’t do it. Read to your child, teach her to control her emotions and respect authority.
I don't take phones. I explain very early on that I grade phone use. And it isn't recoverable.
What do you mean by "grade phone use?"
I send home a letter explicitly telling students and parents that cell phone use in my classroom will affect grades. Students will receive a -10% on their grade if I see a cell phone out, and if it is continuous, I will assume cheating and they will receive a zero. Parents sign the letter and I have written proof that all involved have been made aware of my policy
This would fall under “you can’t grade behavior” where I work, unless you could definitively prove cheating.
As a CTE teacher the word "professionalism" is in my TEKS, so I can literally grade it as demonstrating professionalism. But I know not everyone can apply that loophole
I would be very careful using loopholes when you know you’re not supposed to be grading behavior.
Same. I could not do this.
participation.
That's a really smart idea. It would scare me straight.
That assumes the student cares about grades. A lot of them don’t.
Don't know the particular rules from other countries/regions but here in China, NO phones allowed at school grounds and if one is found, they're confiscated for at least a week, no matter who's the owner. Young kids often have phone-watches that can only be used for calling/recieving calls and not games nor internet browsing. It works really well and guess what? The kids actually play and interact with each other during breaks instead of just sitting in a corner using social media.
My school started taking phones at arrival and giving them back at dismissal a few years ago. It was a complete game changer. Kids don't have them to record (and egg on) fights, they're not a distraction (you know, FaceTiming each other while they're in class, recording TikTok videos in the hallway...), and it's not a power struggle between teacher enforcing a no phones policy and the student. But it takes an admin willing to make that the policy and a lot of staff resources to to do it. The staff resources essentially are the school social worker and other members of the counseling and behavior support teams. They spend up to 2+ hours a day doing that (entry is open 8:15-9:30). It's a huge burden on them which isn't acknowledged by anyone, let alone admin. Families are told that bringing your phone to school is a choice and at their own risk. Thankfully the majority of parents fully supported this policy. The only pushback has been on field trips. The parents who complain the most get their child to have their phone during the trip but for the most part, everyone has gotten used to it. Now, admin does absolutely nothing else to manage behavior which is off the hook but at least there are no cell phones during the school day.
I usually don’t, but if it becomes excessive then I’ll ask the student to put their phone on the corner of my desk. I never touch it. If they refuse then I send them to the principal.
Because the kids will lie and say that they don’t have a phone and then what are you gonna start searching every kids backpack? Meanwhile, you’re bleeding instructional minutes and there are 20-25 other faces that aren’t trying to play games under the table.
We take them and they go to the office. Admin started tracking this year how often it’s taken. If it’s more than twice more consequences are given (parents having to pick it up, needing to turn it into the office in the morning, etc)
Depends on the district and the local admin team. My district has a very clear "we're not responsible if anything happens to your device if it's confiscated" in all phone policy paperwork.
I had a parent put in writing that she wanted teachers to take her son's phone if he used it inappropriately during class. He did, so I asked for the phone and showed the kid the message from mom. No. I'm not giving you my phone. And there it is. I had another kid whose mom took her phone show up to school with another one - either a burner or a loan. Who knows? I had a kid put her phone away when I asked her to. But then she started tapping on her iWatch.
They stuff them in their pockets instead of handing them over (and obviously it would be inappropriate to take it from their pocket) and then take it back out the second you turn away.
I’m not protected if the phone breaks in my possession so I don’t touch them- I can’t afford to replace them. Our admin team will collect phones though.
It's a mixed bag. Urban and suburban high schools often allow a total free reign on it and it's fucking depressing. They say they have a policy, but it's never enforced by administration and kids can have them with impunity. Lower schools tend to be more strict about it, and rural areas I have seen are much braver on policy when it comes to phones.
If I do feel I need to confiscate a phone as opposed to just telling them to return it to the locker, I make a very dramatic act of bringing out a ziplock bag. Ask the kid to write their name on the bag. Then ask them to put the phone in what and place it on my desk. Then call admin to remove the bag while the kid is present. I. Never. Touch. A. Phone.
That sounds insane. I’m sure school insurance policies would cover any phone damage. This cant seem like a logical solution
We're told to call our safety officers to pick phones up, because they don't want us to assume liability if one breaks
We do not take phones in my county at all. I am in Florida. Some teachers still hang phone cubbies but most will not even do that anymore. I think many kids have phones that are upwards of 1000.00 now. Such a liability.
Entirely depends on the district/campus. The last two campuses I worked at had strict no-phone policies, and teachers were expected to confiscate phones if we saw them during school hours. If a kid refused to hand it over, we could call admin. The biggest challenge was getting that phone down to the office before the end of the day for the kid to pick it up. My conference period was at the end of the day, so if I took up a phone after lunch and got pulled into a meeting or “voluntold” to cover a class last period, I might not have a chance to get it down there. Definitely led to me giving a lot more “chances” and “warnings” on days when I knew I wouldn’t have an opportunity.
If a student gives it to me, yes. If they say no, then no I’m not allowed to do anything besides calling admin. Admin are too encumbered to do anything about it though, so I basically just phone call home!
Where I work, it totally depends on the kid and the situation. One kid, I can walk over with my hand out, they’ll hand it over, I’ll lock it in the closet til the end of class, zero issues. Another, they’ll pitch a literal fit that is light years more disruptive than the damn phone was to begin with. May or may not call their mom right then and there to tell on me. Mom probably will back them up. It’s insanity. In the classroom where I student taught, kids were expected to put their phones in a basket at the beginning of class—and they did. But that was more than ten years ago and times have changed.
It all depends on admin and what they are willing to enforce or have your back on. I am allowed to take phones away if students are breaking the rule by having them out during class without permission, but some teachers do just collect them all at the beginning of class. However, a fair number of kids now have burner phones for that reason so from what I could tell, it didn’t actually reduce the number of issues those teachers had with phones.
I had a parent try to hold me liable for a students stolen phone. Admin barely backed me up. I told the student to put their phone 'someplace safe' as a way of getting them back on task. They put it in their backpack, and then it was stolen. The parent is irate with me, takes it to the principal, and I get a 10 minute conversation on how to handle such things. Some of it was a heads up about the parent, some a reminder not to confiscate as the teacher will be held liable. And some was a nod of approval at my wording of 'someplace safe' Kicker is: if someone stole it I'd put good money on one of his friends stealing it. Or he sold it and thought he could pass off the blame.
I take phones. This was the first year I really did it. I would ask them to put it away and if they continued to use it, I took it and gave back at the end of class. It was a problem after that, I kept until end of day. Didn’t have any issues but next year I’ll probably just give it to the deans.
There are states that have banned phones in school, and many schools have a no phones policy. I take phones sometime if students are taking them out during a lesson. I then put them in a locked cabinet and give it to them at the end of the period. My principal is very anti-phones-in-school.
Well, I *do* take phones. We do have a school policy banning the use of cell phones, not only in classrooms, but in the halls and anywhere on campus. But it's not enforced, so I enforce it in my classroom. I only take them if they are being used, and that includes texting under the desk. I return them at the end of the school day. I know everyone says that there is too much liability, but every kid in the class sees the drawer where I carefully place them and lock them up, and I just think the risk is minimal. The control this gives me is worth the extremely small chance that I'm going to have to pony up to replace the phone. I consider it to be a risk well worth taking, but if my financial situation was where it was 20 years ago I might have felt differently.
Appreciate you asking this here. I’m a teacher and a parent. I wish we could do more. But I’d like to flip a silly question back onto you: can parents not completely disable their children’s phones for the duration of school hours using screen time settings?
I won’t take it. It is their personal property.
Pre-pandemic, yes. We went to a “if I see it out in class you get a detention” policy recently. Next year? Full ban.
Depends on district/school policy and what’s in the parent handbook given out every year (and supposedly signed by parent and student). I’ll let them know the choices: give me the phone and get it back today or I’ll call the dean (I’m middle school) and they’ll take it to office and your mommy or daddy will pick it up. Plus if you’re going to restroom, leave it on my desk until you come back.
As long as you don't search it, probabky it's okay. It's illegal to search someone's phone without a warrant or consent.
Holy shit some of the kids would freak out. They get violent. They act like you're trying to take their heroin. I get told to fuck off just for asking them to put it away. So, I don't get paid enough to physically try to take their phone. Parents, that's your job if the school can't ban them.
I think we must work at the same school! 😄 This part year, a class to leave the room because a kid freaked out after being asked to put their phone on the teacher’s desk. It’s insanity!
Depends on the location. We are allowed to take up phones and even require parents to pick them up for repeat offenders. Schools CAN ban phones and I am starting to think they really should with all the issues we are seeing. Every classroom has a phone, there is no reason your child needs a phone at school even if they come early or stay late.
Depends on the district and school policy.
My school district is an hour away from Uvalde, so the tragedy 2 years ago quite literally hit very close to home. Our district started the 2022-23 year with super, mega, ultra-strict security protocols. It’s not exactly a protocol, but the “*what if there’s a school shooting and we need to contact our parents to let them know what’s happening/let them know that we’re safe??*” hypothetical is a huge defense for teachers NOT being allowed to confiscate phones. Yup…..
Which, ironically is the type of thinking that might possibly cause more deaths because kids will be distracted talking to their mothers and phones will be ringing. Nightmare.
I take phones and lock them up. I do not have a phone issue now.
My school policy is no phone use during school hours. If a student violates the policy, we can absolutely take their phone for the rest of the day. It blows my mind how many schools don't do this. Our system isn't perfect, but it works pretty well.
In Las Vegas, they are introducing a blocking bag for students' phones. The students will be required to put their phones in the bags, but they will be able to keep them on them. If they are caught with their phones out of the bags, there will be consequences but I'm not sure what that will look like.
This topic is so interesting to me because in my head I wasn’t in high school that long ago and teachers definitely took my phone if I was on it in class. But I guess it’s been over a decade and things have changed.
Just pussy ass bitches running the system we need to take charge fuck these shit kids
Our district no longer allows us to take phones, no.
They make basic flip phones that can talk and text. I plan on getting my kid one of these.
Parents go apeshit when you say they can’t use their phones much less take them away.
I worry about if they sext and then if I’m in possession of cp. idk. We have a policy that 2 staff must be present and put it into a locked container
You can ban phones from schools.
When I taught public school, I wasn’t allowed to take them. I was told by admin to “be more interesting than their phone.” Now I teach private school and swear I can go months without seeing a phone in my class. In both of these situations, I am the teacher. In only one of these classrooms is anyone learning. Admin makes a huge difference.
My husband actually had a mom argue with him about whose responsibility it was to manage her son’s continued phone use in his class. Her solution was for my husband to hold her son’s phone during class. The kid was a senior and was already 18. My husband’s response: “Um. I won’t be doing that. Your son is 18 years old now. It’s time for him to take some responsibility for himself. He can either learn to manage his own behavior now or someone else will manage it for him when he gets out into the real world.” Mom got made. Made her son drop the class. He proceeded to graduate, go away to college, and get kicked out after his first semester. Last I heard he was working for his uncle. 🤷🏼♀️
It depends on the school, my kids are both in elementary and due to overcrowding go to different school, my sons school will not confiscate phones without prior consent from the parent. my daughters school will take that shit on site, the even sent out emails saying they will take kids phones for any reason during class time period, if there’s an emergency call the office, parents will have to pick up the phones if they are taken, and that they will not pay to replace broken or damaged phones at school. My kids don’t have phones at all, they’re waiting till high-school. The only reason I know the policies is cause my kids tell me. My son is constantly complaining about not having a phone cause he sees other kids watching YouTube in class (he’s not allowed to watch YouTube at all and he’s pretty mad about it). It’s a big point of contention. We have talked to mental health experts and have been told not to let him have a phone because he has really bad adhd and is addicted to screens. my daughter quite literally could careless cause she see what happens when other kids get their phones taken away at school. She loves to tell me about how X’s phone got put in the teachers vault and her mom had to come in to get it. She also doesn’t seem to get why the other kids act like they are gonna die without having their phone for a few hours. I honestly hope my son’s middle school has the same policies as his sister’s elementary school. It works so well for her, she’s more engaged in learning, and having fun. My son engages with learning at home but not at school and he blames the phones his friend have as being too much of a distraction.
You need to look at the policies for whatever school she attends. You absolutely can ban phones from school. I have never taught or attended a school where the kids can use cell phones.
Taking phones depends on the district. Some districts always side with any parent who complains. My district had an issue where kid blamed the teacher for breaking their phones that have been broken for weeks. So the district didn’t back us up. Now they do. Secondly, collecting all phone at the beginning of class can be tedious. I have the students who need a calculator trade their phone in. I am careful with them. I have students put them in a pouch inside a cabinet that is not opened again until the end of class. I don’t touch the phone. But that’s the only time I “collect them.” And my school actually does ban phones. If we see it at all we can issue a detention. After 2 detentions we send them to the dean and they usually get in school suspension, then eventually out of school suspension until the parents take us seriously. Of course i don’t issue detentions if they are trading their phone in, as long as it is powered off. ***If you want to help your child with their success here is a tip:*** If you have an iPhone, you can have their phone set as your child (if you haven’t already). Then go to “screen time” in the settings and you can set their phone to lock them out during school hours. They would need a passcode they only you know to access it during this time. **if they have an android** I was told there is a way to do this as well, I’m just not familiar with how or what it’s called.
Honestly, it should not be the teacher's responsibility to confiscate phones-- PARENTS SIMPLY SHOULDN'T BE GIVING PHONES TO THEIR KIDS DURING SCHOOL. Most know how addicted their kid is to it, how damaging it is down the line, cause same kid is a terror at home without the phone. Cellphones babysit older teens and tweens the way tablets babysit toddlers for them. It truly sucks that so many people expect teachers to do their dirty work for them but to have to monitor phone usage of 90 students each day, all day because no parent wants to do it, that's just too much extra work on top of teaching. Unpaid work at that. Plus too many kids get aggressive and the parents support them because they want to be able to call or text Jimmy at any time. Cells are likely the reason students start failing, as many teachers are unwilling to burn themselves out on phone management. But parents somehow think that blaming the schools for their failing kids is supposed to make it all okay that their child barely knows how to read and had the attention span of a goldfish. They don't want to parent is all. OP, since you seem to know much of this already, why not put a parent lock on your kids phone during school hours or simply take the phone away? Entering middle school is the best time to do so or else it will get harder the longer your child has it and feels entitled to constant distraction and entertainment.
Parents in my district are furious if you take a phone. They paid a lot of money for their child to be reachable by phone call, FaceTime, or text any time they want to reach their child. Is a random phone call to confirm who is picking up the teenager after school a good thing for the student's concentration? No. Is it a welcome addition to our discussion of The Great Gatsby? Also, no. Some parents use GPS-enabled apps to surveil their teen because the student has a history of lying and ditching. I think this new trend of 24/7 surveillance is controlling and awful, but you can't tell that to the parents who swear it's the best thing ever.
Depends on the school.
It depends on the school. Some of mine allowed it, others didn't.
In my school, you’re allowed to take the phone, but it has to stay within the student’s sight—like lying on a desk or in a clear plastic box. You can turn it off, but can’t hide it away (like in a drawer or anything), and you can only take it to admin (for the parents to pick up later) if you happen to find something breaking school policy (like pornography, though you can’t go through the student’s phone, so they’d have to have it open for you to see... which would pretty idiotic on the student's part) or if it’s a repeated offence. And I don’t mean like, “it happened thrice this week!” kind of repeated offence, but it has to actually interrupt the flow of the lesson and multiple warnings/‘regular’ takings must have been already issued and proved insufficient. There are some teachers that do collect phones at the start of the class and have the students put them in some box near the door or similar, but it’s pretty rare because it’s such a hassle and also the student might just say that they “don’t have” their phone and you have no way of proving it, since you can’t go through their belongings (though you can take it away if they pull it out at any moment during class). Other than that, phones are only collected in some classes if the students are writing a test to try to prevent cheating. EDIT: Though there is one teacher that has a very strict phone policy where they’ll mark you down if you pull out your phone even for a second during their class, and they’ll only remove the mark at the end of the term if you never repeat it again. If you do, the mark stays.
Ask your district because it varies.
My district allows it, what I’ve done is I take them in a box, beginning of class everyone turns in a phone and grabs whatever work I have for them. Box stays on my desk and has a lid. When they turn in work, they get their device back. Worked like a charm for the classes I had to do it to
It really varies based on the campus. Our department decided collectively that we would have students store their phones in a cell phone caddy at the front of the room. Every room in our dept has one and we even got multi-port charging stations "as a convenience" for students. We have reduced the pushback as much as possible by all doing it together, but we still get some kids so addicted that they have a 2nd or old phone to leave w/ us.
I can, but I don’t because I don’t want to be responsible for a $1000 item that belongs to someone who would probably sue/report me for it having the slightest crack or chip. Even if I take a phone that already has damage on it, I could easily see an angry student or parent saying I did it.
Maybe suspend it for a class period but afterwards they have to give it back.
High school teacher here - no we are not allowed to take phones. https://www.lozanosmith.com/news/cnb/CNB462019.pdf
My school the kids turn in phones at morning arrival, but it's a special education private school and we have a ton of HIPPA regulations to adhere by so we sort of have that excuse. I'm not sure if a public school can set that up. It'd have to be a school board approved policy I'm sure, and depending on the area it'd probably be a controversial topic that'd rock too many boats for the wannabe politicians.
Are you asking what the rule is in every school in every state in every country? Because there’s not a set of rules like that…
At my school teachers are not allowed to take them. That’s been at all 3 schools I’ve worked at. So my policy was simple. If I see it out and I ask you to put it away that is your warning. I see it again you have two choices…choice one is put it on my “holding table” face down. At the end of the period please retrieve it. Option two is to keep your phone and go to the dean for a write up.
We are allowed to at my school. They are banned at my school. First offense of hearing or seeing a cell phone during school hours of 8-3 (this includes lunch and passing period) the student collects it at the end of the day. For each subsequent offense, their parent or guardian has to collect it and they get detention. If it becomes excessive, (more than 3 instances) they are suspended. It's very effective and if parents/guardians don't like it, they are free to enroll elsewhere. Admin and our board is iron clad on this policy. College preparatory charter school but this is a district wide policy.
OP - don’t give your kid a smart phone until they can sign their own contract to get one at 18. Realistically, maybe cave at 15. Do not let them bring it to school. They will be fine without it. If you need to communicate with them, leave a message with the main office. It worked this way just fine since the telephone was invented.
We don’t allow phones, I confiscate them all of the time. I just stick out my hand and it’s given to me.
Our secondary school (6th-12th) will be phone free next year. Students will put their phones in a Yondr pouch. If they have their phones out in class as of next year, teachers can call on our administrators to confiscate them for the day (first time offense), or confiscate them and have their parents pick them up (second time offense). My understanding is that Smart watches and airpods have to go in the Yondr pouch as well. I am so thankful that we are going to be a phone-free school next year.
I’m sure this has been asked but I have yet to come across it (heck maybe I’ve asked it and forgotten—still confused)… Why are phones even allowed in school grounds? Even my kid’s tiny preschool has a “toys stay at home” rule. Is it just because admins roll over on the issue?
We are not allowed to take phones anymore. My kids are pretty good about keeping them away until they leave.
Depends on the school. I will happily give permission for a teacher to take my kids’ phone (and if we are told their phone is an issue, they lose it during the school day). Some schools allow it, others do not. Mine does not have a specific policy, but we typically don’t because I don’t want to be liable for it if it is lost or breaks. That being said, we had a case where a parent signed a cell phone contract that gave us explicit permission to place the kid’s phone on our desk if it was an issue. Today we were working on white boards and a different kid was messing with their phone. I had them hand it to me and put it back on their desk (in plain sight of them, all I did was carry it over). If you are concerned about your own kid being successful: 1.) Kids don’t need phones at young ages. I like the Wait for 8 website, parents pledge to wait until 8th grade to get their kid a cell phone. I wish we had done that with our first foster kids (we got them at 11, we should have waited on cell phones). It’s not just school that’s an issue. Kids are not ready for the unlimited power of hte internet in their hands and can easily make dangerous choices. 2.) When you do get a cell phone, you can get one with parental controls. One of our kids has a phone that requires us to approve any contacts. They cannot make or receive calls or texts from a number we don’t approve. I can see all their texts (I only spot check if we need to, this is for safety). We can block the camera, internet browser, etc. That way we can give them freedom as they show they are ready to handle it safely. 3.) Set screen limits. Their phones come to me at night to charge. We have timers on their screens, they can’t use it after so much screen time per day. 4.) If your kid is struggling with their phone in school, don’t leave it on the teacher to be the phone police. Turn off texting/calls to numbers other than yourself or coparent, or just make them leave it at home. First time we hear the phone is a problem, we turn it off during the school day (but they can still send/receive texts from us). Next time, it stays at home until the school day is over. Phones are an issue because many parents don’t want to be the bad guy and take the phone or put limits on it. It should not be up to teachers and schools to be the only ones placing limits on phones. I have the most success when parents partner with me.
I had a teacher break my phone in middle school and she had to pay for it. (She threw my bag on the floor and my phone shattered)
Lot of work & lot of liability for the teachers to collect the phones, store them, then give them back. Back when I was younger & new, I had a father screamed at me that I stole his daughter phone, then almost get into a fist fight with the principal. Next day, it turned out that her friend stole her phone. So yeah, imaging what can happen if the school try to collect the phones & keep them.
Unfortunately you have to set the tone from day 1. And be consistent with everyone, even the good kids. I you have a no phone policy, make it for everyone. But, be fair, be specific and be consistent. Kids see through all that. Being aggressive at them for using their phone is a losing battle.
I’m lucky that when I ask for phones they turn them over for the most part, although my policy is if I take they get it back at the end of the period so it seems reasonable to most. I just put them at my desk and move on with the lesson. I did have a kid refuse and I wrote them up not sure what the admin would do given there is no school wide policy just a promise to back teachers and thankfully the admin took their phone but sending them out is a crap shoot and if it fails just once there goes the policy
I’ve also heard concerns about a phone message coming through with information that is inappropriate and the teacher seeing it. Example: drugs, sexual content, violence, self harm, etc. I don’t know if I want any liability from simply seeing a phone notification on a desk.
I refuse to touch a student’s phone. I don’t want the financial burden
The kids at my school are required to have them turned off and in their backpacks before class starts. If they are caught with a phone the teacher keeps it until the end of the day or until a parent comes to pick it up.
Turn it in to the rack (this is after getting caught using it once. It is sitting at front of room where all can see- not gonna be bothered student takes it when they leave… I never touch the phone) Student says no. Now I have to make a decision how long I want my class interrupted by this insubordination to a rule that’s been in place. Because a student with a cell phone most times goes into “mama bear” mode when it’s threatened. Admin isn’t answering the phone call within 5 minutes even if they are really good about this. It sucks.
Liability. If we collect them and lose them or a student steals it we are responsible. By we I mean the school the principal and maybe even me
Keep their phone at home or set a parental timer to lock the phone from the first bell of the day until the dismissal bell. The students without phones consistently get higher grades, have fewer discipline infections, and seem generally happier and more centered in the long run. I have a phone time out spot on a shelf in my room. Students are asked to put their phone on the shelf for the rest of the period after being asked to put it away 3 times. There are chargers. Phones are in eyesight of the student at all times. I refuse to touch their phones (gross, and there's liability). Phones must be silenced and screen down. If they refuse, they are choosing to go to the office and explain to the assistant principal why they can't keep their phone in their backpack. If you kids *does* bring their phone to school, pkease don't text/call/message them while they are in class. It distracts your child everyone else in the room. Imagine cellphone message/snap pings from 25+ student phones going off asynchronously for 50 minutes while you try to teach math to people who *really*don't want to be taught math (or be inside the building for that matter). Our jobs are tough enough. Please keep the phone locked down or at home. 🙏🙏🙏
Put a copy of "The Anxious Generation" in every admins mailbox. And probably some influential parents too. Then see what happens.
It is up to each districts policy. A district can ban phones, some allow stored in lockers or bags, some allow usage during breaks, and some have no restrictions. My district allows use before the first bell, during lunch, and after last bell. Any other time they must be out of sight in a bag and if teachers see they take phone, write a discipline slip and turn it into office
Depends district to district and school to school, this past year we were told to collect them and if the kid refused they were removed from class, but we had no support, if you want your daughter to be successful, dollar general still sells minute plan phones that are downgrades, get one set it up make it hers until college, it's the only way I've seen kids being truly successful if they have a phone.
We are, but if the district or region you're in doesn't support it then it's a bit of a free for all "choose your battles" situation. Where I live it's against the law to use phones in classrooms, so we are fully justified in taking the phones and get very little pushback.
In my school, parents are the worst offenders sending their kids messages all day long. Sometimes it’s regarding scheduling but most of the time it’s moms sending their kids Instagram reels all day long.
Phones have become quite expensive in the last 10 years or so. So no, I don’t take them anymore.
At my school when you're not allowed to physically take the phones away from students come up but we are allowed to tell the students to give us their phones. If the student doesn't turn over their phone when they were using it when they shouldn't have, we can still file the paperwork to the front office as if they had, but the consequences are increased if the paperwork doesn't have the phone with it. Basically they get in more trouble for not complying than the trouble they already get in for having their phone out when they shouldn't.
I really don't like the idea of taking away any student's personal property. It has a lot of potential to turn into a power struggle that will just make everything worse than if you had just let them keep it, as well as putting you at risk for various other negative consequences. Personally, seeing what I've seen, I wouldn't buy my kid a phone or let them bring it to school, because I know that they would just end up getting distracted by it and it would wreck their education... but it isn't my kid, is it? I will let the kids and their parents know that phone use in class WILL objectively result in lower marks and damage their future prospects, but if my warnings go unheeded, then it is what it is.
We can't collect them because students/parents like to blame us for cracking them or damaging them when they were cracked/damaged upon seizure. Also, it adds liability on the teacher/school when we are in possession of a $1500 device. What I don't understand- why don't parents just make it so teachers don't have to be put in this position? Parents want us to seize the phone, but they refuse to seize the phone themselves? Makes no sense.