Hello to all, As part of the NYC community where this issue has caused a bit of a firestorm among parents and caused Andy to open the floor to the discussion, I grateful for all of the insight offered here. >My district has an established policy that all electronic devices from CD >players to cell phones are considered as 'contraband' and are not allowed at >school....There is no answer except for adults to act like adults and follow >laws and policies as established. I agree in principle with the latter statement. Unfortunately what happened here was a unilateral and selective enforcement of a policy put into place before cel phones became ubiquitous. There are a number of questions that have not been answered in a forthright manner by our Mayor and Department of Education as to why there need be a citywide edict to control this technology with police enforcement as opposed to allowing school handle things internally. This has meant the searching of our children, which obstensibly is to prevent weapons from entering the schools. Thus far approximately 5-10 knives have been confiscated (thank goodness) and over 800 cel phones and parents are still very concerned. The 800 lb. gorilla of this story is the September 11th which changed the way in which New Yorkers in particular view keeping in contact with their progeny. Mind you, cel phones were useless for many of us in the metropolitan area that day due to damage sustained to the comminucations infrastructure but that is another story. Distraction in the classroom or potential tool for education, the cel phone debate here has an underlying context which get people amped up when our elected and select officials aren't straight with us. Paul Mondesire [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message ---- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 5:53:05 PM Subject: Re: [DDN] Cell-phone carrying students You have hit the nail on the head. As an experienced educator (26 years in the classroom), I have seen it all. The root of the problem is not the phone - it is the owner/holder of the phone. My district has an established policy that all electronic devices from CD players to cell phones are considered as 'contraband' and are not allowed at school. In reality students blatantly walk down the halls on cell phones, MP3 players hooked to couples (one earphone apiece), pagers, etc daring any adult to challenge them. We are told to "ask" the student to put the item away but there are absolutely no consequences if they do not. I even had a student text her mother while in class because she didn't like the seat I had assigned her to. The mother showed up at the school threatening to shoot me for harassing her daughter. There is no answer except for adults to act like adults and follow laws and policies as established. This is why the teaching profession is in danger and many of us are leaving prior to retirement. A Public School Teacher Charlotte, NC _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
