@ School cellphone bans spread nationwide

[neverfstop]

I thought we discussed this, but I can't find the thread..

www.axios.com/2024/09/29/cell-phone-schools-bans-states

More than half of U.S. states have taken steps to ban or restrict cellphone use in K-12 schools, a new analysis finds.



Why it matters: Even some students admit that their phones can be hugely disruptive during class, and cyberbullying is a persistent issue — but many parents see phones as critical safety tools in the event of a shooting or other emergency.



Driving the news: Seven states, including Florida, Louisiana and Virginia, have already banned or restricted school cellphone use, per a recent KFF analysis.

[jinkies]

I think the conversation was part of the thread on the most recent school shooting.

As a parent to two teenagers, I fully support banning the phones.

Our middle school already does. it would be harder in high school bc they have eliminated lockers.

[katfco]

I teach 9th grade and our school is cracking down on cell phones. I love it. We've all noticed our students are more attentive in class.

[melmaria]

It’s about damn time. Hope it continues.

[fancynewbeesly]

My daughter’s middle school (8th) is cracking down. I love it. She doesn’t bring her cell phone anymore to school. Which is fine by us.

[erbear]

Here for it.

Our middle school (where I work) Has banned cell phones for about five years. We collect them at the beginning of the day from everybody and we returned them at the end of the day. They are locked up all day.

Our high school this year just started collecting them at the beginning of classes. It’s pretty glorious and working really well. I will never go back to allowing cell phones in my classroom. a small couple of parents, have complained, citing safety, but the truth is their children are no less safe without their cell phones.

[penguingrrl]

Our schools are very strict about phones. In the middle school if a phone is out during the day it’s confiscated until the end of the day. On the second offense a parent has to come retrieve it from the office. In our HS this is the second year of an initiative requiring phones to be placed in boxes at the beginning of each class and retrieved at the end.

My kid’s only complaint with it is that they constantly forget their phone and have to go from classroom to classroom at the end of school trying to find it because they don’t even remember which class they left it, which is a PITA after school. That and they now banned headphones at all, which is making focusing during independent work a lot harder (they generally play classical music to aid focus and that was allowed until this year, listening to classmates talk and cough and shuffle chairs is making it hard).

[lilac05]

I find it really interesting that at least in my area, a good portion of the people loudest about “You can’t take my kids’ cell phones!!!” citing safety are the very same ones that are saying “You can’t take my guns!” But guns are the things that make the parents think their children need a phone at school.

They absolutely will not listen to the people who say that phones could actually at best, increase confusion in the moment (because of rumors flying and everyone trying to make calls/send texts) instead of paying 100% attention to the teacher so they know what to do to stay safe, and at worst, actually INCREASE their risk if they are hiding somewhere.

It’s fear & anxiety. They need guns because they’re afraid of people. But they need their babies to have phones on them 24/7 because they’re afraid of the people with guns. As the M4L people like to say, “Make it make sense.”

But most importantly…taking away phones increases learning opportunities, and that’s what they’re at school for!

[abs]

Our school has been strict with them for years. Your phone comes out once and it is confiscated. After that it escalates to lunch detention/ISS. This policy is now district wide. Phones are still allowed at lunch but DD never uses hers unless she needs to vent about something for a second. That’s rare. The first year of these rules were rough but no one bats an eye anymore. However they still have Chromebooks so is it better? I doubt it. Lots of access to email and online games.

As always though my big complaint is sure. I am okay with phone bans. You know what else would help education? Gun restrictions but nope we can’t do that. We can ban all the books though. I don’t know how to explain it but it all makes me feel a certain way.

[fancynewbeesly]

In our area, people are aghast that my first grader doesn’t have a watch/phone or tracking device. When they question me I answer why? Why does a six year old need it. They usually can’t answer or ramble about knowing where she is/making sure she is safe. She is always with us. Or an adult. Or at our neighbors (where I can call the parents) and in school she can go to the main office if she needs something.

Likewise people are shocked that my 13 year old doesn’t bring hers regularly to school. But again why? She goes to the main office to call us. She doesn’t use it during the day. And in an emergency would be way worse to have it with her. And when she brings it to school-it is in her locker ANYWAY so useless if there was an emergency.

[frlcb]

Our K-8 school has never allowed them, and they don't know any different. My son's high school now has an away for the day policy, and they are strict about it, and I love it. They don't need phones.

[basilosaurus]

Related to this is a docuseries called social studies where some teens at one high school were asked unfeterred access to their sm and agreed to be interviewed about all sorts of thingsand participate in group sessions also filmed.

It's eye opening and scary. There are lots of shots of them checking in phones either at the beginning of the day or beginning of class, but it's still obsessive.

I think it's fx

[simpsongal]

I think we're headed there and just in time for my 5th grader (DS 10) to reach middle school. He cannot focus, even around a phone, much less with a phone in his hand.  If I could put 'no phones around DS' in a 504 or IEP, I would.  Which incidentally, I'd think that would be a big factor in this conversation - for kids w/attentiveness issues and other learning disorders, that has to be hugely distracting.

[dontlook]

I would be so happy for this change. I held out as long as I could giving my DD a phone. It finally got to the point that she felt like a total outcast at school combined with teachers assigning things on a cell phone during the day when we finally caved. I can’t stand that school sports team listed important information on social media. I’m holding off by monitoring it for her, but it shouldn’t even be a thing.

[mags]

It's about damn time!

[Susie]

Our school district requires HS students to put their devices in Yondr pouches during the day.  It's been a bit controversial but overall it's been really successful and it's being held up as a model statewide.  I think it's great.  Frankly I wish someone would take my phone away when I need to get work done, except that I need it for 2FA.

[StrawberryBlondie]

DD is in 5th and says her classroom has a phone bin that they have to put theirs in at the beginning of each day and then pick them up at the end of the day.

I think it's good. Kinda hate that it's on teachers to enforce but I'm not sure what the alternative is, since "leave your phones at home" isn't realistic for a bunch of kids who get themselves to and from school every day.

[lavenderblue]

Our High School this year has started restricted them. You can no longer have them out in class or in the hallways but kids are allow to have them on them. They do allow them out at Lunch though.

[heygrey]

Our province instituted a cell phone ban for K-12 at the beginning of this year and I am here for it. Each school has to decide how they will enforce it so I'm sure some are more lax than others. As an educator I LOVE that we have a clear policy and consequence - phone is immediately confiscated and a parent has to pick it up in the office. This was clearly and repeatedly communicated to all families at the beginning of the year. Putting responsibility back on the adults is working. I'm at an elementary school, so we're really only dealing with grade 4s and 5s on this.

From a parent perspective, I love that it has taken the pressure off to get DS a phone next year when he goes to middle school. I wasn't planning to anyway, but I expected a lot of push back and whining from him because he'd be the only kid at school without a phone. Now it's not an issue and if he doesn't have one, he can't get in trouble with it.

[taratru]

I get so...deflated? that parents are more concerned about school shootings than their child's education. This country, man.

Our district is doing this, and my 8th grader says she doesn't mind it at all. My husband said it has made a huge difference in class - they actually talk to each other again.

[Jalapeñomel]

I wish.

[Michelle]

I fully support restricting it during class - no cell phones out during class, period.

I think banning in HS is short-sighted, though. Where my kid goes to school, they have eliminated a lot of wasteful paper printing for extracurricular activities (flyers) and replaced it with app alerts.

They use GroupMe for extracurricular activities, and I love this, because everyone doesn't need my kid's phone number. My kid is Stage Manager for their theater production. She can use it like a silent walkie talkie to direct various crew members behind the scenes. The costume closet is on one side of the school and backstage is on another. The costume crew uses GroupMe to communicate things like, "bring extra wig glue to the Black Box." The Director uses group me to tell everyone to get into their positions. There are also frequent changes to rehearsal space and stuff even throughout the day, so the Director can send a GroupMe to students like, "Black Box is closed to students during lunch so Choir can use it."

Everyone isn't able to participate at the same time, so if they miss something, they can scroll up in the GroupMe after school to see important production changes.

Also their school has a cool thing called "[Mascot] Hour" which is an hour and a half in the middle of the day. There are 3 lunch blocks and you can choose to attend any one of those with your friends, and use the other two blocks for a tutoring session and/or a club activity. It enables students who don't have after school transportation to participate in all kinds of clubs like Model UN, DECA, etc. And they use GroupMe to communicate any last-minute changes (which are frequent) to those gatherings, or even reminders.

My kid is an officer in the Gay Straight Alliance, French Honor Society, and Thespians, and also a member of a volunteer service group, National Honor Society, volunteers at the Library, and she attends tutoring for one of her A/P classes to make sure she is on top of the material. She couldn't manage all of that without her phone reminders, GroupMe notifications, etc.

The kids also use Instagram to advertise various club events, and those would need to be accessible during [Mascot] Hour too.

Like everything in life, it is about balance and using tools in the right place at the right time.

[livinitup]

The ban is coming to my state and our high school started it this year. I have a 11th grader.

I 100% support the ban with no reservations for safety.

My DD used her phone for music a LOT last year and I thought it would be an issue with the ban this year. Nope. Everyone keeps it away, so there is no negotiation can I/can’t I. Cell phones are a powerful tool and distraction and we have got to support teachers who are begging us to get them out of the teaching environment.

She carries hers in her backpack for before/after school & let’s be real, she can use it during the day if she needs to urgently contact me. If there is an active shooter in her school, my message to her is PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME UNTIL IT IS OVER AND YOU ARE SAFE. We’ve have 2 major crisis while she was in school and neither made her safer because she had unfettered access to a cell phone. Both were only made worse for her and/or all students to have call phones. (No school shootings thank god.)

The school also installed metal detectors last year. What a waste of time and resources. But hey, security theatre makes some people feel better.

[melmaria]

Sept 30, 2024 10:01:19 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I fully support restricting it during class - no cell phones out during class, period.

I think banning in HS is short-sighted, though. Where my kid goes to school, they have eliminated a lot of wasteful paper printing for extracurricular activities (flyers) and replaced it with app alerts.

They use GroupMe for extracurricular activities, and I love this, because everyone doesn't need my kid's phone number. My kid is Stage Manager for their theater production. She can use it like a silent walkie talkie to direct various crew members behind the scenes. The costume closet is on one side of the school and backstage is on another. The costume crew uses GroupMe to communicate things like, "bring extra wig glue to the Black Box." The Director uses group me to tell everyone to get into their positions. There are also frequent changes to rehearsal space and stuff even throughout the day, so the Director can send a GroupMe to students like, "Black Box is closed to students during lunch so Choir can use it."

Everyone isn't able to participate at the same time, so if they miss something, they can scroll up in the GroupMe after school to see important production changes.

Also their school has a cool thing called "[Mascot] Hour" which is an hour and a half in the middle of the day. There are 3 lunch blocks and you can choose to attend any one of those with your friends, and use the other two blocks for a tutoring session and/or a club activity. It enables students who don't have after school transportation to participate in all kinds of clubs like Model UN, DECA, etc. And they use GroupMe to communicate any last-minute changes (which are frequent) to those gatherings, or even reminders.

My kid is an officer in the Gay Straight Alliance, French Honor Society, and Thespians, and also a member of a volunteer service group, National Honor Society, volunteers at the Library, and she attends tutoring for one of her A/P classes to make sure she is on top of the material. She couldn't manage all of that without her phone reminders, GroupMe notifications, etc.

The kids also use Instagram to advertise various club events, and those would need to be accessible during [Mascot] Hour too.

Like everything in life, it is about balance and using tools in the right place at the right time.

To play devils advocate: virtually all kids nowadays also have laptops/chromebooks in high school. Why can’t these clubs send out emails instead? Kids can still check their school email during the day. Laptops and chromebooks present their own problems (e.g., kids watching YouTube during class) but they are still easier to manage/limit than phones.

Kids managed to be in multiple clubs/sports before the existence of smartphones. And no one is saying they can’t have them before/after school to communicate - we are talking about a 7 hour period of downtime.

I really hate that we (as a society) have moved toward a system where information about sports/clubs/events/etc. is only posted via social media apps like instagram. What about kids who don't want to be on social media?

ETA - I don’t want my kid getting distracted by social media/GroupMe-type notifications in math class. I want them to be thinking about math. Or at the very least, if they aren’t paying attention to math, daydreaming/doodling lol.

[melmaria]

Sept 30, 2024 8:17:22 GMT -5 Susie said:

Our school district requires HS students to put their devices in Yondr pouches during the day.  It's been a bit controversial but overall it's been really successful and it's being held up as a model statewide.  I think it's great.  Frankly I wish someone would take my phone away when I need to get work done, except that I need it for 2FA.

I am begging for this to come to my district. I’m on a working group of parents that is pushing for it.

[wawa]

Sept 30, 2024 10:01:19 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I fully support restricting it during class - no cell phones out during class, period.

I think banning in HS is short-sighted, though. Where my kid goes to school, they have eliminated a lot of wasteful paper printing for extracurricular activities (flyers) and replaced it with app alerts.

They use GroupMe for extracurricular activities, and I love this, because everyone doesn't need my kid's phone number. My kid is Stage Manager for their theater production. She can use it like a silent walkie talkie to direct various crew members behind the scenes. The costume closet is on one side of the school and backstage is on another. The costume crew uses GroupMe to communicate things like, "bring extra wig glue to the Black Box." The Director uses group me to tell everyone to get into their positions. There are also frequent changes to rehearsal space and stuff even throughout the day, so the Director can send a GroupMe to students like, "Black Box is closed to students during lunch so Choir can use it."

Everyone isn't able to participate at the same time, so if they miss something, they can scroll up in the GroupMe after school to see important production changes.

Also their school has a cool thing called "[Mascot] Hour" which is an hour and a half in the middle of the day. There are 3 lunch blocks and you can choose to attend any one of those with your friends, and use the other two blocks for a tutoring session and/or a club activity. It enables students who don't have after school transportation to participate in all kinds of clubs like Model UN, DECA, etc. And they use GroupMe to communicate any last-minute changes (which are frequent) to those gatherings, or even reminders.

My kid is an officer in the Gay Straight Alliance, French Honor Society, and Thespians, and also a member of a volunteer service group, National Honor Society, volunteers at the Library, and she attends tutoring for one of her A/P classes to make sure she is on top of the material. She couldn't manage all of that without her phone reminders, GroupMe notifications, etc.

The kids also use Instagram to advertise various club events, and those would need to be accessible during [Mascot] Hour too.

Like everything in life, it is about balance and using tools in the right place at the right time.

Honestly that sounds like a nightmare.  As an adult I struggle with focus with teams and outlook and my phone all dinging at me all day, as a teen i would have been a whole ass mess if I had a groupme thing dinging at me constantly.

Also nothing about the theater thing means they need it during the school day?  It sounds like you're talking about primarily during rehearsals and productions, not like...10 AM on a tuesday?  

As for frequent changes during "club time" ....how about just no?  Like, don't.  Be more organized.  Post things on the wall on paper just like we used to if you need to switch which room the gay straight alliance is meeting in. Because we can talk about paper being wasteful, but constant pinging electronic communication and a high powered computer in everybody's pocket is not actually conserving resources!  I don't find any of that to be a compelling reason why a kid needs access to a phone during the normal school day.  I double extra don't find social media being used for club comms to be compelling for shit, because I also think that shouldn't be happening on the face of it.  

So yes, right tools , right place, right time.  Which adds up to phones out of reach during the school day if it were up to me.  

[Michelle]

Sept 30, 2024 12:01:29 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Sept 30, 2024 10:01:19 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I fully support restricting it during class - no cell phones out during class, period.

I think banning in HS is short-sighted, though. Where my kid goes to school, they have eliminated a lot of wasteful paper printing for extracurricular activities (flyers) and replaced it with app alerts.

They use GroupMe for extracurricular activities, and I love this, because everyone doesn't need my kid's phone number. My kid is Stage Manager for their theater production. She can use it like a silent walkie talkie to direct various crew members behind the scenes. The costume closet is on one side of the school and backstage is on another. The costume crew uses GroupMe to communicate things like, "bring extra wig glue to the Black Box." The Director uses group me to tell everyone to get into their positions. There are also frequent changes to rehearsal space and stuff even throughout the day, so the Director can send a GroupMe to students like, "Black Box is closed to students during lunch so Choir can use it."

Everyone isn't able to participate at the same time, so if they miss something, they can scroll up in the GroupMe after school to see important production changes.

Also their school has a cool thing called "[Mascot] Hour" which is an hour and a half in the middle of the day. There are 3 lunch blocks and you can choose to attend any one of those with your friends, and use the other two blocks for a tutoring session and/or a club activity. It enables students who don't have after school transportation to participate in all kinds of clubs like Model UN, DECA, etc. And they use GroupMe to communicate any last-minute changes (which are frequent) to those gatherings, or even reminders.

My kid is an officer in the Gay Straight Alliance, French Honor Society, and Thespians, and also a member of a volunteer service group, National Honor Society, volunteers at the Library, and she attends tutoring for one of her A/P classes to make sure she is on top of the material. She couldn't manage all of that without her phone reminders, GroupMe notifications, etc.

The kids also use Instagram to advertise various club events, and those would need to be accessible during [Mascot] Hour too.

Like everything in life, it is about balance and using tools in the right place at the right time.

To play devils advocate: virtually all kids nowadays also have laptops/chromebooks in high school. Why can’t these clubs send out emails instead? Kids can still check their school email during the day. Laptops and chromebooks present their own problems (e.g., kids watching YouTube during class) but they are still easier to manage/limit than phones.

Kids managed to be in multiple clubs/sports before the existence of smartphones. And no one is saying they can’t have them before/after school to communicate - we are talking about a 7 hour period of downtime.

I really hate that we (as a society) have moved toward a system where information about sports/clubs/events/etc. is only posted via social media apps like instagram. What about kids who don't want to be on social media?

ETA - I don’t want my kid getting distracted by social media/GroupMe-type notifications in math class. I want them to be thinking about math. Or at the very least, if they aren’t paying attention to math, daydreaming/doodling lol.

Appreciate the discussion!

I have mixed feelings about the socials advertising too, because you can get distracted by the non-school noise that comes through there. But the GroupMe communications are moderated by teachers as well, so I like that there is no bullying or communication that is not school-appropriate, AND no one has someone's phone number for a school reason to then use it for a non-school reason or without permission (e.g. to harass).

I like your recommendation about some email advertising, but the kids using their phones and GroupMe aren't going to be able to practically handle a laptop as nimbly as a phone in their pocket. As they push costume carts, band equipment, sets, etc. across the building, safely transporting a laptop is a lot harder than a phone. Again, they use them like walkie talkies throughout production class, [Mascot] Hour, and after school.

And when they are in class, the device should be silenced and put away, so they are only catching up on the GroupMe's between classes, such as at the start of [mascot] Hour. They can do that easily in a crowded hallway or while eating lunch whereas doing so with a laptop would be a real pain. Most the kids have a school-issued laptop and personal phone or smartwatch, not a tablet.

[Michelle]

Sept 30, 2024 13:46:34 GMT -5 wawa said:

Sept 30, 2024 10:01:19 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I fully support restricting it during class - no cell phones out during class, period.

I think banning in HS is short-sighted, though. Where my kid goes to school, they have eliminated a lot of wasteful paper printing for extracurricular activities (flyers) and replaced it with app alerts.

They use GroupMe for extracurricular activities, and I love this, because everyone doesn't need my kid's phone number. My kid is Stage Manager for their theater production. She can use it like a silent walkie talkie to direct various crew members behind the scenes. The costume closet is on one side of the school and backstage is on another. The costume crew uses GroupMe to communicate things like, "bring extra wig glue to the Black Box." The Director uses group me to tell everyone to get into their positions. There are also frequent changes to rehearsal space and stuff even throughout the day, so the Director can send a GroupMe to students like, "Black Box is closed to students during lunch so Choir can use it."

Everyone isn't able to participate at the same time, so if they miss something, they can scroll up in the GroupMe after school to see important production changes.

Also their school has a cool thing called "[Mascot] Hour" which is an hour and a half in the middle of the day. There are 3 lunch blocks and you can choose to attend any one of those with your friends, and use the other two blocks for a tutoring session and/or a club activity. It enables students who don't have after school transportation to participate in all kinds of clubs like Model UN, DECA, etc. And they use GroupMe to communicate any last-minute changes (which are frequent) to those gatherings, or even reminders.

My kid is an officer in the Gay Straight Alliance, French Honor Society, and Thespians, and also a member of a volunteer service group, National Honor Society, volunteers at the Library, and she attends tutoring for one of her A/P classes to make sure she is on top of the material. She couldn't manage all of that without her phone reminders, GroupMe notifications, etc.

The kids also use Instagram to advertise various club events, and those would need to be accessible during [Mascot] Hour too.

Like everything in life, it is about balance and using tools in the right place at the right time.

Honestly that sounds like a nightmare.  As an adult I struggle with focus with teams and outlook and my phone all dinging at me all day, as a teen i would have been a whole ass mess if I had a groupme thing dinging at me constantly.

Also nothing about the theater thing means they need it during the school day?  It sounds like you're talking about primarily during rehearsals and productions, not like...10 AM on a tuesday?  

As for frequent changes during "club time" ....how about just no?  Like, don't.  Be more organized.  Post things on the wall on paper just like we used to if you need to switch which room the gay straight alliance is meeting in. Because we can talk about paper being wasteful, but constant pinging electronic communication and a high powered computer in everybody's pocket is not actually conserving resources!  I don't find any of that to be a compelling reason why a kid needs access to a phone during the normal school day.  I double extra don't find social media being used for club comms to be compelling for shit, because I also think that shouldn't be happening on the face of it.  

So yes, right tools , right place, right time.  Which adds up to phones out of reach during the school day if it were up to me.  

I was replying to another poster, but no, the devices are also used like walkie talkies during productions class. The costume room is on one side of the building and the theater/set/production classroom is on the other side. The school doesn't have enough space to house all the fine arts efficiently in one space. So there are times kids are running back and forth for various costume and prop elements and communicating using the groupme's on their phones and watches. And those who aren't in productions class but are involved in the production after-hours are able to keep up with hand-offs and such.

And devices are easily silenced during the classes where they aren't applicable.

Also the club time room changes happen for all kinds of different reasons (e.g. a teacher is out and a sub can't supervise so they switch to the other sponsoring teacher's room for that meeting). And the school is too big and spread out for paper printing to be efficient for all communications. 

[picksthemusic]

There was a post recently on my school district FB page about cell phones in school, and there were some parents there saying they didn't care, they wanted their kids to have their phones in case of emergency and saying to those who supported banning during school hours 'sorry you don't care about your kid'. Everyone else tried to point out the reasons why it is a bad idea for students to have cell phones, but they were not interested in listening.

[wawa]

Sept 30, 2024 13:56:10 GMT -5 Michelle said:

Sept 30, 2024 13:46:34 GMT -5 wawa said:

Honestly that sounds like a nightmare.  As an adult I struggle with focus with teams and outlook and my phone all dinging at me all day, as a teen i would have been a whole ass mess if I had a groupme thing dinging at me constantly.

Also nothing about the theater thing means they need it during the school day?  It sounds like you're talking about primarily during rehearsals and productions, not like...10 AM on a tuesday?  

As for frequent changes during "club time" ....how about just no?  Like, don't.  Be more organized.  Post things on the wall on paper just like we used to if you need to switch which room the gay straight alliance is meeting in. Because we can talk about paper being wasteful, but constant pinging electronic communication and a high powered computer in everybody's pocket is not actually conserving resources!  I don't find any of that to be a compelling reason why a kid needs access to a phone during the normal school day.  I double extra don't find social media being used for club comms to be compelling for shit, because I also think that shouldn't be happening on the face of it.  

So yes, right tools , right place, right time.  Which adds up to phones out of reach during the school day if it were up to me.  

I was replying to another poster, but no, the devices are also used like walkie talkies during productions class. The costume room is on one side of the building and the theater/set/production classroom is on the other side. The school doesn't have enough space to house all the fine arts efficiently in one space. So there are times kids are running back and forth for various costume and prop elements and communicating using the groupme's on their phones and watches. And those who aren't in productions class but are involved in the production after-hours are able to keep up with hand-offs and such.

And devices are easily silenced during the classes where they aren't applicable.

Also the club time room changes happen for all kinds of different reasons (e.g. a teacher is out and a sub can't supervise so they switch to the other sponsoring teacher's room for that meeting). And the school is too big and spread out for paper printing to be efficient for all communications. 

But are they? a lot of these "bans" aren't so much bans as just really strict enforcement of that rule that phones be silenced and away during class, without turning it into something teachers need to police constantly or make judgement calls about. Phones going into the special bags at the start of the day, zero tolerance enforcement with phones being confiscated by admin, etc.  


MOST classrooms have had that general expectation all along, but it's been a giant headache for teachers to try to police and they are in fact a huge distraction even with that rule in place. Most places are finding that it's just not worth it, that the pros do NOT oughtweigh the cons, not that there aren't any pros.

Also, i do want you think about to what extent this situation you're describing is a special snowflake kind of deal.  Like...sounds like you're in one of the really big schools typical of your region?  And the layout sounds godawful. With a unique day to day schedule?  And your particular kid in in like 8 activities and is the type to actually per her phoen away and keep it away?  That's not actually a typical situation. So if these devices help more than hurt in this one specific instance, it's a pretty unique instance.