Students fined $15 for using cell phones in school

[MM27]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=8074283&page=1

I think it's a good idea. Perhaps kids will think twice before they text in class.

 

[Nie0214]

The parents pay, not the jobless students. If the money is going to "fun activities" in that one county, what's the point anyway? The fact that they've raised $100K in $15 fees shows it really isn't doing anything to me.

I don't think anyone should have their phone in class, but I don't know if this is a good idea or that it solves anything. At least they're getting some money for their budgets though?

Kids won't see $15 as an hour of work after taxes, or a third of the cable bill, or three lunches out, etc. if their parents are paying it.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

In my school we can have cells on us but they must be off and out of site.

If a teacher takes it up then they give it to the front office and they get a detention or referral and the parent must come and pick it up.

 

[rowbear]

The parents should pay. They should be teaching some boundaries when it comes to that blasted phone.

I had a family reunion over Thanksgiving in my home and there were kids text messaging under the table. It was like business as usual for them and their parents. I made them stop.

I see them text messaging all the time when they are with their family at restaurants as well. I recently saw a girl who was text messaging while on a date with a guy.

How rude is that?

Fine them MORE!

 

[Nie0214]

The parents should pay. They should be teaching some boundaries when it comes to that blasted phone.

I had a family reunion over Thanksgiving in my home and there were kids text messaging under the table. It was like business as usual for them and their parents. I made them stop.

I see them text messaging all the time when they are with their family at restaurants as well. I recently saw a girl who was text messaging while on a date with a guy.

How rude is that?

Fine them MORE!

Because when you were a teen, you did everything your parents told you to do in class, never talked to your neighbor, never passed notes, etc.? I find it would be difficult to stop your kid from text messaging during class unless you don't give them a phone to begin with. As for texting during Thanksgiving dinner, well, was anyone talking to the kids/teens? Usually they're left out of the adult talk, so they're probably bored. Water under the bridge IMO.

 

[declansdad]

Keep fining them, even if it is the parents that pay. Escalate the fines for repeat offenders and maybe the parents will finally starting setting and enforcing some limits.

 

[My sister's princess]

I think that is great! I text in class sometimes (college) and I know I miss things that are going on

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

What does money have to do with school and cell phones?

Just keep giving detention.

 

[luv2sew]

In the high school my kids went to, cell phones did not work in the classrooms they had some kind of a blocker in the school.....Problem solved!!

 

[rowbear]

Because when you were a teen, you did everything your parents told you to do in class, never talked to your neighbor, never passed notes, etc.? I find it would be difficult to stop your kid from text messaging during class unless you don't give them a phone to begin with. As for texting during Thanksgiving dinner, well, was anyone talking to the kids/teens? Usually they're left out of the adult talk, so they're probably bored. Water under the bridge IMO.

I may not have done everything my parents told me to do but I would not have wanted to be caught doing something more than once. No way. There is a chance I might have gotten a second fine but there is no way I would have ever gotten a third.

Are you kidding me? DURING DINNER. Not after they were done eating while they were still eating. Even if they are bored they can just eat. Texting at the dinner table is rude.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Back when I went to school, 25 years ago, if you were caught chewing gum, you had to pay $1. If you didn't have the $1 on you at that moment, you got detention that day. You had to call home and tell your parents you had detention, and they needed to bring a dollar.

We had no lockers, so, if you book bags were left on the heaters or the wondow sills, you had to pay $2...this was not a detention offense, you could owe the $2.

It worked....not too many kids chewed gum, or left their book bags laying around.

 

[luvmy3]

I think that teachers should collect student's phones when they enter the classroom and then give them back when they leave. There is absolutely no reason a student needs a phone while in school.

 

[disneyatl]

I think that teachers should collect student's phones when they enter the classroom and then give them back when they leave. There is absolutely no reason a student needs a phone while in school.

That is exactly what I was going to say! If I was a teacher, I would have a basket at the door - drop it off when you come in - pick it up when you leave. Problem solved.

Although - I do like the block thing for the school!

 

[disykat]

Unless the teachers frisk the kids, it's not likely all the phones would be turned in.

I think the fines are a good idea. As it stands now in most places, kids get them taken away and they have to go to the office to pick them up at the end of the day. Big deal. The fine would make it "hurt" (either the kid or the parent) enough for the rules to stick.

 

[teacherforhi]

That is exactly what I was going to say! If I was a teacher, I would have a basket at the door - drop it off when you come in - pick it up when you leave. Problem solved.

Right until someone's phone went missing...

 

[pigletliz]

My daughter's school requested that cell phones be out of sight and turned off during the school day. If it rang, it was confiscated by the teacher and the student was charged $25 for retrieval. My daughter made that mistake one time. She knew the rules and I made her pay the fee out of her savings. That was the last time she ever forgot to turn her phone off.

 

[browneyes106]

Last year my uncle who works at a small charter high school said the school decided to use phone lockers. Small lockers were set up the back entrance of the school. There about 100 kids in the school and two or three kids each share a locker.

I have heard about other schools doing the fine system for cell phones. Another reason I can understand paying fines is because of text cheating which also happens a lot.

 

[NotUrsula]

Right now using an electronic blocker is illegal, it violates FCC rules. I think that Congress needs to make an exception for using them inside school buildings, just to curb the cheating. (The law was written in the days of radio, they were not thinking about modern cell phones.)

Some buildings are built in a way that just naturally blocks signals; it's called a Faraday Cage effect. The building I work in is partially this way -- I have no signal in my office.

 

[luvmy3]

Right until someone's phone went missing...

There are ways to prevent that.

 

[MM27]

From the article: She and her kids will often text throughout the day.

I don't have kids, so I'll ask, what could be that important that a parent of a high school student needs to text throughout the day? I understand that things come up and you need to get a message to your child, but throughout the day? In cases like this, the parent should be paying, it's their fault.