A Texas House lawmaker is proposing banning cellphones and other electronic devices in all Texas public schools.

Bill author Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, said prohibiting students from using cellphones on K-12 campuses would help improve academic outcomes, students’ mental health and classroom management.



https://communityimpact.com/austin/...-prohibit-cellphone-use-in-k-12-schools/

I have zero problem with this.

A teacher friend of mine said he spends the biggest part of his day policing cellphone activity in his classroom instead of teaching. I know he would support this move.

I am 100% convinced cellphones (or maybe cellphones + social media apps) are the cause of numerous social and communication problems with kids. All people really, but it hits kids especially hard.

Never saw a happier period in my daughter's life than when she was grounded from her phone for the first couple months of summer a few years back.

disagree ……believe they should be teaching kids how to use their cellphones to learn about any subject….

So what about the iPads they hand out to each student?

There is a balance. Like math....they taught us math on paper! You had to know it!.....then an entire course JUST on how to use a TI-82....

So ban electronics in almost all classes so they learn it. Then have at least one class that is all digital 100% on their phone resources.

Or some other combination. It's the world we live in so make it part of it.

If kids were interested in using their phone to learn, I'd agree. They're snap-chatting and watching instagram videos. These are children - if you give them access to fun or learning, rarely will they pick learning.

Phones never should have been allowed in the classroom to start with.

They can learn to use phones at home. They don't need a classroom to learn how to use a phone. They don't learn on their phones now and I don't see any kids that don't know how to use them...

90 percent are gonna have to live life on that phone or the future tech like it. They need to embrace it.

Back to the basics. Learn how to do things with paper and pencil. Hell when I was a kid going to school you could not have a calculator either and you had better pay attention in school and pass the classes or you did not move up the following year, you were actually held back.

Parents sue the schools for holding back their kids now. So the districts advance them to avoid having to spend the lawsuit money on it. Yes, it's a real thing

They're embracing the phone plenty.

Problem is they aren't able to learn anything because they're texting and watching instagram videos instead of listening to the teacher or doing their work. Then their parents blame the teachers for not being able to corral 25 kids that are doing this at once

Right, learning how to post on social media all day without the boss catching you is essential

remember when they told us to learn math without a calculator, because you will not always have a calculator with you..... lol. Well, we showed them.

Is school even necessary anymore?

My six year old granddaughter can find the answer to most anything she wants on her tablet…

No one but the higher IQ kids will ever be able to do math.

Ask any random person you know what thirty percent of one hundred dollars is.

Most will say anything but thirty..

Just don’t ban them at work. I get bored

Heck we use our phones at work to help with the job. From medical protocols, HAZMAT(Emergency Response Guide) and other apps it can help a ton.

We once had a good sized wildland fire and we were trying to get a good idea of the terrain and what was in front of the fire so I pulled up Google Earth and gave it to the IC.

We just hired a couple of young guys in my department...getting ready to replace my retiring a** in 60 days..:) And they are on their phones every minute it seems. You can be talking to them about something and they have their nose in their phone...not paying attention to what you might be saying. Now cell phones are important in our jobs. It's how we get notification of gas/oil line hits in the state that we have to investigate. They are good for mapping a route to someplace you've never been, etc. Other than that I really don't use my phone much except for phone calls (what a unique concept) and texting the other inspectors as to which incident I may be going to.

My point of this long winded screed is that we have become too dependent on cell phones in many cases. And in the case of kids they have a portable entertainment system in their hands. And you know they are going to use it...he** I would...:)
And parents bear some responsibility for this issue. Yeah we all know the argument that a cell phone might be important if there is an emergency so every kid gets one. Cell phones are here to stay. So the best we can probably do is limit their use during school hours so at least attempt to get kids to pay attention. It's like many other responses to issues in life....the pendulum swings too far one way and we get unintended consequences. Balance is never easy....

To many in my generation, the olds, cell phones are a tool and in some cases an annoyance....but real useful for taking pictures of fish we've caught...:)

Parents will probably be the biggest roadblock for banning phones in schools. They want to be able to contact their kids whenever they want. I`m all for it though.

We had a cell phone policy @ work. It stated that no phone could be visible in your work area. You could step outside to use your phone in emergencies but not in your work area to look at Facebook or to text. I never wrote anyone up for it, but they knew to not get caught. When I got my first cell phone, I left it in the car while I was at work. Now, people would have an anxiety attack if they didn`t have their phone on them 100% of the time.

Just public schools? Why not all schools since our tax dollars will now go to private schools. Which violates the Texas constitution and is never mentioned.

The power of the PTA has contributed to our school system turning into cushy summer camp where everyone gets a trophy......instead of a survival of the fittest competition.

Students are there to learn the lessons the teachers teach, not what they can find on their phone. Classroom time is around 4 or 5 hours a day. That leaves 20 hours a day for them to use their phone. I don’t see this as a real sacrifice. If you cannot be without your phone for 4 or 5 hours, you have more problems that school can fix.

Rules to receive funding only apply to one side of the fence...you know this...

Parents will be a barrier, but only as much of one as administrators allow them to be.

"No child left behind" killed public education. Trying to gauge education systems on the students who want to be educated the least and who will use their education the least is the epitome of stupidity.

I just talked to 2 recent rockwall graduates who are both in college. I told them we were taking our camper to Canada this summer. Both were astonished that Canada was on the same landmass as the US and could be reached via road...

Last soccer game went to the concession stand. Got 2 bottled waters for $2 each. Gave girl a $20 bill. She pulled out her phone, multiplied 2 times 2, subtracted 4 from 20 and gave me $16 back. It's insane...but glad we aren't leaving the stupid kids behind.

School is better without it- kids are better without it. My sons school they can have phones but they get put up in the classroom- zero tolerance policy. They can’t have them at lunch either so they have to socialize the old fashioned way.

I'm hearing the kids want the the ban but parents who vote want the kids to have their cellphones...

so no computers?

They're not as worried about kids on school-owned computers. At my wife's school, they have Go Guardian installed on all the laptops and it immediately notifies teachers and admin if kids go to a questionable site. And the admin can see what the kids are doing on the computer anytime they want. Obviously IG, SC, FB, etc are all banned

Common sense would say any electronic device provided by the school for use during class would be permitted.

Every place where they have enacted these policies has shown to be a huge success. Grades go up. Discipline problems go down. And students are happier and more engaged. Phones are the adolescent and adult version of a security blankie; we just have to get past that initial fear of leaving it in a drawer and we are the better for it.

Every teacher, lunch lady, administrator, coach, and janitor has a phone, every school has landline phones all over the place, including the school nurse's office.
Most schools have twenty or so "involved" PTA members and/or parents on the grounds at all times throughout the day.
If there is an urgency to call mom or dad, there are plenty of phones everywhere to do so.

Ban them.
Yes, the children will figure out how to turn their school provided computer notebooks/ipads into a telephone within five minutes; but ban the phones.

+100000

Heck I still leave my cell phone in my truck When I go into someplace. Sometimes catch all kinds of heck for it from friends and the wife. I do not carry it around with me either at home. If I am outside doing stuff it is usually on the counter or still in my truck.

They need to take them away from teachers, staff and admin too.

How much money was paid to educate those children from K - 12? How much more money would it have taken for those you mentioned to have been able to perform well in your examples? If the teacher had made 100k a year? Then would learning have taken place?

Simple question? Does “teaching” imply learning?

I leave mine at home often if I`m going somewhere local and my wife has hers with her. I almost always take mine with me to my shop @ home in case I want to look up something to order, take a picture of some part or record some type of maintenance I performed on anything and everything. The camera on the phone is an excellent tool for time stamping anything and a visual record for later use. I always like to tell people that an I Phone isn`t just for Facebook. I Phones used as a tool for everyday life is a wonderfool advancement from how most of us grew up, but way too many people get addicted to them to the extreme. Just watch people at any restaurant that can`t stay off of them.

There are quite a few school districts around here that don't allow cell phones in the classroom. They're locked in special cell phone lockers during the day... The schools have setup a special phone line that allows the parents to get in touch with their kids in case of an emergency... They've interviewed the kids and they're enjoy the time away from their phones... They're actually talking to their friends instead of texting the from across the lunchroom table... Dan

School is dumb...

Same. Remove any distractions, I'm good with it.

The bottom 10% each year staring at 12 years old should be assigned to roof repair and roadwork crews.

Carrying mail and tying down loads...

I wish they would, it's a train wreck hiring high school kids to work and getting them off their phones. We have a closet we lock the phones up in. We tried the stay off your phone approach but that's like chasing chickens around a yard.