Phone Taken in School

amdublin

sdonn wrote: »

As someone not yet a parent, but who has recently come out of secondary school, my 2c on this one - (so you guys can try and see it from the level-headed syudent point of view if there is such a thing)

We had a no phones on during school hours policy, you couldn't use them during lunch strictly speaking, but as you got to 5th or 6th year that was never really emforced by staff. You'd have them on anyway, but once you didn't openly use them in class (and i mean texting, checking the time was fine) the you were grand.

I don't agree with a week's confiscation, the phone should be handed back to the student at the end of the day without fail. I was without mine once, and on that particular day at age 14 had to trawl across town on two buses to meet my mother at her work, by the time I got there it was 6pm and well dark. Now if I'd got lost or missed a bus and had my mother worried sick, and which could have been easily avoided by me having my phone with me, whose responsibility would that have been?I reckon the school's, at least in part. Or worse, what if a student gets mugged on the way home etc? No kid with a phone should be let go home without it without a parent knowing they don't have it any more. These day IMO it compromises safety; theres an expectation they'll have it.

Schools are a little bit too strict in some issues, and this is one of them. There are a multitude of rules that make absolutely no sense in every school and that are constantly flouted, this is one of them. A somewhat concrete written rule is fine but only when accompanied by a bit of cop-on from teachers.

What was the scenario around the confiscation of your phone when you were 14? Did the school do a random bag check (unlikely!!!) or was the phone out of your bag/being used?

A phone will not stop a mugging unfortunately. And while useful after the event I think students need to take responsibility for their actions. If you did not use the phone in school you would have the phone.

Parents & students should agree to an understanding that the student will always have their phone unless they use it during the day and hence it is confiscated. Not the schools fault the student breaks the rule.

A lot of parent & students want their child/themselves to have a phone staight after school. Fine! Mobile stays Off and In Bag during the day; school, parent, student, everybody happy. Simples!

highlydebased

In my school (in leaving cert now) the policy is that phones "with a camera facility" are not allowed at all- but thats every phone now, so they need to change that rule. Anyway, for the junior school its enforced for certain- some teachers will take the phone and give it back at the end of the class, others will hand it into the office and it will only be given back to a parent after a week, and a fine of 20 euro.

A bit different in leaving cert though, teachers not too bothered by it generally.

Schoolbag is no place to go leaving a phone- stuff gets robbed from peoples bags here often enough

amdublin

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Schoolbag is no place to go leaving a phone- stuff gets robbed from peoples bags here often enough

But schoolbag tends to be with child at all times no?

Or if not, in locker?

Realtine

How did we ever manage without mobiles eh? A fine of €20 is enough of a frightener to dissuade anyone from keeping phones on in class anyway..but I remember couple of years back when my son was in probably 3rd year and his phone was confiscated for a week - anyway at some point the school office was broken into, his and other phones were stolen! It was a fairly new phone and I still had the receipt - school had to give me a cheque to replace phone. Now they just fine them.

amdublin

Realtine wrote: »

but I remember couple of years back when my son was in probably 3rd year and his phone was confiscated for a week - anyway at some point the school office was broken into, his and other phones were stolen!

Ha! Funny!

Now, who could have broken into that office. Like who could have known there would be a load of phones in there? Who, who?!

:rolleyes:

Del2005

sdonn wrote: »

Or worse, what if a student gets mugged on the way home etc?

Do you think a mugger is going to just take the money, which a school going person won't have much of anyway, and walk away or would they not take the phone which is easy to convert to money and would usually be the most expensive thing the person is carrying?

I've never heard of these conscientious muggers, where do they be so I can get a nice safe mugging?:D

There are plenty of reasons for having a phone, but while being attacked or mugged a phone won't do you any good.

Realtine

amdublin wrote: »

Ha! Funny!

Now, who could have broken into that office. Like who could have known there would be a load of phones in there? Who, who?!

:rolleyes:

LOL I know what your thinking :rolleyes:
NOT HIM - honestly - but it was a student - never got the old phone back tho.

amdublin

Realtine wrote: »

LOL I know what your thinking :rolleyes:
NOT HIM - honestly - but it was a student - never got the old phone back tho.

Ha ha

No I wasn't thinking your son. But I definitely thought a student/students from the school.

A (big) Fine is a good idea!

But at the end of the day students have to take responsibility for their actions/for breaking the rules.

Rules are there. And the repercussions for breaking the rules are there. If you don't like the rules (as another poster said) go to another school.

sdanseo

amdublin wrote: »

But schoolbag tends to be with child at all times no?

Or if not, in locker?

God no. You chuck them anywhere. There's no other alternative really - in my school if you brought your bag to the lunch queue it was an automatic detention for blocking up the place, it was that small. And you don't divert via a locker when you're trying to avoid spending the whole break in a queue.

Kids will be kids, and they should be allowed the freedom to do same. Keep the phones on standby during school hours and if caught texting or calling during a class then by all means confiscate it - but until the end of the day only. Further than that is taking "in loco parentis" to a stupidly high level and is inane. I see no problem whatsoever with phone calls, texts or games etc being made or played during breaks. If schools want to ban the use of cameras because of the prevalence of minors fine, but proactive discipline of the few who misuse the phones is better than a blanket ban. The stupid thing is thast most schools don't have an active student council or anything so students never get their opinions across till they're nearly gone out of the place.

As regards the happy slapping comment above, if there's cyber bullying etc going on using phones, the use of phones isn't to blame and someone isn't doing their job properly. Trust me as someone who was a victim of bullying for a time; if it's got to the stage where they're videoing it you're already miserable and need intervention (or need to get your head out of your arse and ask for help rather than be treated like crap but that's a whole different conversation).

Parents don't see how it is in schools, they get the official line. Kids don't really talk too much about it at second level, they keep more to themselves. That's why I'm sticking my oar into the forum here, to give you a bit of insight.

Del2005 wrote: »

Do you think a mugger is going to just take the money, which a school going person won't have much of anyway, and walk away or would they not take the phone which is easy to convert to money and would usually be the most expensive thing the person is carrying?

I've never heard of these conscientious muggers, where do they be so I can get a nice safe mugging?

There are plenty of reasons for having a phone, but while being attacked or mugged a phone won't do you any good.

Well I dunno but if anything happened me on the way home, or god forbid I'd needed a phone badly and didn't have it, I know damn well my parents would have been giving out stink on my behalf.

It's silly to suggest that if you've been mugged a phone isn't the first thing you'd use. Call the guards etc; won't prevent it but mitigates aftereffects like being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cash or some such.

Stacey.x

dolliemix wrote: »

Can we get the beginning of this story? Did a teacher just come in a take two phones? :rolleyes:

Firstly the kids obviously shouldn't have had the phones in class and would have known that in advance.

Secondly were the students using the phones in class? how did they come to the teachers attention that they had their phones?

Well. obviously not. :rolleyes:
i think its obvious what happened really.

dolliemix

sdonn wrote: »

Well I dunno but if anything happened me on the way home, or god forbid I'd needed a phone badly and didn't have it, I know damn well my parents would have been giving out stink on my behalf.

:rolleyes: .....I can see where this is going.....as with almost everything else in this society nowadays people won't take responsibility for their own actions and want to blame everyone else if something goes wrong for them.

If your phone gets confiscated you've obviously breached school rules that you and your parents have signed up to in the first place. So, if you don't have your phone it's YOUR fault!

If you get mugged or whatever it's bad luck but it's by no means the school's fault!!!

If your phone gets confiscated you could ask the principal could you ring your mother to let her know that you disobeyed school rules and you've no phone as a result . If there is a chance of you being mugged on the way home mummy could come and collect you.

However - this would be in an ideal world. A lot of parents these days fail to see the whole picture and do end up 'storming' down to the school threatening teachers and management with the possible awful HYPOTHETICAL scenarios that their children could be in, without assuming responsibility themselves for THEIR children's behaviour!

I' m a teacher and I've seen every side of the mobile phone argument. I've seen the parents come in and getting overly emotional and abusive about it. I've seen the kids whose phones have gone off by accident because they genuinely forgot to put them in their lockers. (I feel awful for them!) I've seen the kids quickly take the sim cards out of their phones before handing them over! I've seen the parents buying a second phone for their children when the original has been confiscated.

But the most upsetting incident of all that I witnessed was a group of students in my school videoing a disabled student when she was unaware that this was happening. It turned out that the intention was to put the video up on Bebo for a laugh.

After I saw that incident, my instinct will always be to protect that child or those children from that sort of bullying, whatever it takes.

And it was by chance that I discovered these children doing that, so God knows what else goes on.

For that reason I have no problem confiscating phones. We allowed phones at lunch time up until that incident. It's important that the message about bullying and particularly such an invasive form of bullying, is heard and prevented as much as possible.

We obviously can't stop bullying. But even little measures might make some of our students feel more comfortable and safe coming into school each day.

dolliemix

Stacey.x wrote: »

Well. obviously not. :rolleyes:
i think its obvious what happened really.

So the kids broke the school rules. They knew what they were beforehand. They got punished.

Seems fair to me!:D

Del2005

sdonn wrote: »

It's silly to suggest that if you've been mugged a phone isn't the first thing you'd use. Call the guards etc; won't prevent it but mitigates aftereffects like being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cash or some such.

Off course it's the 1st thing you'll use, that's if the mugger has been kind enough not to have beaten the live out of you for it. Since nearly everyone has phones now, do you honestly think if someone is going to go to the trouble of mugging a child or teenager they won't think to take an easy to cash item?

Maybe parents should give there kids 2 phones. In case one is confiscated or if they get mugged they have a decoy. So they can call Mammy to come and stop the bad person. Oh wait they'll be long gone by the time Mammy can save them.

It'd be a pretty mean person who won't lend/make a call for a child in distress.

Stacey.x

dolliemix wrote: »

So the kids broke the school rules. They knew what they were beforehand. They got punished.

Seems fair to me!:D

Yes. they broke the rules!
i didnt say they shouldnt be punished - i just said: they should have them back by next lesson. :pac:

robinph

Stacey.x wrote: »

Yes. they broke the rules!
i didnt say they shouldnt be punished - i just said: they should have them back by next lesson. :pac:

But then they would be breaking the rules in that next lessons as well, and where is any kind of punishment in that scenario?

dolliemix

Stacey.x wrote: »

Yes. they broke the rules!
i didnt say they shouldnt be punished - i just said: they should have them back by next lesson. :pac:

What kind of punishment is that?

God forbid, we might make life little bit difficult for the child who has blatantly disobeyed school rules, disrupted class and put a member of staff in an awkward position!

yuloni

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Toto Wolfcastle

We have a ban on phones and items such as ipods and they are kept by the vice principal until home time. A record is kept and if it happens again a parent has to collect the item. I think this is a fair way to implement the policy. We allow phones during break and lunch but most students go home for lunch so it doesn't seem to be a problem.

dolliemix

janeybabe wrote: »

We have a ban on phones and items such as ipods and they are kept by the vice principal until home time. A record is kept and if it happens again a parent has to collect the item. I think this is a fair way to implement the policy. We allow phones during break and lunch but most students go home for lunch so it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Good policy actually. I think confiscating for a week or more is leaving schools and staff open to legal threats and the normal emotional accusations that some parents use to justify their children not having to accept responsibility.

However, I still stand by the no-phones at lunch-time because that's when most bullying occurs in school according to statistics.

gagiteebo

Condi wrote: »

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Telling teachers to f off because they are taking their phones/Ipods which they are not supposed to have in class anway is disgusting. Would they tell their parents to f off if the same thing was done at home?

I'm a secondary school teacher and I agree with the school 100%. In my school parents and students sign a copy of the school rules at the start of each year in which it clearly states that if the boy is caught using his phone/Ipod it will be confiscated for a week. Every parent and students reads and signs this yet when a phone is confiscated the parent comes storming in shouting the odds. When did this become acceptable?

Mobiles and such are banned for a reason, there is no need whatsoever to have them in class or during breaktime and as a few people said before if you don't agree with the rules, find a school whose rules you do agree with.

There is a boy in 5th year in my school and he's very difficult, disruptive, prevents others from learning etc and a few weeks ago he decided he didn't like what the class a colleague of mine was teaching so he stands up and walks out. Within minutes his mother had rang in complaining about this teacher, demanding to know why 'my johnny' had been 'kicked' out of class (all lies). This boy had obviously rang or texted his mother as soon as he left the classroom even though they aren't allowed to have their phones on them and Mrs Mammy rings in calling for blood when she was in the wrong. Where do you go when you have idiot parents like these? This upsetting incident would never have happened if he had obeyed the rules he and she signed and didn't have his phone on him in the first place.
P.s he later admitted the truth. Was there an apology from either him or Mrs Mammy? No. That's another day's work though.

yuloni

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amdublin

Condi wrote: »

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No one is saying this is right.

spurious

We have a no phones rule in our school. We will have a quick look through a confiscated camera phone to make sure no photos were taken on school premises, which is against the local VEC's rules, not just the school's.

Personally I have found some videos on confiscated phones that I hope parents were glad they were informed their child had (and I'm not talking about innocent 'harmless' videos).

We have informed the police about some content we found on mobile phones.

Mr. Presentable

Condi wrote: »

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To be fair your post comes across as reactionary. Are you in school yourself and had a phone related issue?

gagiteebo

Condi,
Most classrooms have clocks these days and they'll ask you what time it is especially coming up to lunch time and yes it is a punishable offence when it clearly states in the rules, which all parties have signed, that it is a punishable offence.

Very uninformed and general to say that teachers enforce rules when they feel bored etc.....There are bad teachers just like there are bad doctors, lawyers etc there are good and bad people! I and most of my colleagues do not go in to school every day looking for tension and confrontation, that stuff is draining. You said you are only out of school a little while and you sound angry about your experience there so I understand how you would find it difficult to see it from the other side of the classroom right now.

You are missing the point about the boy, he was having a 'crap day' (his words) and he rang/texted his mam saying 'oh poor me, I'm such a victim' and naturally his mother got angry on only hearing his side of things. He wasn't kicked out or anything of the sort and he caused a lot of unnecessary upset. If there was a genuine problem his parents would be contacted by the principal. Bottom line is if he had obeyed the rules which he and his mother signed he should not have had his phone on him and he wouldn't have caused this horrible situation. I suppose you think it's ok for teachers to be treated like that by parents for something they didn't do.

That's just childish, of course I don't agree with what that teacher did, taking the phone and dissecting everything, it was wrong and shouldn'y have happened and nobody is saying that that is ok. That was a single teacher's doing, I doubt very much the school ordered him to do that.

crossmolinalad

Have 3 kids 11/16 and no cell phones ,why should they??
Dont see the need for it and they have no problems with it

BostonB

Condi wrote: »

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How would he know the pin codes?

dolliemix

BostonB wrote: »

How would he know the pin codes?

More to the point why would somebody want to read a load of teenagers text messages in their free time???

I'm a bit dubious about this story to be honest!

BostonB

That too.

LB6

From the consent form my daughter just signed to register for secondary school in september.

"Mobile Phones. Walkmans, Discmans,Mpeg Players or such like, are prohibited in classrooms, study halls and during formal college activities. Where a mobile phone etc. is discovered during a class period, the instrument will be confiscated immediately. Mobile phones etc. are only allowed to be accessed at the end of the school day. Otherwise they are to be locked into a student's locker and powered off. Non-compliance willr esult in confiscation and a fine of €26 will be imposed to ensure return before the end of the Half Term/full Term, whichever is sooner. Furthermore, if Mobile Phones are used in a negative manner to intimidate or bully students or others, the management of the college reserves the right to impose a serious sanction. Any loss of the above is borne by the owner of the property and not by college authorities".

What ye think of that one?