American high school teacher here (Midwest region). We implemented a policy this year banning cellphones in instructional spaces during instructional time. Enforceable by confiscation if teachers saw or heard a phone. We have a strong set of administrators who supported teachers in any case where there was student pushback. It has been a huge success in terms of limiting distractions during instructional time. All of our students are provided Chromebooks so there really isn’t much of an instructional reason to have phones anyway. It has also contributed to a drop in student-on-student behavior problems.
I do feel for the girl in this article for whom it was used as a coping mechanism for bullying. No policy comes with zero downsides. However, it sounds like she was allowed exceptions in certain cases, which is exactly what should happen.
Yep. Wisconsinite here (and a teacher as well). I have mixed feelings on this. I’d be fuming if a Republican governor pulled something like this and I generally think it’s a power governors shouldn’t have. However, when held against the context of the way GOP has operated within the letter of the law to entrench themselves within Wisconsin politics, I’m all for Democrats using tactics like this. GOP will use them and it’s unfair for everyone to expect Dems to take the high road at the expense of our policy priorities.
In my perfect world I’d get rid of both this power and the GOP gerrymander in Wisconsin