School cell phone policy

dragona

rainbowtrout wrote: »

It's a bit of a grey area, but probably. It's not theft, the school has agreed to give it back after a month and the parents and student signed the school rules agreeing to this policy when the student started in the school. So they have agreed that the phone can be confiscated.

I agree......but there are extenuating circumstances, which I have explained to the school, and I feel that they are being more than unreasonable.

dragona

January wrote: »

If it's any help I have a Nokia 5230 lying around here that you can borrow (I'm in Dublin), it's on the three network...

Thanks for the offer, very kind of you

Merch

GarRoIT wrote: »

If it comes to it i think you should, there the only people you can really go to if the school refuses to co-operate, once u mention the gardai in the school usually you will get your own way.

I hope they take your advice and are promptly told to cop on and feck off.

dragona wrote: »

Right, just to explain further......phone in pocket, was not actively being used, but unfortunately for her was not switched off as it usually is but received a text message which made phone beep. She was asked to hand it over, which she did. She knows full well that the phone is to be switched off during school time,and of course I absolutely agree.

Unfortunately this half term I am travelling abroad with daughter, and she needs the phone. I have been to the school and spoken to the principal, who has REFUSED to hand over the phone to me. I explained that it was needed really for this next week, and that I was willing to let him keep the phone for the remainder of time sanctioned by the school for misuse etc as they have a very strict policy, but he point blank refused to hand over the phone to me. I am extremely annoyed at this, as in reality it is my property, bought by me for my daughters use.

I was very flippantly told to buy another phone for her to use for the week. Needless to say I am immensely pissed off.

You were told by your daughter she wasn't using it and you believe this after she was caught with it on, like children tell their parents the truth all the time,
which is more important, your childs education and personal development or travelling? also if you can afford to be travelling then surely you can afford 19.99 for a replacement phone?

dragona

Merch wrote: »

I hope they take your advice and are promptly told to cop on and feck off.

You were told by your daughter she wasn't using it and you believe this after she was caught with it on,

This fact is not even up for discussion and has not been challenged, the point is the phone was on when it should have been off.

Merch wrote: »

which is more important, your childs education and personal development or travelling? also if you can afford to be travelling then surely you can afford 19.99 for a replacement phone?

This comment is so ridiculous that I will ignore.

implausible

dragona wrote: »

I agree......but there are extenuating circumstances, which I have explained to the school, and I feel that they are being more than unreasonable.

Look, I can sympathise here, but you have to understand the amount of this sh*te teachers have to deal with. Your daughter is lucky enough to be in a school where the principal runs a tight ship. Every student leaves the phone on by accident, every student needs it back to call mammy/home/the doctor, every student is waiting on daddy/a brother/the hospital to ring. We have often had parents into our place either telling a pack of lies or shouting the odds looking to get a phone back. We are told these stories day in, day out. The point is that the rule is in place for a reason and exceptions can't be made, otherwise the rule is toothless.

Buy a new sim card and put it into the old phone.

Merch

[Originally Posted by Merch
which is more important, your childs education and personal development or travelling? also if you can afford to be travelling then surely you can afford 19.99 for a replacement phone?

This comment is so ridiculous that I will ignore.[/QUOTE]

Excuse me, why? what is ridiculous about it, I think you're backing away from answering it, unless you have some valid reason other than claiming it is ridiculous? I am saying education, because mobiles surely must be a constant distraction from your daughters and her fellow students education and I guess are a constant annoyance to teachers otherwise rules wouldnt have been implemented to deal with it,I suggest its not ridiculous but perfectly valid.

astra2000

Tbh I doubt ye will even remember this incident this time next year. It is fustrating that your daughter has lost the use of her phone the week ye are going away, but ultimately it is her own fault, she knew the rules and she wasnt careful enough in following them. She is the one who needs to feel the pain personally I would borrow someones old phone (you have been lucky enough to have had a kind offer) Buy a sim for a tenner you will get the same amount in credit, and only give her the phone when she actually needs it. That way she will learn a lesson, at the moment it is coming across that all she is seeing is you fighting her battles and getting fustrated at the school for something that is her fault.

iloveyoumum

go down to that school straight away and throttle the teacher that deprived your child of her phone for a month :eek:

implausible

iloveyoumum wrote: »

go down to that school straight away and throttle the teacher that deprived your child of her phone for a month :eek:

Yes, that's exactly how you teach a child respect for authority:rolleyes:

Morag

Students and parent agree to abide by the school rules at the start of each new school year, it's that simple. If you dont' like it take it up with the board of management but she broke the rule and thats that. If you dont' agree with the rules then look at moving to a different school.

LashingLady

I think it's madness that they won't hand over the phone for the week. It's school hols and you're going away. I can understand them keeping the phone when she's at school and every day she's just going from home to school, but if you're going away it's understandable. I think it's a very harsh punishment for a beep - I'd agree on a month if she was texting under the table or talking on the phone during class and not listening but not for a beep.

Sounds like they want to make an example of your daughter or want to be seen to be taking the same line with everyone, but applying the confiscation to school hols is madness imo.

Merch

LashingLady wrote: »

I think it's madness that they won't hand over the phone for the week. It's school hols and you're going away. I can understand them keeping the phone when she's at school and every day she's just going from home to school, but if you're going away it's understandable. I think it's a very harsh punishment for a beep - I'd agree on a month if she was texting under the table or talking on the phone during class and not listening but not for a beep.

Sounds like they want to make an example of your daughter or want to be seen to be taking the same line with everyone, but applying the confiscation to school hols is madness imo.

Maybe she was? the OP stated that is an irrefutable fact in post 35 so maybe it is, or maybe it isn't either way it seems the rules were broken and perhaps the school has had a lot of issues with pupils generally and has to make it clear the rules will be enforced. It seems harsh to hold it but challenging them doesnt seem likely to get a result as that really just visibly undermines the rules.

GarRoIT

astra2000 wrote: »

Crazy idea, honestly if you ever really need to go to the gardai over your childs school, you should just move schools. I really dont get the mindset behind this suggestion going to the gardai over a mobile phone been confiscated for a month what a waste of gardais time, it will completely destroy any school/parent relationship.

I know all that, in any situation calling the gardai should really only be a last resort if used at all. but the op asked if they could legally take the phone, and I was just pointing out that legally can't take the phone and if you want to be a complete b***h about it you could go to the gardai.

tfitzgerald

My daughters school operates the same policy month which I think is a bit Irish so what we have done is got a copy of there sim card from o2 and bought them a cheap fone I think it was 19:99 In heatons don't bother trying to fight the school because if you do and the school clampsdown on the students fones it's your children who will get it from their schoolmates

dragona

dragona wrote: »

I agree......but there are extenuating circumstances, which I have explained to the school, and I feel that they are being more than unreasonable.

Sorry to be harsh, but a holiday is not an extenuating circumstance. I assume you need her to have a phone in case she gets lost or wants to go off on her own. I understand that you're used to having easily accessible communication with her, and you don't like the idea of not being able to call her. That's a totally natural response. But you can't make the school compromise their rules just because you're going to be extra worried about her next week. Teach her to use a payphone. If she's mature enough to be let out in a foreign place on her own, she's mature enough to check in with you every couple hours if you ask her.

dragona

true-or-false wrote: »

Sorry to be harsh, but a holiday is not an extenuating circumstance. I assume you need her to have a phone in case she gets lost or wants to go off on her own. If she's mature enough to be let out in a foreign place on her own, she's mature enough to check in with you every couple hours if you ask her.

I am away for medical treatment and my daughter is accompanying me , so no, it is not a holiday, and as far as I am concerned,it is an extenuating circumstance, so you are mistaken in your assumption.

Days

I know a month is harsh but there are other methods of communication! Hope medical treatment goes well.

Rodin

IF I were a teacher, if I even saw a mobile phone in class it'd be instant detention
With escalation for second and subsequent offences

Time to wrestle back control of the classroom

ShatterProof

Maybe the school were wrong here. They could let her keep the phone and suspend her for a month.

Penny Dreadful

tfitzgerald wrote: »

My daughters school operates the same policy month which I think is a bit Irish so what we have done is got a copy of there sim card from o2 and bought them a cheap fone I think it was 19:99 In heatons don't bother trying to fight the school because if you do and the school clampsdown on the students fones it's your children who will get it from their schoolmates

So its a bit Irish to have a strict policy on mobile phones in a school setting? Its a bit Irish to enforce this policy? :rolleyes: What on earth does "its a bit Irish" mean?
Children should not have mobile phones in a class room. There was a post earlier about a school that takes phones at the start of the day and hands them back at the end and I think that is the perfect policy. I cannot for the life of me understand how children need phones during the school day. How were any of the rest of us able to manage without them?

dragona

dragona wrote: »

I am away for medical treatment and my daughter is accompanying me , so no, it is not a holiday, and as far as I am concerned,it is an extenuating circumstance, so you are mistaken in your assumption.

Well it wasn't exactly a huge leap to think that travelling abroad meant a holiday. Did you specify medical treatment to the school? I certainly would think that's a good reason to want the phone back.

However if the school isn't giving it back that's their prerogative. Since it's so important to contact her while you're away it's surely worth buying a cheap phone?

liamo43

I agree with Astra 2000 It will teach the child responsibility and respect and make them a better citizen

January

Please do not post in threads that have not been posted in in years.