yadkin

They are all allowed to have ipad's right? You could take away their cell and still have the very same problem.

The bullying isn't happening through calls or texts, which show up on phone bills. The problem is with social media....snap chat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. They also have free texting apps where you can text for free without using your actual carrier (Verizon, tmobile, etc). I'm not saying all kids do this, but more than you think do!

I am sorry I didn't think of paper work, it has been so long since I have gotten a bill. I use virgin mobile, which gives me unlimited calling, text and data each month. I have no bill.

Wizard

fp & bigd, what proof do you have that your children do not use their phones anytime they want? All schools have phones and will call your child to it if it is important. Children have no reason to have phones in middle school unless it is locked in their locker during school hours.

bigd, good plan.

My daughter has her phone with her she only gets it out at break or lunch ! She will always have hers because the way things are now a days if anything happens that poses a danger to her or other kids at school she can call me for help because if you wait for the staff too then you will be the last to here about it Plus students can't carry a little pocket knife or gun so they need something like a cell phone for protection if she needs help or other kids need help she can call me and I can get help faster than the staff can

fiesta p., Sounds like your kids are being raised well. Good for you.
Also, even though you did not have to justify the cell phone thing and your kids, (some people just want to argue), GOOD answers.

The problem is the 80% of the kids who do not use their cell phones inappropriately at school are the very ones whose parents will be super angry when pics of their children are posted on social media by other students. These kids are posting pics of other kids and using them to cyberbully. It could be a huge lawsuit.

Teachers report that some "students" spend all the class time on those gadgets and thus learn nothing in the class.
Tomorrows homeless?

Actually, if the kids are allowed to use ipad's with internet connection then honestly what's the difference?

Onlyinthefalls

That is an interesting opinion. My kids are operating within the rules of the school as far as I know and there has been no contact from the school to the contrary. In spite of there being no problem to begin with, you think you found a solution to a problem invented in your head by keeping my kids from using their phone within the scope of the schools rules. You see it is impossible for a problem to be solved if there was never a problem to begin with.

You see, what we have here is a grandpa mindset of "back in my day we didn't need dem dar pocket phones, computey books, or talky pictures". It is a different time. We didn't have them because the technology didnt exist. It does now.

We also have the same Obama mentality on display. Just because one person used an ar15 to shoot up a school doesn't mean they need to be taken from the millions of responsible users. In the same sense just because a couple of kids may use cell phones in contrary to school policy doesn't mean the countless kids using them within the terms of policy need to be punished.

What about the occasions where I could be late traveling in from out of state picking them up? You see if the after school programs end at 6:00 then I would have no way to contact them without their cell phones.

Or what about the fact that I have raised 2 kids both in the honors programs, both never in trouble at school or serious trouble at home, and one fast tracking to Eagle Scout. I have done this without any help from a Hillary Clinton type who thinks it takes a village to raise a child. It will remain that way.

That's a reason for the kids to be able to call you, not you call them. Last time I checked the school has some telephones available which the kids can use, they might have to go to the office and ask to use the phone but there are there. See problem solved.

I have two kids in many after school events whose hours frequently change the day of. I am also a contractor who owns his own business. If an after school event is canceled and they can ride the bus home, that means I can work later and bill several hundred more dollars for that days work. It is especially true when I am working 2 hours away.

That is one reason.

Fiesta, why would you need to contact your kids at school? If it is a true emergency I can see where you'd want to do to the office and pull them out of class. For those of us who grew up and made it through school before there were cells phone, I can't understand the urgency and need to communicate so immediately.

They make a device that will scramble cell phone signals so no calls can be sent out or received but they are illegal for the public to operate. You turn it on and within the area it's being operated in you can't use your phone. The military,FBI and Secret service use them to protect officials from cell phone detonated bombs. Prisons have tremendous proplems with cell phone usage but they're not allowed to use them. Schools could have one, turn it on during class times and turn it off before and after school. That would solve the problem but people would raise cain because it inhibits some of their freedom. I feel sorry for teachers and school officials when they have to deal with things like this.

mj~ My concern would be around EGO time. Are they free to use them then? If so, I hope it helps the test

scores.

My kids carry their phones to school. They are cut off before class and turned back on between classes to see if my wife or I tried to contact them. Then back off before the best class.

I don't see any problem with the way my kids handle them and they haven't ever had any problems. Of course I can't speak for any other kids or the way their parents instruct them. The schools have never approached us about the kids phones being a problem when checking them between classes.

Many schools in surrounding counties have a rule that the phones are in the locker all day long, or it is taken away by the principal. However, at FMS the students are free to use their phones all day...in class or wherever...or so I have been told by students and the pictures and videos seem to make that true

A number of schools in other areas have problems with students passing around nude selfies on the phones. Better to just not have any of those at school. Leave the phones at home.