Kid screamed for his cell phone back

[jbjennings]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Kid screamed for his cell phone back???
My what stories a teacher could tell!
Parents would do well for themselves to "help out" in the classroom for a couple of days and see what really happens at school and what teachers really deal with.
The policy in my area is, the phones can be brought to school/class but must be off during school hours but can be used after school for calling home, etc. If it rings in class, it's taken, the parent is notified, the student's name is put on the phone, time it's taken from the student, date, reason for taking it, and must be taken to the office by an adult. The phone is given back in 3 or 5 days, I can't remember which. Most of the time when it rings in class it's an accident, but some of the sneaky phone "chatters" have ringtones now that are imperceptible by most adults because the pitch is outside "old folks" hearing capability. You can't use good judgement on whether to cut 'em some slack in the case of an accidental call because parents don't trust a teacher's judgement anymore and will claim "unfairness". So you have to be ultra-consistent on everything that you do discipline-wise.
JBJ

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

When I was in high school (1997) cell phones were considered drug paraphernalia and you were immediately suspended, recommended expulsion. Same for the now defunct pagers.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I'm fortunate enough to be able to send my kid to a Private School.

My main reason for doing this is the discipline that is administered and the no-prisoner-taken attitude of the school.
When he commenced grade 8 (the big school) all parents 'had' to attend and 'evening'....no option.

The policy of phones was mentioned...."there is no policy...your child may bring a phone to school, it must be turn off immediately they enter the grounds, and remain unused in their locker till they leave the school grounds".

And of course, a woman (right in front of me), rose to her feet and started on about the security 'bit'.
The Head politely interupted, and explained in 1 sentence to everyone:

"it was the schools position, and if they had any objection, then would they like to report to the office for 100% refund of all fees etc , and enroll their child in another school of their liking. This subject is not open for discussion".

There was absolute silance, and the bloke next to me leaned over and whispered " I got me xxxxx grands worth already".

The dress code is just the same, conform to the letter or leave.

And the kids love it. The pride in the school shows on their faces all the time, and there are 800 of them.

Before this he attended a private (Lutheran) school from Grade 1-7. Same attitude there too.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Fairlaneman, get your wife a cell blocker. They are relatively cheap, very effective and small enough that no one knows you have one. They are just starting to catch on over here in restaurants, churches, etc. I have a low power shirt pocket model that has an effective range of 45' and does wonders on the interstate and in grocery stores. They are mostly made in Europe due to possible privacy issues here. Just a thought. If parents are so concerned about there child's safety in relation to a dang phone, they need to home school.

Might want to re-think that one. They are illegal for a reason. If you block an emergency call you can and will be arrested and convicted of a serious crime with a long sentance. If your call block costs someone their life, you will be charged with first degree murder, and let me just tell you before you even have the chance to think that would never happen, that it already has. Even if you don't block an emergency call, you can be arrested and fined $10,000 or made to spend 6 months in jail just for turning one on.

Also, your post here, advising someone to commit a crime, is also a bad idea. Just FYI.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

The arguement of it being personel property doesnt fly because a knife also is personel property,The RULES SAY NO PHONES TO BE DISPLAYED AT ANY TIME DURING THE SCHOOL DAY. A 12 year old kid has no right to have a phone at school period. School board says the phones are to be taken and turned in by the teacher to the main office. Often parents are called to come and pick them up at the end of the week.,,Any parent coming to school to complain about this just makes a fool out of himself.

My crystal ball into the future says your school will be facing some lawsuits in the future... which will further cut into any pay raises your wife would have otherwise gotten...

Calling the parents to pick them up, good idea. Not releasing it to the parents when the parents come to pick it up the same day, bad idea. I was under the impression that schools were supposed to teach good critical thinking skills to our children. I wonder how they can do that when they don't use good critical thinking skills themselves.

It's no wonder our kids are turning out the way they are. If their role models can't make good decisions, how can we expect them to be able to? (I'm talking about both the parents and schools now)

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I'm fortunate enough to be able to send my kid to a Private School.

My main reason for doing this is the discipline that is administered and the no-prisoner-taken attitude of the school.
When he commenced grade 8 (the big school) all parents 'had' to attend and 'evening'....no option.

The policy of phones was mentioned...."there is no policy...your child may bring a phone to school, it must be turn off immediately they enter the grounds, and remain unused in their locker till they leave the school grounds".

And of course, a woman (right in front of me), rose to her feet and started on about the security 'bit'.
The Head politely interupted, and explained in 1 sentence to everyone:

"it was the schools position, and if they had any objection, then would they like to report to the office for 100% refund of all fees etc , and enroll their child in another school of their liking. This subject is not open for discussion".

There was absolute silance, and the bloke next to me leaned over and whispered " I got me xxxxx grands worth already".

The dress code is just the same, conform to the letter or leave.

And the kids love it. The pride in the school shows on their faces all the time, and there are 800 of them.

Before this he attended a private (Lutheran) school from Grade 1-7. Same attitude there too.

Cheers
Phillip

That is perfectly acceptable for a private school, especially when they notify parents in advance of the policy and give them the option to disenroll with refund.

 

[4.0l sahara]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Well I'm 16 and in high school and I do agree most kids have no respect for teachers or rules. Nowadays kids have no prob telling a teacher to Fuc* off or swear at them.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Well I'm 16 and in high school and I do agree most kids have no respect for teachers or rules. Nowadays kids have no prob telling a teacher to Fuc* off or swear at them.

I remember a boy sat next to me in Ohio history class, that is what he told the teacher after being woke up from his desk. Poor ole Bob was grabbed up by his collar and was bounced on the teachers knee down the hall. Then down the steps into the principles office where you could hear the wacks all thru the school. Absolutly nobody feel asleep or talked back to a teacher for the rest of the year. Funny how something like that had an effect on the whole school..........

 

[oddjob]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I want a cell blocker!...

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

My apologies for mentioning a cell blocker. Until SgtMaj repremanded me, I had no clue that they are illegal in this country, across the board.. Actually, it's an $11,000 fine. The fact that they do not sell them in this country should have been a nice tip-off. My apologies again.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

This is another example of the sort of thing that will lead to someone getting hit in the mouth by a sauce gun. And worse later.

There are two issues here: the teacher taking the cell phone, and the bad behavior of the child. The first does not justify the second. Even if the teacher was wrong to do so, the child should be discipled for thier bad behavior. The taking of the cell phone must be handled as well, but should be seperate.

This is the similar to getting a ticket from a cop. You go to court and resolve it - you don't throw a temper tantrum, even if the cop is wrong. Seems that children aren't being taught this lesson by thier parents.

I also don't understand what "security" a cell phone provides for grade school children that are in school.

-V

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I also don't understand what "security" a cell phone provides for grade school children that are in school.

-V

That's exactly my thought. If they need a cell phone outside of the school just in case they need to call for help? They shouldn't put themselve in a place where they may need help in the first place. We didn't have freaking cell phone when we grew up and we did just fine. Heck back in my day, a programmable calculator wasn't allowed let alone a cell phone. How easy it would be to cheat when you can have your friend text you the answer. The solution here would be to go back to good ole whoopin like it used to be before all this sensitive treatment bullcraps. The number of kids on Riddlin(sp) is staggering. We didn't have any medicine to helps us with our attention problem. We got a stick to our arse and as I remember, it worked pretty well. IMO, ADD is absolutely caused by our society. You can't teach a kid much of anything by slapping them on the wrist when they misbehave.

 

[cheburashka]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I also don't understand what "security" a cell phone provides for grade school children that are in school.

I don't think it provides them security while they are in school. However, it may provide security when they get out. A lot of kids have to walk home. I was bullied as a kid--even strong-armed once. A lot of this happened off of school property. If I had been able to call the police, maybe someone would have been punished.

Depriving a kid of a phone while he's in class makes sense. Depriving him of it for his walk home doesn't. That's why the punishment of taking the phone away for the rest of the week doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Depriving him of it for his walk home doesn't.

Where are you that they let kids walk home from school anymore?

We lived in an apartment complex for part of the school year a couple of years ago. They wouldn't let my child off the bus without me being there - with the correctly colored "pass". If I wasn't there on time, I'd have to go to the school and pick her up.

I've talked to some friends up north, and they do that sort of thing through middle school.

-V

 

[arboldt]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

The issue is much more than just cell phones.

With the high-profile school violence events of the past few years, and knowing some of the neighborhoods where kids walk to and from school, having a cell phone might not be a bad idea.

Even 40 years ago when I was in high school, keeping things in your locker was not a good idea -- too many things ended up missing. By the time my kids were in high school, only a few kids kept much more than a jacket in their locker -- everything was with them in a 60# backpack (ok, so I exaggerate). Everyone in math-science center where my youngest went in high school was required to have a specific brand and model of high-end graphing calculator -- and warned to *always* keep it with them for security reasons.

So the issue here is not just a cell phone. Teachers can and must confiscate all kinds of things that kids use to disrupt a classroom and keep their fellow students from learning. My wife has often come home and realized she had "Johnny's" action figure (or whatever) in her pocket after she confiscated it to deal with disruptions. She takes it back and gives it to the kid at the end of the next day, but I don't know if that would satisfy some of the posters here. Some parents are really concerned about their kids' behavior, and support the teacher. The problem is, some are not. And those are the kids that prevent 25 others from learning.

 

[jay.robinson15]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

I wish we had a ban on cell phones when I was in college. It seemed like every class somebody's phone went off, and sometimes students would actually get up and leave the room to take the call! Besides being annoying and distracting, it was disrespectful to the professor and to other students.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Clearly there's no need to have a cell phone turned on durring class; but an aweful lot of kids are abducted every year, and even more are raped without being abducted (1 in 4 girls get raped). Just the time it takes them to walk from the bus stop to home, is more than enough time for something to happen. While having a phone won't prevent something from happening, they can track a cell phone signal to find an abducted child, and if your girl can dial 911 at the beginning of an attack, the cops might show up in time to keep her from getting raped (although probably not, but anything to shift some of the odds over to her favor is worth it).

That's the "security" that we're talking about. It's not about needing to call their parents, it's just about having a link to emergency services when they need it. I know I darn sure wouldn't want my kid to not have access to call 911 when he needs it, and I wouldn't put up with a teacher or school denying him that access either.

But like I said earlier, I'd also bust his butt for disrupting class and acting up.

 

[CJY]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

At the same time,it not the teacher's job to teach children manners.Teachers are paid to teach math or biology or other likewise manners

Try teaching a group of 30 kids that have no manners. If you believe a teacher does not have to teach some of the kids "manners" to be an effective teacher, boy, are you kidding yourself. Just one kid can cause such a disruption that the other 29 students get little education that day. If it was your kid that desired a proper education which was being screwed up by a single disrespectful student, you would be ok with that? If not, what would you want to happen to change it? Any discipline handed out by a school/teacher is in an attempt to change behavior/manners. Since you believe it is not the schools position to teach manners, by your own statements, discipline is not an option for you. Well, what would you do?

Might I add, it is a parent that defends his child's foolishness that causes the problem in the first place. Apples do not fall far from their trees.

I would have a zero tolerance policy. Sure, you can have and carry your cell phone during school hours for reasons of safety. However, if a person of authority within a school building sees it out and being used, 3 day suspension. Next time, expulsion for a full quarter, 3rd time, out for a year.

I would venture to guess that a typical student gets caught texting inschool 5% of the time and the punishment is minimal. Often it is nothing more than "pick your phone up from the principal at the end of the day." Getting caught 5% of the time for such a small penalty makes continued texting worth the risk for a student.

 

[zach103]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

You guys make really good points.. but why does a 12 year old need a phone for?? Security reasons what security.. im 18 now . got the phone at 16. my rents gave me the phone when i got my license. which i think is smart.. they wouldnt let us get one no matter what b4 we turned 16.. why does a 12 need a phone.. where do they go. a friends house ya. but they got a phone at the house dont they? they cant drive so you always know where they are..

just my point of view on this whole thing

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Kid screamed for his cell phone back

Good solid enforsement of the rules is the answer,but when you are dealing with minors you cant just use expulsion for more than several days. State law requires the kids to be in school wheather its a regular school or what we call "alternative" schools or youth prison schools. We dont have near enough of these. Our local school board chairman (who I worked with for 20 years and know quite well) said " when you expel a kid you turn a part time criminal into a FULL TIME criminal." Whats the solution? Oh yea the brat with the phone has been whinning all week wanting his phone back and the wife said "go talk to the principal' , It not her problem.