School taking a phone for a year?

Strict but sorry this is what life is all about and the sooner you guys get practice in what you will face out there later in life, the better!

…that’s not life!
My parents are allowed to use their phones at work.
They aren’t subject to their boss confiscating and going through their phones.
Or being lined up for drug searches at work.
They can take sick days without being punished.

College isn’t even like that. And don’t say I don’t know. I go to a college for classes over the summer and the classes are relaxed. The professors are friends with the students and everyone has their phone out, they aren’t punished for being late.

This is boot camp, not public school.

When you graduate you’ll be able to set your rules. A lot of high schools have similar rules.

I would consider the teacher a thief and get my stuff back and I would lose respect for him unlit I get my stuff back.
~ If not then first offence They lose their car keys, second time they lose the air in their tires, ~third time all of their chalk and paper in their desk, fourth, Their house gets egged. Fifth a ~question about her will be put on Fluther embarrassing her as I get expelled.~

This is why I refused to get any of my children a cell phone until they were nearly old enough to move out. It’s become the new Binky and kids get grouchy without them.

@Feta You are just a kid, you have human rights but not the privileges that mature adults do.

Don’t use your phone in school and you don’t have to worry about it. I’m certain there are more important things to do at school aside from texting your friends. Priorities.

I’m in college and having your phone out in class often ends in getting asked to leave for the day. I’ve also had numerous jobs, and using my phone instead of working was never acceptable. It’s unprofessional, anyway.

The excused absence rule is a bit ridiculous and I seriously doubt it’ll work out that way. The people you give your excuse to should accept it as long as you were in line by 7:40 and they should give you a pass to class if you’re late to avoid detention. New principals often start off with super strict rules that don’t pan out as they hoped.

Either way, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s high school, and you have no say. Sorry.

Well that’s kind of bullshit.
As long as you’re not using the phone while the teacher is lecturing, then I don’t see what the big deal is.
When my son was in school they could use their phones between classes and during lunch, as well as during class at the discretion of the teacher, if there was any down time.

lol @talljasperman

” I told my parents about this and they think the rules are acceptable. ”

So do I!

You children are always coming in at a poor position in international testing, especially in the important areas, math and science.

Put down the phone and study. Or, get a degree in sociology and do nothing worth doing the rest of your life. Sociologists have plenty of time to talk on phones they really can’t afford!

I think it is illegal to take someone’s phone for a year.

However, school is school and phones should NEVER be taken to lessons. That is an insult to the teacher who is trying to educate you.

Jeez, it’s not like I’m sitting in class texting. I’m a straight A student in AP classes.

I just use my phone in school to check the time and see if my dad texted me because sometimes he says he’ll pick me up but then something comes up at work.

I need to know that before I leave school so I know to either walk or get a ride.

Sounds right ot me.

You could wear a watch to check the time and have your dad text you at lunch only and check your phone only at lunch.
I grew up before there were cell phones and we somehow managed to tell time and get to and from school.
This is a great way to teach kids how to follow rules early in life.

Looks like in the minority here. lol
I’m on the “total bullshit” wagon with @Feta.

@Feta Then keep your phone in your bag until the final bell rings. Then check for that text as you walk out of your classroom.

As for the time, I’m almost positive there are clocks in the classrooms. And if there’s not, you’ll know when it is time to leave – the bell will ring.

I was a straight A student in AP courses as well. It’s still disrespectful to be on your phone in class. They can’t say, “Well, you can have your phone because you’re smart, but the other students can’t have theirs.” If you’re going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the idiots texting in class for ruining it for everyone else.

Rules are rules. Deal with it.

This sounds more like a private school. Do you go to a public school?
I think that teachers should have your undivided attention in class. Peek at your phone during off-time, like time between classes or during lunch break or something. Taking your phone away for a year is crazy and wrong. Using your phone in class is not only distracting and rude, I guess it can cause problems with safety and privacy.
The absence rules are crazier.

I am sure that you can find some whore of a lawyer to take up the cause if you really don’t think it is fair.

Rules in school are aimed at the kids who don’t behave and tend not to follow rules. You may be the exception, but there is no leeway for exceptions unless the problems go away. A new principal has to start tight. It’s easier to let up than to add tightness later. Start writing down all the injustices. In 10 years you’ll be able to laugh with your friends at how awful it was .

I find the late rules and the absence rules the way you describe them a bit draconian. I’m surprised some of the parents aren’t objecting. As for phones, are you not allowed to use them after class or is it only while you are in class? I feel that phones should definitely be out of sight while in class.

I don’t think it’s overkill to take it away for a year but only because that happens when you make the same mistake for a 3rd time. That’s just stupid. Don’t do it.

@Feta: In this question of three months ago, you complained bitterly and with justification about the bullying and abysmal conditions in your school. You mentioned that the Principal then had abdicated his or her authority, and the school was a mess.

It sounds as though the new Principal is doing just what he should…“with him came new rules”.You cannot cherry pick the that seem unfair to you. He or she is clearly trying to deal with what you described as a high “level of violence.” and a student body, many of whom are at the poverty level.

You referred to gang violence, endemic alcohol and drinking. problems Give the new Principal some credit and some support.

I would, but he called us all losers during his “welcome” announcement.
He said he’s here to fix us.

I’m not a loser and I’ve never caused a problem.
I have no problem with them being stricter with discipline for the kids who fight and bring drugs, but to group everyone in our school into that category is unfair.

I have a strong dislike for group punishment and this new principal believes in it wholeheartedly.

Yet again with this school, they work on bringing up the problem kids and completely ignore the intelligent ones.

@Feta Welcome to the real world. You’ll be punished for the actions of morons for the rest of your life. Get used to it.

Bitch all you want, but the fact remains that you’re just going to have to deal with it.

Maybe you can get the government to supply your school with enough money to hire enough staff so they can individualize their rules to fit each and every student. Until then, just do what you’re told.

@Feta: If I remember correctly, you will be starting your senior year in Sept. That means nine months of biting the bullet.

At least you will have fewer concerns about being hassled by the bullies and druggies and gang members, which means you can concentrate on being the good student that you are.

The issue of knowing what time it is is a non-issue. And you can easily read the texts that your dad sends you in between classes.

If you have extra credits from your summer courses, perhaps you can graduate early and get on with things. If as you say, you are a straight A student taking only AP courses, concentrate on those. And make sure you get to school on time.

@Feta
So, you are not breaking the rules and you are not a loser?

So, why are you telling us all that you are telling us then?

At your age the rules ARE acceptable and your principal’s attitude will have to be sucked up.

Welcome to the real world. Life sucks, so, you’re going to love it!

The group punishment is meant to make the problem kids have their peers be mad at them I think.

There are clocks in most classrooms, so that’s actually a really bad excuse to be using your phone in class.
It is a little ridiculous to take someone’s phone away for any longer than until the end of the day.
It’s not hard to get to class on time, either.
I go to an alternative school, and I have for all of high school, so all of this is a little foreign to me, since we don’t get tardies, and we are allowed to use our phones in class if the teacher isn’t lecturing. But you don’t need your phone in class, and it can’t be very hard to show up on time.

If it was my cell phone that he took for a year, I would simply phone the service provider to cancel my cell phone (lost). Then get a replacement. Then the Principal thinks that he hoodwinked you but really you did.
As for the strictness regarding lateness…in our school MANY years ago we all went on strike.
You have to get the WHOLE school in on it, to get media attention regarding overkill.
He could have come up with better solutions…like talk to the students about priorities and results in there future. I also suggest in school..work experience long before they leave school. That way the students will know that an employer will and will not excuse.
Seem like a better way to teach by example.

As others have said, this is life. You will have rules about cell phone use in your jobs in the future and there will be attendance policies that include termination for missing to much time. My work is very strict about cell phones because they can interfere with some of our equipment. Our charge nurses are allowed to confiscate phones if staff will not put them away in their locker. Our attendance policy works on a point system. Once you get 20 points, you lose your job. Absenses even with a doctor’s note still give you points because they leave us scrounging to find other staff to come in or leaves uo working short. The points stay with us for a year before falling off our record. I’ve seen multiple coworkers lose their job due to this policy.

Re: the cell phones- boo friggity hoo. Keep them in your locker if being within arm’s length is too tempting. They really need a 12 step program for chronic texting addicts.

Re: the absenteeism rules- it won’t last. That’s an abysmal rule that would be a pain in the ass to enforce. I see it getting chucked aside in two weeks, if that.

Kind of digusted by the rudeness and lecturing directed at me.

I was asking for opinions on these new rules.

I didn’t say they directly affected me, but they affect a lot of my classmates and its becoming a big deal around town so I was just asking for alternative opinions.

I’m not a chronic texter. In fact I hardly text at all. Our service provider wanted to take away half of our minutes because we don’t use them.

There are not clocks in the classrooms because they feel they are a distraction. If we all start wearing watches I’m sure they’ll ban those too.

I have an anxiety problem and knowing what time it is and planning ahead ( even if I already have a routine ) is very important to me.

Stop assuming I’m some horrible kid that just wants to text and not pay attention by watching the clock.

I’m going to find another website…this becoming too much like Yahoo!.

Also, I was mainly concerned about the absence policy (which is what I meant by I told my parents) because I get seriously ill at least twice a year. I always have. I don’t think it’s fair that there’s a risk that I could get detention for being late while waiting to get my excuses approved.

But I’m aware that the title of my question suggests I care about the phones.

I just thought the thing about the phones being taken for up to a year was shocking.

That sounds a bit excessive, but the rules would not be that strict if there were not some serious problems in the past. Thank your peers for being irresponsible; you are now paying for the actions of others.

However, I have to say that if I were a parent and my kid got their phone taken and not returned by the time my kid left school grounds like that, the principal would be getting a visit from the police. The value of some phones right now (more than I’ve paid for most of the cars I’ve owned) would push it into felony theft territory. I think suspension/expulsion would be a better way, and more adult too since the penalty for cellphone use at most jobs is suspension/termination rather than confiscation. Too much phone use? You now have involuntary vacation (possibly enough to make you repeat the school year), and may need to find a new school!

BTW, whatever happened to wristwatches? I’m the only person in my shop that can check the time without reaching into my pocket other than my boss, who also to be the only one other person there over 25. If yo need to check the time without a wall clock, go old-school!

They dared us to get our parents involved.

They said to look up cases where parents tried to get theft charges and the education system always wins.

There’s a sign on every exterior door at our school saying that as soon as we enter we have no rights to our property and its all liable to search and seizure.

I’ve seen the school cop come into classes and randomly pick a kids backpack to take and search for no reason.

How did they “dare you to get your parents involved?”

@chyna

A kid wanted to know why his parents couldn’t even get his phone back and said he would just get the police involved.

And the teacher told him to try it because it wouldn’t hold up in court.

The wisdom of the rules is one thing, the legality is another. Taking the phone for more than the duration of the school day would be considered theft in most jurisdictions, particularly if they won’t even release it to the student’s parents. And if there are police officers involved, then the school is violating the Fourth Amendment. This is black letter law: Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) explicitly states that students do not lose their constitutional rights by entering a school.

Don’t expect this to convince your new principle, though. He sounds like the kind of person who will still think everyone is wrong except for him even after the inevitable lawsuit against the school has long been won. And it very well could be won. The school is lying to you when they say that the education system always wins. As someone who has been on the other side of that equation, they are trying to intimidate you because they know they are on shaky ground.

I’m not certain, but I think it would hold up in court. At least in Alaska, public schools require parents to pick up a phone that was confiscated, but if the parents ask for it back they can’t keep it.

I’m calling BS now. While I can see a certain amount of restrictions, I think that degree would’ve shown up in the headlines with ACLU involvement. Searches? No problem, as they are within their rights. Confiscation until the end of the day? Same. Beyond that? The principal is opening the door to serious legal issues that, even if they win, would bankrupt your school district fighting in court, along with getting a bit of media attention.

@AshLeigh That is the part that I see as the issue. If the parents can’t get it back, it’s theft.

If my daughter’s school had confiscated her phone AT ALL outside of school hours I’d have charged them with theft. I bought her a phone for a reason; so she could call me if she had a problem, or if she decided to go to a friend’s house after school.

Apart from the specific issues, the principal’s adversarial approach is all wrong. Even if there are problems in the school, you don’t go around telling the students they are all losers. Somewhere the idea has been lost that school is for the benefit of the students. It is not meant to be like a prison system. The whole idea of detention is kind of stupid. What purpose does it serve? The school should not have the right to imprison someone.

Regardless of who is right/wrong, within the bounds of the law, or outside the bounds of the law the real elephant in the room here is children who can’t function even 8 hours without a cell phone.

Now if the boss said “No more fluther for a year”… there would be some serious jonesing folk around here.

@Blondesjon That is why I asked, “What happened to wristwatches?”. Or are you referring to the fact that kids today are escapists with the attention span of a goldfish in meth who will retreat into Facebook the instant they get the least bit bored? This gets dangerous when they are older teens with drivers licenses! Still, I find those that use their phone excessively like that (texting 18 hours a day and checking their Facebook the other 6) have other issues that would’ve/did manifest differently back in the days before smartphones.
If you won’t get your kids a phone because you don’t want them to be like that, that tells me yo are insecure about how good a job you did parenting. Of course, not getting them one because you don’t trust them with something so breakable and easy to lose, yet costs more than a used car is legit!

I never said I won’t get my kids a phone. I said they didn’t get one until they were almost old enough to leave home. I don’t see the need for a 9 or 10 year old to have a cell phone any more than I do a driver’s license.

@Blondesjon I was thinking closer to 14–15; I agree about the pre-teen crowd.

Yeah. You and I disagree by a year. I’m in the 16 year old range.

I just got an idea regarding the cellphone issue.
If the cellphone is taken than the student should insure his/her privacy by taking the
sim card out.
Otherwise someone say the principal COULD be scouring everyones private messeges etc?
It now becomes a privacy issue.
How does anyone know that ones privacy is not being invaded, by prying eyes?

My friend in France sent me this video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmMftOT5h6E

@Inspired_2write In this age, it can safely be assumed that privacy is being violated.

Unless the phone has a lock screen set up (and many don’t), all of the texts, pictures, and accessible accounts are wide open to anybody who has physical access to the phone. The principal would have full and unrestricted access to all of their emails and social networking as well. They could even change the passwords to hijack the accounts and lock the kid out! And if they ever paid for an app or song, there is financial information on the phone as well, allowing access to the parent’s credit cards.

As for removing the SIM card, not all phones have those, and even those that do often store the real data in on-board memory; SIM cards are only to allow a phone access to certain cellular networks (they are required for GSM, but not for CDMA… and CDMA is popular enough in the US that many American phones lack GSM capability unless they are designated “world” phones) and store basic contact info. Anything like photo galleries, Facebook/Gmail credentials, etcetera is on the phone, not the SIM card.

@jerv
Very interesting,thanks for enlightening me on this topic.

Otherwise someone say the principal COULD be scouring everyones private messeges etc? It now becomes a privacy issue.
Score one issue a whore of a lawyer can use.

Just as a point of interest, there is case law on the issue of scouring a confiscated phone for information. In G.C. v. Owesboro Public Schools, the Sixth Circuit held that a school official’s right to search a cellphone is quite limited. The essence of the decision can be summed up in three points:

(1) Searching a cellphone is justified if, and only if, there is a reasonable suspicion that the search will yield evidence of (a) further wrongdoing, or (b) injury (past, present, or future) to a person, whether it be the student or someone else.

(2) Not all incidents involving cellphone misuse present such a reasonable suspicion (that is, the mere fact of using a cellphone in violation of some school rule does not itself justify a search).

(3) When a search is justified, it must be limited by to searching for wrongdoing related to the incident at hand. That is, one cannot search someone’s call history when the case at hand is about text messaging, and one cannot search texts sent during a previous day or a previous class period. What is searched must be directly relevant to the reason for seizure and from within the same time frame.

@SavoirFaire Sadly, there’s a difference between legality and reality.

@jerv I’m aware, and I mentioned that above. I just thought it might be interesting, especially given the principal’s claims that the education system always wins. It doesn’t, and it doesn’t have the rights he seems to think it does.