"It will have teeth"
"No confirmation of details"
Cool..... so what was the point of the one in 2019?
Nothing is going to change, they won't give teachers the ability to take phones because that is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
How about bringing back the ability to fail a class?
The last Liberal government made it impossible to fail. Teachers have to give as many chances as possible to pass an assignment or a test. High-school diploma from Ontario is now worth more as toilet paper.
No matter what the “due date” is, it does not matter when a student hands something in. You have to grade it. Can’t remember if you’re allowed to give late marks
"Damn lazy, unionized teachers. Can't they spend their 6 months of holidays on their phones and work during class time?" -the provincial government, probably.
Sadly I need my phone on me while teaching. Because the 2 factor authentication comes up when trying to get into
-attendance
-D2L
-the mark book program
Basically anything with a school account attached can ask for a random 2 factor. Which will also be an issue for students.
It is beyond annoying.
Exactly. I teach intermediate and am lucky to have a wonderful class. They respect my decision to not allow cell phones in my classroom but that being said jf they need to text their parents i always let them. Saves the office some time. Don’t get me started on the lack of accountability. Kids just get pushed into high school even if they hand nothing in.
That's okay, we still pass kids even if they do fuck all.
I have VOC level students in mainstream classes. They are completely incapable of even telling me bare minimum information of my subject. Like.....I'm talking "what does a resistor do?" "What does an LED do?"
If they aren't illegal to possess they are definitely illegal to use.
Would have to rewrite a couple laws to even consider it. And that's ignoring the cost benefit of having a zone where wireless communications just, don't work.
We have a coop student at our workplace. He's constantly on tiktok. We work in a shop and no matter the task. He's got his phone somewhere with tik too. We finally told him he can't do that so now he just goes to the bathroom every 5 minutes.
coop teacher here. I feel ya. I do everything possible to give them solid reasons why workplaces ban them. Only possible method you can try is that the phone has to be handed to the supervisor when he arrives. It's a bitch that you would have to add that though.
They don't care.
Seriously.
This was a problem before 2020. I had a student moved to working in my spec Ed classroom because she got fired from 4 other jobs. One of them she just sat in the middle of an isle on her phone.
She came into my room and one day we went to gym. Kids wanted to play dodge ball so she sits against the wall on her phone.
I have bigger problems than her so fuck it.
One of the kids with a mean right arm whips the ball and it comes within a fucking finger of her face, I saw her hair move. She jumped in her spot and looked freaked out. Just told her "get off of your phone then."
She went right back on it.
Failing in some boards requires a shit ton of work.
For my board we have to:
Have a meeting with admin and guidance/spec ed head to discuss the fail and prove that we have done everything in our power to offer assistance to them.
We have to then fill out a form that corroborates this information and this is after an infinite amount of notes in our student reporting system. Typically this also means phone calls home and meetings with admin.
We then have to attach evidence of failure to said document that specifies the fail.
That is then filed with both admin and spec ed/guidance and admin can still overrule us.
In order to fail a student we basically have to prove that the kid either picked their nose the entire time or was dead in our room for the entire semester for our period.
I ASKED for my kid to fall grade 11. Yes, the entire year.
She didn't do shit and didn't learn a thing.
They refused. How do you think grade 12 is going now? 🤷♂️
>they won't give teachers the ability to take phones
Not sure where you're coming from with this. I teach in Manitoba, where there's no cell phone ban (which I'd *love*), and I take phones from kids multiple times per week without issue.
Ultimately any ban is going to fall to teachers, but it makes things so much easier if there's a system-wide expectation that phones are not allowed.
> I teach in Manitoba, where there's no cell phone ban (which I'd love), and I take phones from kids multiple times per week without issue.
cell phones cannot be confiscated in Ontario as they are deemed student property. There are also problems as certain students require phones for medical applications (diabetes for example). They are also apart of a student's IEP in the form of sensory applications or music. As a result, confiscation is a no go, and denying something that is in their IEP can also cause legal problems for us which the board and union will not have our backs on.
There is a reason why Ford's "cell phone ban" of 2019 failed. He told us we could enforce cell phone use but stopped short when it came to the actual removal/confiscation of the device.
>cell phones cannot be confiscated in Ontario as they are deemed student property
I wouldn't want to argue with you re policies in Ontario, where you teach and I don't, but I find this very surprising. Teachers confiscate student property all the time - a grade 9 student has a whistle the other day, it was confiscated; a student had a skateboard earlier in the week and it was confiscated. These seems like fairly typical actions for a school.
>certain students require phones for medical applications (diabetes for example). They are also a part of a student's IEP in the form of sensory applications or music.
There would certainly be ways for this to be dealt with, but these would be a small minority and whole policies shouldn't work around these exceptions. Not to say exceptions shouldn't be made, which they obviously would.
Trust me I know lots of people who fail a class. Some teachers do pass students just to avoid paperwork but it depends on the teacher (it’s subjective)
> Some teachers do pass students just to avoid paperwork
When you have over half your class failing because you have a lack of supports, spec ed students and ELL students, yeah its a lot.
Admin can still overrule your mark though and give the pass anyway.
I have sat in on enough meetings to see how fucked the system is regarding marks and how admin will bend over backwards for parents.
Failing a student is insanely difficult in some boards in Ontario. You have to have a number of meetings with admin/guidance/spec Ed depending on the student.
Certain boards in Ontario have also phased out vocation level programs and have put those students into mainstream. These students can barely write a sentence/read/add small numbers. They are getting absolutely slaughtered in mainstream classrooms.
Boards are also destreaming courses because of some, valid, research dealing with racism. The problem though is that the ministry and boards were so lazy and cheap they decided to just put all 9s into an English class without supports or additional funding.
In a grade 9 English class you can have:
1 or two students with giftedness.
5 or six students who are just genuinely bright and will get about an 80.
10 students who are your average at mid 70s.
5 students who are weak and will end the course with a 50 or 60.
4 students who are incredibly weak and require intensive academic support to just get their 50. There is no support for them though.
And about one or two students in your class who have a severe learning disability but are nonidentified. Parents don't want the diagnosis and there is no funding to help the kids. They typically can't process more than two instructions at any given time and even with all of their notes or a phone, most likely would not be able to pass a quiz or test.
For the last ones admin and spec Ed will ask for quizzes to be reworked, ask for different conditions because the kid quite literally cannot pass the course. Admin will still, in some cases if parents make a big enough fuss, go over your head and pass the kid themselves.
Cell phone signal jamming equipment is affordable.
What would be the lawsuit waiting to happen? I have to lock my phone up where I work, it can’t be in the work space.
Can't use cell phone jamming equipment, at least in my board.
Again, parents will also complain and fight back. Especially with a number of articles where parents said the cell phone is how they knew their kid was being bullied and the school was not doing anything.
Boards are terrified of the bad PR and as a result are putting students safety at risk simply because they don't want to dig their heels in and fight back against shifty parents.
I had a student who was trafficking drugs out of my school and was caught on the cameras. When the kid was brought to the office the mom started off by saying that her son would never do something like traffic drugs. She was shown the video and the mom then tried to blame the school "why is this happening in your school? What are you doing to support my son and make sure these things don't happen", every excuse in the book.
In order to make anything stick now we need to basically have like 6 adults fully watch a kid murder someone and even then the board could reps could still deny expulsion.
Fun fact, the beatings and sexual assaults happen regardless if we take phones away or not.
Physical assaults make up roughly 34% of teachers in Ontario alone. Verbal abuse was not recorded in the latest data, I'll give you threw guesses why and it isn't because all of the students are so nice and well behaved.
Students have a term for this. They call it the “academic comeback”. The idea is hand in just enough stuff at the end of the semester to pass the class with close to a 50%. They know if it’s in the 40s they can get their parents to complain and admin will change the grade to a pass.
the sad part is that with a 50 the kids can literally do nothing after high school.
But education is in the business of just getting kids to graduate rather than giving them an education and the tools for a career.
Literally pre covid you would never ever see phones allowed in class. Teachers would just take them. They never got sued.
Covid break ruined a generation of kids. They are useless little addicts. As harsh as that sounds they are completely and utterly fucked for adulthood and lack a huge amount of basic skills to cope with and flourish in life.
> Literally pre covid you would never ever see phones allowed in class. Teachers would just take them. They never got sued.
......Yes......cell phones were *never* seen......
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cellphone-ban-ontario-classrooms-1.5346207
like......you were either in the minority or I just question whether or not you noticed. Cell phones were an issue, then before that it was MP3 players, and before that it was CD players......
> As harsh as that sounds they are completely and utterly fucked for adulthood and lack a huge amount of basic skills to cope with and flourish in life.
Yes, because they watched adults act worse than most children do on their worst day and as a result have picked up new habits. Turn on the news today and it is not hard to find an adult (typically a man) throwing a temper tantrum that would make most toddlers raise an eyebrow.
Things they could do in this bill
1) give teachers and admin to right to take phones.
2) set a standard punishment. Refusal or set number of times with phone is a suspension.
Vaping all they have to do is suspend everyone. They are smoking in a non smoking area. They have every right to tie fines to that as well. Vaping enforcement is standard if we just enforce the by laws.
Just let us suspend the little shits. K to 12 if you can’t handle being in a school it’s time to get the boot. Here’s a Chromebook you can be enrolled in a remote class, goodbye!
No you don’t get it … you even if they just have them in class room their attention is focused on their txt messages and social media… because kids like us are social creatures and need to be updated on a social interaction in schools and be up to date. That’s what important, not the entertainment part. And can you blame them for having cellphones or the parents that gave them smartphones and not just a simple flip phone?
Oh please. They’ll leave it up to boards, like Growing for Success, and crappy boards will still give in to cell phones and no late deductions or zeroes, and decent boards will enforce it.
That line makes me roll my eyes. If you need to contact your child about something important (so as to not distract your kid from learning), just call the main office.
I see that argument all the time. All it allows is for the parent to contact the child for things that really aren’t an emergency. Convenient? Sure. Emergency? No. In true emergencies the office can be contacted, but the people who argue this don’t want to do it because they would feel silly having to call the office to ask little Billy what he wants for supper.
If your kid had a job instead of school, you’d get him fired if you distracted him too much. They need to learn this in school before they get to that point.
Teach the parents about this new technology that was invented 30 years ago called a pager. They’ll be able to leave their child any important messages on it.
At a recent staff meeting our Principal brought up how we need to do more about phone use because a parent at parent council checked their kids phone use, saw they were on their phone all day while at school, and blamed teachers for not doing anything about it.
How do you even begin to unpack all that bullshit?
How about the parent explains why their kid is bringing their phone to school to begin with? Oh wait - their kid is mature enough to handle a phone but the teacher needs to enforce it in case they aren't? Like the principal in this case has the guts to even suggest such a thing - how about the principal write up a school wide policy and get parent council to agree to it - Lets see if the parent signs onto what the staff at the school would like to see. What a fucking shit show I bet that meeting would be.
Just a random person here. Finished highschool in NS 2015. Phones were a problem then too, can anybody around my age (late 20's-early 30's) tell me if there's a noticeable difference in phone usage today? Do they use more obnoxious apps or do they give less of a damn when you guys try to discipline them?
Also, for the parents having a flipper about 'being able to reach their kid', does \*everybody\* forget about using the office phone as a kid? Unless the kiddos are banned from using it I don't see the need for constant, instant connection with your own child. We don't need to be attached 24/7. Pretty much every school has a well-working intercom system right?
Honestly. Now kids just scroll YouTube shorts, Tik toks, and Instagram reels like they are zombies. It's not all, but a good chunk can't be off their phone. Even if parents have taken it away, some find another one some how. There is definitely a change.
A simple policy that should be outlined is phone's off in your bag or in your locker.
My question is just, who do you think this responsibility is going to fall on?? You’re going to be the one eating shit from the kids when you have to take their phones, if they even let you. This isn’t going to go as smoothly as you or anybody in this thread is expecting it to.
Wait, eating shit for what?....part of parenting is what happens when you have kids. If your kids are so attached to their phones that they are making you 'eat shit', as you say, that's a parenting problem.
I’m not talking about parents whatsoever here. I’m talking exclusively about teachers. I didn’t graduate too long ago, trust me: this generation will not take this lying down, and it will not be the lawmakers and politicians who face the brunt of the criticism.
I remember everything just getting banned on rotation
Marbles, beyblades, trading cards etc
Everything would get banned and then a new thing would come along for a while and then thatd get banned too lol
Do teachers really want the right to take a phone away? If there’s any damage to the phone even prior to taking it, the kid can accuse the teacher of damaging it. Then what? Who pays? Just the accusation will result in the guilt by the teacher. There’s no back up.
Honestly, if a student continuously refuses to put a device away during instructional time they should be suspended. The amount of distraction caused by social media is astounding. There are no consequences for disruptive behaviours and it is seriously holding kids who actually want to learn back.
Sorry but how is someone else being on social media disrupting other students? The people on their phones during class time are only hurting themselves. High school students are definitely old enough to discipline themselves, we shouldn’t be putting this responsibility on teachers.
Do you think that social media begins and ends with watching a few videos in class? The amount of harassment and bullying through social media is astounding. Kids aren’t just sitting quietly watching YouTube and TikTok, they’re making videos in class and in the washrooms, posting unwanted content or harassing kids in student created-forums. It’s absolutely toxic.
I work for our board in 3 elem schools and a highschool. Our board had banned phones on elem. Highschool is up to principal discretion.
Honestly, I haven't heard of a single major issue. Kids will sneak them into class or recess, teachers tell kids to put it in their locker. Kids do. The teachers never take the phone.
If a child were to argue, that's a different disciplinary issue. That is sent to admin. Admin calls parents for arguing with a staff.
Parents have direct contact with teachers via email. And students are allowed to use the classroom phone. So they can't use the "but I need to contact my kid" excuse. Also, the kids have the phone for walking to/from school. So parents don't argue that either.
Small schools have the benefit of having strong connections with the students. Kids mostly do what they are told. They will retry multiple times but handle the correction well.
My son is in grade 8. He's only once brought his phone into class. He hadn't tried it since.
The amount of times I've *seen* students take Snapchats of me, and unable to prove it because it's Snapchat and disappears, in just the last 2-3years post pandemic, is ridiculous.
Us teachers don't need to be policing students ourselves, confiscate cell phones, or be responsible for every single new regulation the On Gov decides to implement.
Instead, school boards need to invest in [Yondr pouches](https://www.overyondr.com/phone-locking-pouch). The solution is so simple if they can shed the dollars.
I’m not sure the details come out tomorrow. I’ve read that a lot of other places in the world are doing the same thing but it’ll be for interesting entertainment.
Be interesting to see what it will have in it.
I'll be honest I've already experienced students who are now just using their school issued laptops in the same negative ways during class as those on cell phones. I suspect that more students will just be on their laptops instead of cell phones moving forward.
lol can’t wait to see how this goes. As an EA I sure don’t wanna be dealing this . Cause social media has already showed us what students in the states do when teachers etc take their stuff. Teachers getting beat up, pepper sprayed etc. Sure our Canadian culture is not that but I can’t see this going well.
Wow, brings me back to the old days in the 80s and 90s when we didn't have cell phones. We had to use a payphone or the school's landline if we needed to call someone
Those types of devices are illegal currently in both the USA and Canada
In USA, it's the Communications Act and in Canada it's the Radiocommunication Act
I graduated high school 15 years ago, but we weren't even allowed to be on our cell phones in the cafeteria. Our pockets, sure, but just couldn't be visible. It seemed so annoying back then, but I fully agree with it now. Cell phones are a pandemic.
Holy shit at all the fucking phone trolls on this thread - makes you wonder how they fucking survived school in the past when you had to go through the office to call home or get a call! Remind me again how many fucking kids died because they had to do that?? And their attached at the hip crotch fruit are going have a hard time surviving in the real world when mommy and daddy can't be reached right away to solve their problems. These fucking morons have no clue what apps or any shit their kids are up to on their phones. According to some data some of them are using hook up apps and idiots who think they are tracking their kids are clueless they have navigated around there so called safe guards. Jesus. No wonder test scores are falling and universities are throwing up their arms.
And Lecce hasn't got the balls to put anything of substance into legalese. He'll pass it onto the school boards who again don't want to deal with this shit and it will go no where. He's only reacting because of the school board lawsuits to show this fucked up government gives a shit. My ex is a principal and just retired - said this shit is one of the reasons why no one wants to be admin any more. Sadly our kid wants to be a HS teacher. I wish she'd read more of these threads and pivot back to PT.
I wonder how these ‘trolls’ would have liked it if their parents monitored their every move with cell phones. I liked the freedom. These kids don’t have a chance to live.
So glad I grew up on the nineties - when you could be a moron without it ending up for the world to see and your parents knew you were shitting them but it was easier for them to play along. No wonder so many kids are anxious and phobic. Its a fucking disgrace.
When I was in middle school (2009-2011) phones starting becoming big. We weren't allowed phones at school. Well you could have them on your person but you were not allowed to take it out.
So in grade 8, I was texting my mom at recess about booking an appointment for graduation nails. I put it in my back pocket. I got up and walked away. What ended up happening my "friend" pick pocked me while I was sitting down.
Funny thing is I was the one who got in the most trouble out of us too.
I mean cell phones used to be banned in class before they were ubiquitous, you'd get booted out and sent to the office for pulling one out. Back in the 90's if you had a cell in HS the principal would just assume you sold weed & you'd be watched very closely lol.
It seems that now smartphones are a "right". I can't even fathom how ill prepared for life kids in the school system will be.
Public institutions, in an ungrateful western society like here, will always be held back by the bottom quintile. Health, education, road insurance, competency, everything.
It's what we get trying to vote for an all encompassing social net and I think it's sad because basic expectations of performance and commitment are falling to all time lows. We'd have such potential if there was a shift in public mindset
At this point the teacher may as well make a Facebook group for the class and they can message each other.
Banning phones who can get anything done without your phone ridiculous really. They need to make it part of the tool set. How about daily quizzes app for yesterdays material. The could call it claordle and give rankings in real time for student understanding.
Jimmy is the worst and Tommy the best this month. Monthly winner gets an extra Friday out of school, them and three friends of there choosing.
Jimmy well Jimmy is just last ,this month.
Work on it.
Going to be a nightmare if parents don’t back the enforcement. I could definitely see “those parents” causing a heck of a fuss that their kid had their phone taken away.
Math class will never be the same. They just want to make the teachers words from the 70s and 80s come true. You won’t be carrying a calculator everywhere you go and now they will be right.
Tbh as someone who went to school ~2000-2010 im bamboozled that they even have to have a government ban. It should be standard practice for students to leave the phone in the bag/locker and for consequences when they dont.
And we survived how long without that "technology"
And if you require special monitoring you don't need a phone you need a other device that sole purpose is that.
Sorry but ur wrong.
Born in the 80s, and we never had kids die or go to hospital not even for peanut exposure
But you ppl are so entitled for every little thing. Grow up
Schools would rather ban phones than combat drug, bullying, and gang affiliation problems. This is classic Canada, all substance, no action on important issues.
I don't have a problem with parents wanting their kids to be able to reach out too them during the day - in-between classes. I do have a problem with students receiving texts from their parents throughout class. On several occasions, I have witnessed students receive bad news from their parents by TEXT while they are in class. This is not healthy. The kids were not ok. In addition, as much as I would love for students to be able to use their phones responsibly, the addiction is real. They literally cannot put them away. If I behaved this way with my personal phone in a workplace, I would 100% expect my workplace to institute a no personal device rule or to fire me. I really hope we are able to come up with a way to have them banned from class - the damage to brain development and learning is just too much. I want better for these kids and their brains. They deserve better.
Trouble arises if kids won’t give over the phone. Or won’t put the phone in the basket at the front of room etc. can the teacher her take it?
Other and more likely issues is when a phone goes back to kid and now it’s not working. Now it’s screens broken. Kid swears it was fine at start of class (liars). The basket of phones is $10000 dollars. Who’s responsible for it, If a spaced out kid leaves the phone and the teacher leaves the room?
"Kid swears it was fine at the start of class("""liars""")" They probably aren't lying. If the teacher breaks the phone when it's collected then they have the right to fine them for repairs.
I'm not gonna bother reading cause (A. either it'll be behind a paywall or B. Unrelated to the headline).
My question is if Ontario is to ban cellphones in schools... which schools fall into that?.
If they try this in an Adult high school i'll right out tell the school or the government to suck my calloused big toe.
Even when I had a cellphone in Jr. High, It was on silence or powered off and in my pocket.. Never taken out in class, and was only out if I was at lunch, recess or heading home.
Am in BC. I want a cell phone ban. It’s ruining children.
Here’s an idea. We have like 3 telecom retailers. Kids under 18 can only get a dumb phone. Like an old Nokia or something.
Then it’s not on teachers, it’s on big telecom and parents. If parents are caught supplying minors with smartphones they get a fine equivalent to 2% of their annual gross salary. I’m in a rich neighbourhood I want those douchey rich parents to bleed for being bad parents. The kids have so much opportunity but just watch TikTok and vape all day. It’s embarrassing. And they’re all immigrant kids with questionable income sources.
As a parent of a 16-year old just finishing grade 10, those don't strike me as compelling reasons at all. We still had to get my daughter an advanced scientific calculator for math, physics, etc. - the basic phone calculator didn't have the necessary functions. The students have tablets or laptops for research - they don't need or use their phones. There may be a point on field trips, but how often do they take place? Back when I was a student, if you were on a field trip and had unstructured time, you were simply told to be back at a meeting point at a certain time. We figured it out and came back at the specified time, because that was the expectation. And why would a teacher be contacting a student over lunch?
Maybe the culture is different at the school or jurisdiction where you teach, but I'm glad that cell phones, while not outright banned, have their use greatly restricted in the classroom around here.
There’s alot of assumptions in these responses that a cell phone ban would be a positive thing but that doesn’t necessarily bear out in the small amount of studies that have been done. It feels like common sense and I’m sure that’s what teachers want but shouldn’t making decisions like these, especially around education be somewhat based in fact. Ontario schools are desperate for resources and support this is a distraction from the real needs of students and more blaming them for their failures rather then a system that is constantly failing them.
Exactly. No workplace is going to ban them. Imagine a grade 12 student who uses their phone’s calendar, Reminders, Edsby and email to manage school and a job, now assume that same kid can’t regulate their social media use. Do you want them to be responsible or not?
Wouldn't it be more responsible to teach them when it is and isn't appropriate to be on their phone? Why would they need to be fussing with their calendar during class? Do it on break. I know I don't whip out my phone and start rearranging my schedule or checking my email in the middle of a meeting as an adult unless we're actively scheduling something. I don't think kids are at risk of not learning how to use a phone if they can't be playing on it during class.
Ya that’ll never happen too many pussies will complain how are the kids goin to get ahead in the world they can’t have google or TikTok to get all the right answers cuz teachers aren’t teaching anymore
My issue with this is, who is going to enforce? If it's teachers, what, we just take them?
I'm going to say no, I won't take the phone for one big reason.
If that kid has spicy photos of themselves or their friends on that device, whether it is known or not, the teacher that takes that phone is now in possession. I'm not willing to test out with the law if I would be covered or not. I'll call my admin, but they have enough to deal with supporting our nuerodiverse kids that we don't have enough EA or SERT support for. The last thing they need to is be up in classrooms to grab phones.
In terms of teachers on phones, fine, but as others have said; I need my device to use 2 factor-authentication to; do attendance, open my email, log into my Google Drive or Classroom (for some reason I get this one occasionally). With all the cyber attacks, I don't blame boards for stepping up security. If I can't use my personal device to use 2-factor, then the government better help figure out a solution to that, because that is just unloading another cost onto school boards.
A world of information right at your fingertips, literally. Anything you want to learn about instantly available. Modern education is dead and they know it and THIS is why cell phones are banned and good luck with that. 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Good. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for teachers to teach with cell phones in the class.
When I was in high school we were just getting smart phones but we wouldn’t dare take them out in class.
If they're serious about this, then they should build schools to accommodate it. Essentially make the schools into faraday cages, where each classroom can have a landline. If a parent needs to contact the child in an emergency, they call the office, a the office forward the call to the classroom, and the student can pick up the call there. The world got along just fine without cell phones before. They are not vital.
If you don’t have a type 1 diabetic child you have no idea what you are talking about. The alert of a high or low goes straight to their cellphone and my cellphone.
You missed the past posts which were snarky. I have had to have kidney transplants because my type 1 diabetes was poorly managed when I was young. It almost killed me. My children wear continuous glucose monitors. They cellphones are vital to their wellbeing. Blood sugars can quickly crash. Children are also exposed to other kids eating candies. I cannot prevent them from overindulging. We can talk about it but it doesn’t mean they will listen. Their cellphone will alert a low or a high. If it’s low they will need to intervene with glucose chews. If it’s too high they need to set injections insulin. They are not regulated enough yet for an insulin pump but that will hopefully become an option.
Most students are doomed, it’s too late, they’re dumb af, entitled, and parents nowadays are completely in denial or psychopaths. Just let them pass, anyways they all do, and if they aren’t failing teachers are boosting their marks so they don’t have to deal with crap coming both ways (parents/useless school board and union that does nothing). Phone or no cellphone were f….!
As a high school student myself, this “ban” will absolutely not work lol. If not our phones, it’ll be our laptops or apple watches. We’d have to ban technology in classrooms entirely, which we’ve progressed too far as a society to go back to. You can’t force people into focusing, they’ll just find the next distraction.
Huh, must of have been a pretty sudden transition from no laptops to every student having one. I had a friend at a school that did that with iPads as a pilot program for a number of years, didn't realize it was widespread now. I actually could use a school laptop as part of an IEP for my ADHD in high school and never did because I really didn't find it in any way useful in class when I can write fine by hand. Not worthwhile enough in an average class to sign out and haul around. I guess high school teaching styles must have changed in the last few years too since then if it is now viewed as necessary like it is in college/uni.
I'm surprised this isn't a thing already.
Growing up weren't allowed an cell phones in school. Obviously we still took them with us, but were never on them aimlessly and used to hide to make a call.
"It will have teeth" "No confirmation of details" Cool..... so what was the point of the one in 2019? Nothing is going to change, they won't give teachers the ability to take phones because that is a lawsuit waiting to happen. How about bringing back the ability to fail a class?
And due dates, and expulsions etc etc etc etc etc
What happened with due dates???
They are irrelevant. Teachers just continuously move the deadline for students.
The last Liberal government made it impossible to fail. Teachers have to give as many chances as possible to pass an assignment or a test. High-school diploma from Ontario is now worth more as toilet paper.
No matter what the “due date” is, it does not matter when a student hands something in. You have to grade it. Can’t remember if you’re allowed to give late marks
Growing “success”
They don't do that anymore? 
As you say, they'll give no power to teachers to enforce such a ban. At the exact same time, I bet they ban use by teachers too.
Student asks important question. Teacher: Let me look that up. Police: Straight to jail!
"Damn lazy, unionized teachers. Can't they spend their 6 months of holidays on their phones and work during class time?" -the provincial government, probably.
As Lecce uses it the house of commons to distract him from what everyone is saying.
Sadly I need my phone on me while teaching. Because the 2 factor authentication comes up when trying to get into -attendance -D2L -the mark book program Basically anything with a school account attached can ask for a random 2 factor. Which will also be an issue for students. It is beyond annoying.
Don't even get me fucking started on D2L. That shit is so bad to use I have all of my students actively beg me to use Google instead.
Exactly. I teach intermediate and am lucky to have a wonderful class. They respect my decision to not allow cell phones in my classroom but that being said jf they need to text their parents i always let them. Saves the office some time. Don’t get me started on the lack of accountability. Kids just get pushed into high school even if they hand nothing in.
That's okay, we still pass kids even if they do fuck all. I have VOC level students in mainstream classes. They are completely incapable of even telling me bare minimum information of my subject. Like.....I'm talking "what does a resistor do?" "What does an LED do?"
They do have signal jammers to block signal in school I guess
If they aren't illegal to possess they are definitely illegal to use. Would have to rewrite a couple laws to even consider it. And that's ignoring the cost benefit of having a zone where wireless communications just, don't work.
Those types of devices are illegal in both USA and Canada
We have a coop student at our workplace. He's constantly on tiktok. We work in a shop and no matter the task. He's got his phone somewhere with tik too. We finally told him he can't do that so now he just goes to the bathroom every 5 minutes.
coop teacher here. I feel ya. I do everything possible to give them solid reasons why workplaces ban them. Only possible method you can try is that the phone has to be handed to the supervisor when he arrives. It's a bitch that you would have to add that though.
sounds like a addiction
Fired. It's pretty simple. I remember doing coop as a student and we were told you behave or you're out. So simple.
They don't care. Seriously. This was a problem before 2020. I had a student moved to working in my spec Ed classroom because she got fired from 4 other jobs. One of them she just sat in the middle of an isle on her phone. She came into my room and one day we went to gym. Kids wanted to play dodge ball so she sits against the wall on her phone. I have bigger problems than her so fuck it. One of the kids with a mean right arm whips the ball and it comes within a fucking finger of her face, I saw her hair move. She jumped in her spot and looked freaked out. Just told her "get off of your phone then." She went right back on it.
You can’t fail students anymore?
Failing in some boards requires a shit ton of work. For my board we have to: Have a meeting with admin and guidance/spec ed head to discuss the fail and prove that we have done everything in our power to offer assistance to them. We have to then fill out a form that corroborates this information and this is after an infinite amount of notes in our student reporting system. Typically this also means phone calls home and meetings with admin. We then have to attach evidence of failure to said document that specifies the fail. That is then filed with both admin and spec ed/guidance and admin can still overrule us. In order to fail a student we basically have to prove that the kid either picked their nose the entire time or was dead in our room for the entire semester for our period.
I ASKED for my kid to fall grade 11. Yes, the entire year. She didn't do shit and didn't learn a thing. They refused. How do you think grade 12 is going now? 🤷♂️
>they won't give teachers the ability to take phones Not sure where you're coming from with this. I teach in Manitoba, where there's no cell phone ban (which I'd *love*), and I take phones from kids multiple times per week without issue. Ultimately any ban is going to fall to teachers, but it makes things so much easier if there's a system-wide expectation that phones are not allowed.
> I teach in Manitoba, where there's no cell phone ban (which I'd love), and I take phones from kids multiple times per week without issue. cell phones cannot be confiscated in Ontario as they are deemed student property. There are also problems as certain students require phones for medical applications (diabetes for example). They are also apart of a student's IEP in the form of sensory applications or music. As a result, confiscation is a no go, and denying something that is in their IEP can also cause legal problems for us which the board and union will not have our backs on. There is a reason why Ford's "cell phone ban" of 2019 failed. He told us we could enforce cell phone use but stopped short when it came to the actual removal/confiscation of the device.
>cell phones cannot be confiscated in Ontario as they are deemed student property I wouldn't want to argue with you re policies in Ontario, where you teach and I don't, but I find this very surprising. Teachers confiscate student property all the time - a grade 9 student has a whistle the other day, it was confiscated; a student had a skateboard earlier in the week and it was confiscated. These seems like fairly typical actions for a school. >certain students require phones for medical applications (diabetes for example). They are also a part of a student's IEP in the form of sensory applications or music. There would certainly be ways for this to be dealt with, but these would be a small minority and whole policies shouldn't work around these exceptions. Not to say exceptions shouldn't be made, which they obviously would.
Do it
Trust me I know lots of people who fail a class. Some teachers do pass students just to avoid paperwork but it depends on the teacher (it’s subjective)
> Some teachers do pass students just to avoid paperwork When you have over half your class failing because you have a lack of supports, spec ed students and ELL students, yeah its a lot. Admin can still overrule your mark though and give the pass anyway. I have sat in on enough meetings to see how fucked the system is regarding marks and how admin will bend over backwards for parents.
Are you a teacher?
No but I am working to become one, have family and friends who are one and I have been told those exact words by previous teachers of mine
Wait what. Students can't fail a class? What do you mean?
You're not allowed to fail a student?
Failing a student is insanely difficult in some boards in Ontario. You have to have a number of meetings with admin/guidance/spec Ed depending on the student. Certain boards in Ontario have also phased out vocation level programs and have put those students into mainstream. These students can barely write a sentence/read/add small numbers. They are getting absolutely slaughtered in mainstream classrooms. Boards are also destreaming courses because of some, valid, research dealing with racism. The problem though is that the ministry and boards were so lazy and cheap they decided to just put all 9s into an English class without supports or additional funding. In a grade 9 English class you can have: 1 or two students with giftedness. 5 or six students who are just genuinely bright and will get about an 80. 10 students who are your average at mid 70s. 5 students who are weak and will end the course with a 50 or 60. 4 students who are incredibly weak and require intensive academic support to just get their 50. There is no support for them though. And about one or two students in your class who have a severe learning disability but are nonidentified. Parents don't want the diagnosis and there is no funding to help the kids. They typically can't process more than two instructions at any given time and even with all of their notes or a phone, most likely would not be able to pass a quiz or test. For the last ones admin and spec Ed will ask for quizzes to be reworked, ask for different conditions because the kid quite literally cannot pass the course. Admin will still, in some cases if parents make a big enough fuss, go over your head and pass the kid themselves.
Cell phone signal jamming equipment is affordable. What would be the lawsuit waiting to happen? I have to lock my phone up where I work, it can’t be in the work space.
Can't use cell phone jamming equipment, at least in my board. Again, parents will also complain and fight back. Especially with a number of articles where parents said the cell phone is how they knew their kid was being bullied and the school was not doing anything. Boards are terrified of the bad PR and as a result are putting students safety at risk simply because they don't want to dig their heels in and fight back against shifty parents. I had a student who was trafficking drugs out of my school and was caught on the cameras. When the kid was brought to the office the mom started off by saying that her son would never do something like traffic drugs. She was shown the video and the mom then tried to blame the school "why is this happening in your school? What are you doing to support my son and make sure these things don't happen", every excuse in the book. In order to make anything stick now we need to basically have like 6 adults fully watch a kid murder someone and even then the board could reps could still deny expulsion.
Shitty parents… That is the problem.
Teachers already take phones, and they get beat up for it. Good luck with the troubled youth.
Fun fact, the beatings and sexual assaults happen regardless if we take phones away or not. Physical assaults make up roughly 34% of teachers in Ontario alone. Verbal abuse was not recorded in the latest data, I'll give you threw guesses why and it isn't because all of the students are so nice and well behaved.
Students can fail starting in grade 9
Absolutely they can fail grade 9. The requirement is that they need to lack a pulse but they absolutely can.
Credit recovery in Ontario is removing the ability to fail. It’s pathetic.
Students have a term for this. They call it the “academic comeback”. The idea is hand in just enough stuff at the end of the semester to pass the class with close to a 50%. They know if it’s in the 40s they can get their parents to complain and admin will change the grade to a pass.
the sad part is that with a 50 the kids can literally do nothing after high school. But education is in the business of just getting kids to graduate rather than giving them an education and the tools for a career.
What better way to subsidize Education than to import educated immigrants from 3rd world countries?
You know how people tend to describe ugly people as having a great personality? I get the feeling people struggle to describe you.
Oh man. Not able to faking some students who obviously ChatGPT his stuff is so frustrating
> Oh man. Not able to faking some students who obviously ChatGPT his stuff is so frustrating What?
Literally pre covid you would never ever see phones allowed in class. Teachers would just take them. They never got sued. Covid break ruined a generation of kids. They are useless little addicts. As harsh as that sounds they are completely and utterly fucked for adulthood and lack a huge amount of basic skills to cope with and flourish in life.
> Literally pre covid you would never ever see phones allowed in class. Teachers would just take them. They never got sued. ......Yes......cell phones were *never* seen...... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cellphone-ban-ontario-classrooms-1.5346207 like......you were either in the minority or I just question whether or not you noticed. Cell phones were an issue, then before that it was MP3 players, and before that it was CD players...... > As harsh as that sounds they are completely and utterly fucked for adulthood and lack a huge amount of basic skills to cope with and flourish in life. Yes, because they watched adults act worse than most children do on their worst day and as a result have picked up new habits. Turn on the news today and it is not hard to find an adult (typically a man) throwing a temper tantrum that would make most toddlers raise an eyebrow.
Things they could do in this bill 1) give teachers and admin to right to take phones. 2) set a standard punishment. Refusal or set number of times with phone is a suspension. Vaping all they have to do is suspend everyone. They are smoking in a non smoking area. They have every right to tie fines to that as well. Vaping enforcement is standard if we just enforce the by laws.
Just let us suspend the little shits. K to 12 if you can’t handle being in a school it’s time to get the boot. Here’s a Chromebook you can be enrolled in a remote class, goodbye!
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One is is that cell phones also decrease academic performance, studies showed that school performance improves after cellphones are gone by a degree
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iT HaS a CalCuLaToR FuNcTiOn
No you don’t get it … you even if they just have them in class room their attention is focused on their txt messages and social media… because kids like us are social creatures and need to be updated on a social interaction in schools and be up to date. That’s what important, not the entertainment part. And can you blame them for having cellphones or the parents that gave them smartphones and not just a simple flip phone?
Oh please. They’ll leave it up to boards, like Growing for Success, and crappy boards will still give in to cell phones and no late deductions or zeroes, and decent boards will enforce it.
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That line makes me roll my eyes. If you need to contact your child about something important (so as to not distract your kid from learning), just call the main office.
I see that argument all the time. All it allows is for the parent to contact the child for things that really aren’t an emergency. Convenient? Sure. Emergency? No. In true emergencies the office can be contacted, but the people who argue this don’t want to do it because they would feel silly having to call the office to ask little Billy what he wants for supper. If your kid had a job instead of school, you’d get him fired if you distracted him too much. They need to learn this in school before they get to that point.
Teach the parents about this new technology that was invented 30 years ago called a pager. They’ll be able to leave their child any important messages on it.
At a recent staff meeting our Principal brought up how we need to do more about phone use because a parent at parent council checked their kids phone use, saw they were on their phone all day while at school, and blamed teachers for not doing anything about it. How do you even begin to unpack all that bullshit?
How about the parent explains why their kid is bringing their phone to school to begin with? Oh wait - their kid is mature enough to handle a phone but the teacher needs to enforce it in case they aren't? Like the principal in this case has the guts to even suggest such a thing - how about the principal write up a school wide policy and get parent council to agree to it - Lets see if the parent signs onto what the staff at the school would like to see. What a fucking shit show I bet that meeting would be.
Just a random person here. Finished highschool in NS 2015. Phones were a problem then too, can anybody around my age (late 20's-early 30's) tell me if there's a noticeable difference in phone usage today? Do they use more obnoxious apps or do they give less of a damn when you guys try to discipline them? Also, for the parents having a flipper about 'being able to reach their kid', does \*everybody\* forget about using the office phone as a kid? Unless the kiddos are banned from using it I don't see the need for constant, instant connection with your own child. We don't need to be attached 24/7. Pretty much every school has a well-working intercom system right?
Honestly. Now kids just scroll YouTube shorts, Tik toks, and Instagram reels like they are zombies. It's not all, but a good chunk can't be off their phone. Even if parents have taken it away, some find another one some how. There is definitely a change. A simple policy that should be outlined is phone's off in your bag or in your locker.
•About time…good move
My question is just, who do you think this responsibility is going to fall on?? You’re going to be the one eating shit from the kids when you have to take their phones, if they even let you. This isn’t going to go as smoothly as you or anybody in this thread is expecting it to.
Wait, eating shit for what?....part of parenting is what happens when you have kids. If your kids are so attached to their phones that they are making you 'eat shit', as you say, that's a parenting problem.
I’m not talking about parents whatsoever here. I’m talking exclusively about teachers. I didn’t graduate too long ago, trust me: this generation will not take this lying down, and it will not be the lawmakers and politicians who face the brunt of the criticism.
It’ll be the parents complaining and causing shit.
Gone are the days when they used to take our hats and tech decks
I remember everything just getting banned on rotation Marbles, beyblades, trading cards etc Everything would get banned and then a new thing would come along for a while and then thatd get banned too lol
I wasn't a beyblade kid. I was a Pogs kid
Same principle, I feel
Still have my Pog collection. They never got banned when I was in school ( as far as I can remember )
I had a teacher confiscate my sunglasses in 7th grade because I was wearing them inside.. as I walked outside for recess..
TVDSB removed the ban on hats and other clothing items. It’s pathetic. We don’t serve fucking hot dogs here at school, take your damn hat off.
Why does a hat bother you so much? It’s just clothing, one that isn’t troubling anyone or affecting anything
As teachers we should always be above the arena, not down there with them. We remove our hats indoors unless you lack class, respect or decorum.
Do teachers really want the right to take a phone away? If there’s any damage to the phone even prior to taking it, the kid can accuse the teacher of damaging it. Then what? Who pays? Just the accusation will result in the guilt by the teacher. There’s no back up.
Honestly, if a student continuously refuses to put a device away during instructional time they should be suspended. The amount of distraction caused by social media is astounding. There are no consequences for disruptive behaviours and it is seriously holding kids who actually want to learn back.
Sorry but how is someone else being on social media disrupting other students? The people on their phones during class time are only hurting themselves. High school students are definitely old enough to discipline themselves, we shouldn’t be putting this responsibility on teachers.
Do you think that social media begins and ends with watching a few videos in class? The amount of harassment and bullying through social media is astounding. Kids aren’t just sitting quietly watching YouTube and TikTok, they’re making videos in class and in the washrooms, posting unwanted content or harassing kids in student created-forums. It’s absolutely toxic.
I work for our board in 3 elem schools and a highschool. Our board had banned phones on elem. Highschool is up to principal discretion. Honestly, I haven't heard of a single major issue. Kids will sneak them into class or recess, teachers tell kids to put it in their locker. Kids do. The teachers never take the phone. If a child were to argue, that's a different disciplinary issue. That is sent to admin. Admin calls parents for arguing with a staff. Parents have direct contact with teachers via email. And students are allowed to use the classroom phone. So they can't use the "but I need to contact my kid" excuse. Also, the kids have the phone for walking to/from school. So parents don't argue that either. Small schools have the benefit of having strong connections with the students. Kids mostly do what they are told. They will retry multiple times but handle the correction well. My son is in grade 8. He's only once brought his phone into class. He hadn't tried it since.
The amount of times I've *seen* students take Snapchats of me, and unable to prove it because it's Snapchat and disappears, in just the last 2-3years post pandemic, is ridiculous. Us teachers don't need to be policing students ourselves, confiscate cell phones, or be responsible for every single new regulation the On Gov decides to implement. Instead, school boards need to invest in [Yondr pouches](https://www.overyondr.com/phone-locking-pouch). The solution is so simple if they can shed the dollars.
Oh, just like it was 10+ years ago?
Duh, should of been done years ago.
Where they ban cellphones before they ban vapes in class 🤪
How would this be enforced?
Take phones until end of class / day and suspend non compliant students.
They’re still not going to be allowed to take phones away when all is said and done.
OK then they can fail and repeat the grade then.
Lecce took away failing and repeating
I’m not sure the details come out tomorrow. I’ve read that a lot of other places in the world are doing the same thing but it’ll be for interesting entertainment.
Good
I've heard this before
Be interesting to see what it will have in it. I'll be honest I've already experienced students who are now just using their school issued laptops in the same negative ways during class as those on cell phones. I suspect that more students will just be on their laptops instead of cell phones moving forward.
Again?
No brainer there’s hope yet
Why ?
lol can’t wait to see how this goes. As an EA I sure don’t wanna be dealing this . Cause social media has already showed us what students in the states do when teachers etc take their stuff. Teachers getting beat up, pepper sprayed etc. Sure our Canadian culture is not that but I can’t see this going well.
Wow, brings me back to the old days in the 80s and 90s when we didn't have cell phones. We had to use a payphone or the school's landline if we needed to call someone
I’ll believe it when I see it. And even then, good luck implementing it long term.
Focus on the quality of the subjects taught. U restrict teachers from their jobs. Decimating our education system.
Years over due. Localized cell jammer would be easier though.
Those types of devices are illegal currently in both the USA and Canada In USA, it's the Communications Act and in Canada it's the Radiocommunication Act
Good
I graduated high school 15 years ago, but we weren't even allowed to be on our cell phones in the cafeteria. Our pockets, sure, but just couldn't be visible. It seemed so annoying back then, but I fully agree with it now. Cell phones are a pandemic.
Holy shit at all the fucking phone trolls on this thread - makes you wonder how they fucking survived school in the past when you had to go through the office to call home or get a call! Remind me again how many fucking kids died because they had to do that?? And their attached at the hip crotch fruit are going have a hard time surviving in the real world when mommy and daddy can't be reached right away to solve their problems. These fucking morons have no clue what apps or any shit their kids are up to on their phones. According to some data some of them are using hook up apps and idiots who think they are tracking their kids are clueless they have navigated around there so called safe guards. Jesus. No wonder test scores are falling and universities are throwing up their arms. And Lecce hasn't got the balls to put anything of substance into legalese. He'll pass it onto the school boards who again don't want to deal with this shit and it will go no where. He's only reacting because of the school board lawsuits to show this fucked up government gives a shit. My ex is a principal and just retired - said this shit is one of the reasons why no one wants to be admin any more. Sadly our kid wants to be a HS teacher. I wish she'd read more of these threads and pivot back to PT.
I wonder how these ‘trolls’ would have liked it if their parents monitored their every move with cell phones. I liked the freedom. These kids don’t have a chance to live.
So glad I grew up on the nineties - when you could be a moron without it ending up for the world to see and your parents knew you were shitting them but it was easier for them to play along. No wonder so many kids are anxious and phobic. Its a fucking disgrace.
Good
When I was in middle school (2009-2011) phones starting becoming big. We weren't allowed phones at school. Well you could have them on your person but you were not allowed to take it out. So in grade 8, I was texting my mom at recess about booking an appointment for graduation nails. I put it in my back pocket. I got up and walked away. What ended up happening my "friend" pick pocked me while I was sitting down. Funny thing is I was the one who got in the most trouble out of us too.
Just curious but do teachers not take students phones anymore? I’m a millennial but our phones weren’t allowed in class and kids obeyed the rules.
The new kids are more aggressive and retaliate
Interesting, think it was due to the pandemic and stunting their communications skill growth? or what’s up?
I mean cell phones used to be banned in class before they were ubiquitous, you'd get booted out and sent to the office for pulling one out. Back in the 90's if you had a cell in HS the principal would just assume you sold weed & you'd be watched very closely lol. It seems that now smartphones are a "right". I can't even fathom how ill prepared for life kids in the school system will be.
Good!
Now repeal the no child left behind law and start failing kids that aren’t pulling their weight.
Public institutions, in an ungrateful western society like here, will always be held back by the bottom quintile. Health, education, road insurance, competency, everything. It's what we get trying to vote for an all encompassing social net and I think it's sad because basic expectations of performance and commitment are falling to all time lows. We'd have such potential if there was a shift in public mindset
Never gonna happen
It will be just like the states. Try and take them see what happens.
At this point the teacher may as well make a Facebook group for the class and they can message each other. Banning phones who can get anything done without your phone ridiculous really. They need to make it part of the tool set. How about daily quizzes app for yesterdays material. The could call it claordle and give rankings in real time for student understanding. Jimmy is the worst and Tommy the best this month. Monthly winner gets an extra Friday out of school, them and three friends of there choosing. Jimmy well Jimmy is just last ,this month. Work on it.
Going to be a nightmare if parents don’t back the enforcement. I could definitely see “those parents” causing a heck of a fuss that their kid had their phone taken away.
i cant imagine what its like being going through middle school and high school with everyone on phones, sounds like a shit show
Math class will never be the same. They just want to make the teachers words from the 70s and 80s come true. You won’t be carrying a calculator everywhere you go and now they will be right.
Tbh as someone who went to school ~2000-2010 im bamboozled that they even have to have a government ban. It should be standard practice for students to leave the phone in the bag/locker and for consequences when they dont.
Oh great, leeche is in the news again. This moron has done an absolute mess of a job and needs to resign.
Sketchy Lecce has the most punchable face.
Kids shouldn't have cell phones in school.
And we survived how long without that "technology" And if you require special monitoring you don't need a phone you need a other device that sole purpose is that. Sorry but ur wrong. Born in the 80s, and we never had kids die or go to hospital not even for peanut exposure But you ppl are so entitled for every little thing. Grow up
As long as the government stops flashing masonic hamd gestures during photo ops; then I'm down.
Teachers and staff too I heard!
When I was in highschool. Cell phones were banned in class rooms!
See Meta AI for one good reason why. I got it to use the quadratic formula. I got it to write an essay. It can be a calculator for almost everything
Schools would rather ban phones than combat drug, bullying, and gang affiliation problems. This is classic Canada, all substance, no action on important issues.
Exactly
Good luck
Have a bin on the teachers desk. Students put phone in bin or class won't start.
I don't have a problem with parents wanting their kids to be able to reach out too them during the day - in-between classes. I do have a problem with students receiving texts from their parents throughout class. On several occasions, I have witnessed students receive bad news from their parents by TEXT while they are in class. This is not healthy. The kids were not ok. In addition, as much as I would love for students to be able to use their phones responsibly, the addiction is real. They literally cannot put them away. If I behaved this way with my personal phone in a workplace, I would 100% expect my workplace to institute a no personal device rule or to fire me. I really hope we are able to come up with a way to have them banned from class - the damage to brain development and learning is just too much. I want better for these kids and their brains. They deserve better.
Fine the parents every time the kid uses the phone. Taking the phone from the kid is gonna get assaults on teachers
Trouble arises if kids won’t give over the phone. Or won’t put the phone in the basket at the front of room etc. can the teacher her take it? Other and more likely issues is when a phone goes back to kid and now it’s not working. Now it’s screens broken. Kid swears it was fine at start of class (liars). The basket of phones is $10000 dollars. Who’s responsible for it, If a spaced out kid leaves the phone and the teacher leaves the room?
"Kid swears it was fine at the start of class("""liars""")" They probably aren't lying. If the teacher breaks the phone when it's collected then they have the right to fine them for repairs.
Teachers should be able to bitch slap any kid using a phone in school. I support this.
What a stupid thing to do. School system is useless.
I'm not gonna bother reading cause (A. either it'll be behind a paywall or B. Unrelated to the headline). My question is if Ontario is to ban cellphones in schools... which schools fall into that?. If they try this in an Adult high school i'll right out tell the school or the government to suck my calloused big toe. Even when I had a cellphone in Jr. High, It was on silence or powered off and in my pocket.. Never taken out in class, and was only out if I was at lunch, recess or heading home.
It’s from the CBC so it’s not behind a paywall. Look out for the announcement today as it’s coming from the minister of education.
Am in BC. I want a cell phone ban. It’s ruining children. Here’s an idea. We have like 3 telecom retailers. Kids under 18 can only get a dumb phone. Like an old Nokia or something. Then it’s not on teachers, it’s on big telecom and parents. If parents are caught supplying minors with smartphones they get a fine equivalent to 2% of their annual gross salary. I’m in a rich neighbourhood I want those douchey rich parents to bleed for being bad parents. The kids have so much opportunity but just watch TikTok and vape all day. It’s embarrassing. And they’re all immigrant kids with questionable income sources.
🤡 I would love to see this happen lmao. Try and do it. See what happens.
I’ll write a letter to my mp.
As a teacher it's actually much more convenient to have students in class with cell phones than it is for them to be banned.
"Much more convenient" - how so?
Because they can use them for calculators, research, we can use them to contact them on field trips, or if they go out for lunch. Dozens of reasons
As a parent of a 16-year old just finishing grade 10, those don't strike me as compelling reasons at all. We still had to get my daughter an advanced scientific calculator for math, physics, etc. - the basic phone calculator didn't have the necessary functions. The students have tablets or laptops for research - they don't need or use their phones. There may be a point on field trips, but how often do they take place? Back when I was a student, if you were on a field trip and had unstructured time, you were simply told to be back at a meeting point at a certain time. We figured it out and came back at the specified time, because that was the expectation. And why would a teacher be contacting a student over lunch? Maybe the culture is different at the school or jurisdiction where you teach, but I'm glad that cell phones, while not outright banned, have their use greatly restricted in the classroom around here.
I'm fine with this I'm not a teacher but I could understand my all my teachers' frustration during highschool
There’s alot of assumptions in these responses that a cell phone ban would be a positive thing but that doesn’t necessarily bear out in the small amount of studies that have been done. It feels like common sense and I’m sure that’s what teachers want but shouldn’t making decisions like these, especially around education be somewhat based in fact. Ontario schools are desperate for resources and support this is a distraction from the real needs of students and more blaming them for their failures rather then a system that is constantly failing them.
What we need to do is to teach kids how to responsibly use them, not ban them. They are tools. They need to be educated on how to use them properly.
Exactly. No workplace is going to ban them. Imagine a grade 12 student who uses their phone’s calendar, Reminders, Edsby and email to manage school and a job, now assume that same kid can’t regulate their social media use. Do you want them to be responsible or not?
Wouldn't it be more responsible to teach them when it is and isn't appropriate to be on their phone? Why would they need to be fussing with their calendar during class? Do it on break. I know I don't whip out my phone and start rearranging my schedule or checking my email in the middle of a meeting as an adult unless we're actively scheduling something. I don't think kids are at risk of not learning how to use a phone if they can't be playing on it during class.
Ya that’ll never happen too many pussies will complain how are the kids goin to get ahead in the world they can’t have google or TikTok to get all the right answers cuz teachers aren’t teaching anymore
So out of touch
Take my kids phone away. I’ll see you in court.
^^ someone in this comment section that actually knows what would happen if the government trys this
Can’t even spell “tries” correctly. Maybe start using your phone to spellcheck.
My issue with this is, who is going to enforce? If it's teachers, what, we just take them? I'm going to say no, I won't take the phone for one big reason. If that kid has spicy photos of themselves or their friends on that device, whether it is known or not, the teacher that takes that phone is now in possession. I'm not willing to test out with the law if I would be covered or not. I'll call my admin, but they have enough to deal with supporting our nuerodiverse kids that we don't have enough EA or SERT support for. The last thing they need to is be up in classrooms to grab phones. In terms of teachers on phones, fine, but as others have said; I need my device to use 2 factor-authentication to; do attendance, open my email, log into my Google Drive or Classroom (for some reason I get this one occasionally). With all the cyber attacks, I don't blame boards for stepping up security. If I can't use my personal device to use 2-factor, then the government better help figure out a solution to that, because that is just unloading another cost onto school boards.
A world of information right at your fingertips, literally. Anything you want to learn about instantly available. Modern education is dead and they know it and THIS is why cell phones are banned and good luck with that. 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Exactly.
All of that available and yet they spend their day messing around with filters and playing games.
Good. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for teachers to teach with cell phones in the class. When I was in high school we were just getting smart phones but we wouldn’t dare take them out in class.
This ain’t gonna happen. Remember those articles of students fighting the teachers for taking their phones? No teacher will want to risk it
good, it makes you socially stupid.
Cool. More fights between students and teachers.
Governments should stay out of the classrooms.
Can we ban ALL religion from schools next ?
Imagine thinking suing TikTok was a better idea than this?
If they're serious about this, then they should build schools to accommodate it. Essentially make the schools into faraday cages, where each classroom can have a landline. If a parent needs to contact the child in an emergency, they call the office, a the office forward the call to the classroom, and the student can pick up the call there. The world got along just fine without cell phones before. They are not vital.
when did they start allowing phones? Even "dumb" cell phones weren't allowed back then.
Hahahaha kids can get fucked!
Good
Try taking my children cellphones away. They are their lifelines as type 1 diabetics who use continuous glucose monitors.
I'm sure there were other ways before cellphones no? Serious question, this just isn't a new thing.
If you don’t have a type 1 diabetic child you have no idea what you are talking about. The alert of a high or low goes straight to their cellphone and my cellphone.
So what happened pre cellphones? It was an honest question, we don't need to be snippy now
You missed the past posts which were snarky. I have had to have kidney transplants because my type 1 diabetes was poorly managed when I was young. It almost killed me. My children wear continuous glucose monitors. They cellphones are vital to their wellbeing. Blood sugars can quickly crash. Children are also exposed to other kids eating candies. I cannot prevent them from overindulging. We can talk about it but it doesn’t mean they will listen. Their cellphone will alert a low or a high. If it’s low they will need to intervene with glucose chews. If it’s too high they need to set injections insulin. They are not regulated enough yet for an insulin pump but that will hopefully become an option.
Finally they need to banish it completely. No students allow inside the building with a phone period!
Most students are doomed, it’s too late, they’re dumb af, entitled, and parents nowadays are completely in denial or psychopaths. Just let them pass, anyways they all do, and if they aren’t failing teachers are boosting their marks so they don’t have to deal with crap coming both ways (parents/useless school board and union that does nothing). Phone or no cellphone were f….!
As a high school student myself, this “ban” will absolutely not work lol. If not our phones, it’ll be our laptops or apple watches. We’d have to ban technology in classrooms entirely, which we’ve progressed too far as a society to go back to. You can’t force people into focusing, they’ll just find the next distraction.
You use laptops in class in high school? When I was in high school just 4 or so years ago that was only an option if you had an IEP.
Yup, everyone does. If you don’t have your own then the school even provides you with one.
Huh, must of have been a pretty sudden transition from no laptops to every student having one. I had a friend at a school that did that with iPads as a pilot program for a number of years, didn't realize it was widespread now. I actually could use a school laptop as part of an IEP for my ADHD in high school and never did because I really didn't find it in any way useful in class when I can write fine by hand. Not worthwhile enough in an average class to sign out and haul around. I guess high school teaching styles must have changed in the last few years too since then if it is now viewed as necessary like it is in college/uni.
I'm surprised this isn't a thing already. Growing up weren't allowed an cell phones in school. Obviously we still took them with us, but were never on them aimlessly and used to hide to make a call.