Some Texas school districts are implementing policies to restrict students’ cell phone use on campus. Generally, the policies require the phones to be turned off and placed in lockers or locked pouches that can only be opened by a school official. A state lawmaker plans to file legislation to address the issue statewide.
Advocates say the move removes a major source of distraction in the classroom. Opponents say it interferes with parents’ right to monitor their children.
Yesterday, we asked readers their thoughts.
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Here is a sampling of the comments we received from our readers after they voted in the survey.
“I applaud district efforts to restrict cell phones, but I do not support state legislation on this issue. Local districts should decide.” – Fran Rhodes
“I’d be supportive of removing cell phones from the classroom if I thought our public schools could be trusted and that the motivation was reduced screen time. However, that is impossible to believe considering the increasing amount of educational technology that is replacing traditional classroom learning via books, paper and pencils.” – Spencer Siino
“Parents should be the arbiter of whether their child has a cell phone in the classroom, but teachers should have the authority to discipline any disruptive behavior. “ – Helen Herd
“Cell phones, the most destructive social force ever created and in the hands of a child the cause of what is likely irreversible generational and cultural rot. And no one wants to admit it.” – Robert Bruce
“I don’t think kids should be allowed to carry their phones to the classroom. I’m from a generation where this was not an issue, and I got along just fine without a phone in class.” – Sharla Miles
“There should be no student cell phones on campus.” – Ruben Montoya
“I was a classroom teacher for 28 years prior to the use of cell phones in the classroom. We did not have access to Internet lessons aimed at all our subject material. Currently, I serve as a substitute teacher in the local school district and cell phones are the greatest distraction to learning at the high school level!” – Suzette Valentine
“Parents should decide. Phones should not be used during class. Denying a student’s right to communicate in emergency situations is wrong.” – Truman Reid
“Anytime our possessions are able to be locked away at the sole discretion of a government entity, whistles and red flags should be abundantly clear! Cell phones being a distraction is not sufficient reason to allow for unbridled intrusion!” – Sara Heizer
“As an educator I can tell you phones are a major distraction. As to the parents being able to monitor their children, your child’s teacher is monitoring them in class.” – Anthony Fourman
“There are no parental rights that govern such a need. We shouldn’t let the inmates run the asylum.” – Mike Hess
“When I first heard about it, I was all for locking up student cell phones. Then, I remembered some of the instances where kids have recorded teacher abuse and unlawful teachings.” – Michelle Lantz
“Is it a distraction, or do liberal educators want to be able to remove the threat of them being recorded while they are grooming, bullying, and indoctrinating their students?” – Landon Capozzi
“My kids, both graduated, kept their phones on silent in their bags or risked having them taken up by a teacher in class. Students should have them in case of emergency, and how many times has school abuse been reported due to a student’s cell phone? There should be rules and consequences but school shouldn’t be treated as a prison.” – Deborah Wilkey
“It needs to be a combination of both. The parents should decide if their kids are allowed to have phones, the students should obey the rules of ‘No phones out while in class,’ and schools should have the authority to take the phones up if they become a distraction. Parents shouldn’t helicopter the kids, schools shouldn’t have authority to lock up phones, and kids should respect and obey both.” – Kayne Parrish
“I used to trust the teaching profession implicitly, but with their severe turn left in recent times, I’m afraid this may be a move to keep anything they may want to hide from parents from being recorded. The ‘Covid’ years opened our eyes to what was being taught in our schools.” – Patricia Forsythe
“I am an educator in high school. Cell phones are a huge distraction. Kids today have no filter for anything, let alone correctness.” – Greg Reinhart
“It is safer to have a phone on you in school.” – Cheryl Reed
“As a former high school teacher, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve caught students texting in class instead of paying attention and using the phone to look up answers on a test. The phone is a distraction to the students and interferes with their education.” – B.D. Marshall
