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http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2015/6/2/hudson_teacher_cell_.html

The teacher in question became fed up when students would use their cell phones during class and not pay attention. So he went a step to far and bought and used a jammer in class. While I think that is wrong because a much easier solution exists, confiscating the phones of anyone using them in class, I do not think that he should be under fire for endangering students. The number 1 thing parents/students complained about was "what if I had to call 911" or "What if I needed to contact my child" and both those can be answered by "Use the school phones in the offices provided" or if you need to contact your child "Call the school and let them handle it so it doesn't distract the class". Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Did the range have an effect on more than just the classroom? If it was just the class, he should be applauded, not punished. If it caused an issue with nearby rooms that became a detriment to teachers on break who used cell phones to pay bills or contact family during free periods...that could be a problem.

The teacher is lucky they are not in jail as the FCC has federal laws which can include imprisonment... Probably will lose her job and ability to be employed in the future.

Under the U.S. rules, fines for a first offense ca­n range as high as $11,000 for each violation or imprisonment for up to one year, and the device used may also be seized and forfeited to the government.

While the FCC doesn't usually prosecute, someone who does so in such an overt way, with lots of witnesses and admission of guilt... might be a nice target for feds to make an example of...

Oh, those things are illegal? Ouch, then.

It apparently affected the entire school causing calls to drop and what not. And yes it is most definitely against the Law to block Signal using a jammer...unless your military and flying training missions over my FETHING HOUSE!

Jamming potential emergency signals and message is illegal.

Too bad, becausse I have long dreamed of building a cellphone that had a jammer built in that I could activate with the push of a button. It would be even more fun if it was directional and I could point it at a target.

Dreams.

 Easy E wrote:
Jamming potential emergency signals and message is illegal.

Too bad, becausse I have long dreamed of building a cellphone that had a jammer built in that I could activate with the push of a button. It would be even more fun if it was directional and I could point it at a target.

Dreams.

My biggest problem with the parents getting upset that they couldn't call their kids in an emergency is that the school has a phone line and can be reached just as easily.

If I were a teacher I would confiscate every kids phone the second it went off or they used it in class. If they wanted it back the parent would have to come in and pick it up.

 Ghazkuul wrote:
While I think that is wrong because a much easier solution exists, confiscating the phones of anyone using them in class, I do not think that he should be under fire for endangering students. The number 1 thing parents/students complained about was "what if I had to call 911" or "What if I needed to contact my child" and both those can be answered by "Use the school phones in the offices provided" or if you need to contact your child "Call the school and let them handle it so it doesn't distract the class". Anyone else have thoughts on this?

IIRC, there was a story a while back about a teacher getting into trouble with the school board over confiscating phones that were in use, despite school and classroom rules against it. I also remember another teacher, who didn't get in trouble, but did get pranked by his students because, if he noticed someone texting, he would "confiscate" the phone, and read the incoming text, aloud, to the whole class (nothing like public shaming).


I think the only "sure fire" way I've heard of to ensure that students are not using their phones in class is to use the white board. I saw a picture of a teacher who had made a "block" along the rail of the whiteboard, and each student was made to put their phone in a block along that rail. They could retrieve their phone at the end of class.


As for the parents' concerns about 911, needing to contact child, etc.... There's really nothing that a parent NEEDS to communicate to their spawn during school hours. If it's important enough that it needs to be given to them RIGHT. NOW. then it's actually important enough that it can wait to be said in person. Most other things that a parent could be getting to their child can be done by text, ie. "hey, I'm working late tonight, so you'll have to get a ride home from practice". That doesn't require instant attention and the student would receive it later.

Another thing I would point out is, many schools are understaffed in the offices, in a way... It's a pain in the arse for me to call my daughter's elementary school, as they have one of those aggravating automated systems (and you can never be directed to where you actually need to go) If you were able to streamline that a bit more, I think it would take even more ammo away from the parents who say they "need" to be able to communicate with their kids.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghazkuul wrote:

If I were a teacher I would confiscate every kids phone the second it went off or they used it in class. If they wanted it back the parent would have to come in and pick it up.

Depending on school district policy, that latter part would get you into some hot water. As I said earlier in my post, there was the one teacher who, at least temporarily, got into trouble for confiscating phones being used in class.


I think you could, however, have a "confiscation" where the student maintains eye contact with the phone (ie, sitting on top of the teacher's lecturing area/desk, on the whiteboard at the front of class), but cannot physically contact the phone until the end of the class period.

My rule in class is if I see a phone being used in class, it counts as an unexcused absence for the day. With three unexcused absences being allowed before a loss of a letter grade, the cell phone issue has been nonexistent.

I had a teacher break phones when the student was the only one in the classroom. It was the students word(usually a touble maker) or a Teachers word. Guess who won?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I had a teacher break phones when the student was the only one in the classroom. It was the students word(usually a touble maker) or a Teachers word. Guess who won?

What kind of teacher is ever alone in a classroom with a single student? That's just trouble waiting to happen.


And Gordon Schumway, I can think of several districts where threatening a student's grades would have no effect at all.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I had a teacher break phones when the student was the only one in the classroom. It was the students word(usually a touble maker) or a Teachers word. Guess who won?

What kind of teacher is ever alone in a classroom with a single student? That's just trouble waiting to happen.


And Gordon Schumway, I can think of several districts where threatening a student's grades would have no effect at all.

I teach at the college level so if they fail, that's money out of their ( or more likely their parents) pockets. At the high school level and below, I'm pretty sure my option would be frowned upon by the higher ups who just want to pass the students along. Plus the pressure by coaches can't be nice.

Faraday cages stop signals right? she should totally plaster the room in metal mesh

or would that be illegal to?

Joking aside kids really shouldnt be fething around with cell phones at school.

I remember a college history course where on Day one the professor brought in a big bucket of water and placed it next to his desk, he politely informed everyone to not use their phones in his class and if they had to, they were allowed to leave the class to do so.

Day 2 he threw some idiots phone right into the bucket and the best part was when the kid complained that he would "Talk to the dean" and the professor shouted right back in the kids face "TENURE" Made me LOL a bit at the time.

 Ghazkuul wrote:
I remember a college history course where on Day one the professor brought in a big bucket of water and placed it next to his desk, he politely informed everyone to not use their phones in his class and if they had to, they were allowed to leave the class to do so.

Day 2 he threw some idiots phone right into the bucket and the best part was when the kid complained that he would "Talk to the dean" and the professor shouted right back in the kids face "TENURE" Made me LOL a bit at the time.

That seems pretty extreme. I could see a professor failing a student or banishing him, but destruction of property goes too far.

Maybe my school was a bit different, though.

We had a history professor named Litwack who had taught there for forever. The first day he brought out the insane hardass act, telling us how he had flunked out students even though it meant they were drafted and died in Vietnam. Turned out he was a total pussycat. The only time he interrupted class due to student behavior was when a couple was having less than inconspicuous sex in the back of wheeler auditorium and everyone was snickering about it; his response was something like "get it out of your system. We'll wait."

Now if it had been professor Jowett, things would have gotten interesting.

It was definitely a bit extreme, destruction of personal property could have landed him on a police report. I respected the professor though because he gave us a verbal warning, he gave us a written warning in our course syllabus and he provided a warning to the student that day and he continued to act like a donkey.

Sometimes I wonder if America is going to fail spectacularly in the very near future, I make this broad statement based on my observations that the current general of US citizens feel that they are entitled to anything and have to do little to no work to achieve those entitlements. Following basic rules and laws are for other people. Everyone films things and spins them to show them in the best possible light.

If he was in Texas he just could have used corporal punishment!

At my daughter's school the rule is that children's phones have to be left in their lockers.

There have been only three fatalities and about 20 serious or minor injuries in the four years she has been at the school.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
At my daughter's school the rule is that children's phones have to be left in their lockers.

There have been only three fatalities and about 20 serious or minor injuries in the four years she has been at the school.

I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing with your use of the word "only." In my HS (350 graduating class) there were two deaths, both by natural causes (stupid god).

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
My rule in class is if I see a phone being used in class, it counts as an unexcused absence for the day. With three unexcused absences being allowed before a loss of a letter grade, the cell phone issue has been nonexistent.

When I taught apprenticeship classes, we had a similar rule. I taught a shop class and at any given time there were multiple tools that could easily maim or kill a person if they weren't paying attention to what they were doing. If a student was caught using a cell phone, they received an absence and after three absences, they would have to pay the Apprenticeship Committee a visit (which was something to be avoided). We didn't really have much a problem in the five years I taught, outside of a few isolated incidents.

Many parents think their child's right to a phone is greater than anything, even school rules. If the rules are no phones in class and you confiscate one from a child using one, the parent kicks off. They don't consider that their child was breaking sensible rules was the issue. Some parents are idiots, they feel their child's right to do what they like comes first. Once the phone is confiscated the parent will retrieve it and give it immediately back to the kid and take it no further.

Confiscating phones isn't such a great idea anyway. Firstly the kids won't give them up, it's like asking them to detach an arm. So the whole thing gets escalated until you end up throwing them out. And unless you have good senior management who will come to the class to back you up the child plays on their phone for the rest of the lesson anyway. Then the parent complains their kid isn't getting educated, suddenly it's your fault for not managing behaviour correctly (this is what happens in schools where management is poor, they certainly exist so every time I hear a story where a teacher has personally done something drastic I wonder why they've taken the matter into their own hands). Secondly, as soon as you take the phone you becone liable for it. So if it goes missing you're in the gak. Never mind the child shouldn't have had it in the first place, you don't want to be in the situation where a parent makes a claim against you.

It wasn't right for the teacher to use this device as its illegal and blocks other devices that should not be affected. But I can entitely sympathise with them if they felt their hands were tied and not able to address the problem in class. The teacher shouldn't feel like they had to resort to doing this, so why did they?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I had a teacher break phones when the student was the only one in the classroom. It was the students word(usually a touble maker) or a Teachers word. Guess who won?

"Show me on this doll where he touched you Timmy."

"Right here, right after he he broke my cell phone so I couldn't tell anyone." BAM!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghazkuul wrote:
I remember a college history course where on Day one the professor brought in a big bucket of water and placed it next to his desk, he politely informed everyone to not use their phones in his class and if they had to, they were allowed to leave the class to do so.

Day 2 he threw some idiots phone right into the bucket and the best part was when the kid complained that he would "Talk to the dean" and the professor shouted right back in the kids face "TENURE" Made me LOL a bit at the time.

Somehow I doubt that actually.

Yeah, a teacher that escalates by destroying property better not keep any of their own stuff in plain view or drive their own car to school.

I give kids one warning, if they get caught with it out again, I confiscate it.

In my previous school, I confiscated a phone and the kid (a pretty big 16 year old, taller than me) jumped on me and tried to wrestle me for the phone.

Luckily, teenagers are not as strong as they look and I was able to hold him at arms length until he got embarassed at not being able to overpower his nerdy science teacher and gave up.

When I reported it, he got a two day suspension and then came back boasting of having two days to play X Box. He would then stand very close to me or put his arm around me on entering my lesson to intimidate me. I got the union involved and he was removed from my class, but I had to then prepare work for him that he could do independently (essentially planning a new lesson for him specifically) and leave it for him. Sometimes he would show up and demand to be helped with a certain question or problem. He was allowed to sit outside the head of discipline's office and drink coffee while listening to techno on his headphones, which was basically luxury for him.

Needless to say, behaviour continued to trend downwards in that school and two more teachers were attacked before the year was over (one kid literally forcing his way into a staff room to try and punch a teacher).

When you are not supported by management, solutions like that look tempting, but this teacher is a fool for doing it. If I were in that situation again, I would ignore the rule unless I got support from management on enforcing it. Not worth the stress or hassle of a physical confrontation.

Luckily, teenagers are not as strong as they look and I was able to hold him at arms length until he got embarassed at not being able to overpower his nerdy science teacher and gave up.

Yargh.
Different times and places. If you tried to touch a teacher in my high school the rest of the men in there would have gleefully used it as an excuse to play Texas Two Step on your skull. Course we rioted in Jr. High so "anger management" was not one of our strong points.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
At my daughter's school the rule is that children's phones have to be left in their lockers.

There have been only three fatalities and about 20 serious or minor injuries in the four years she has been at the school.

I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing with your use of the word "only." In my HS (350 graduating class) there were two deaths, both by natural causes (stupid god).

This was the casualties that resulted from not having a mobile phone available, I mean.

KK pops dry British wit on us. Good show good show!

 Frazzled wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I had a teacher break phones when the student was the only one in the classroom. It was the students word(usually a touble maker) or a Teachers word. Guess who won?

"Show me on this doll where he touched you Timmy."

"Right here, right after he he broke my cell phone so I couldn't tell anyone." BAM!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghazkuul wrote:
I remember a college history course where on Day one the professor brought in a big bucket of water and placed it next to his desk, he politely informed everyone to not use their phones in his class and if they had to, they were allowed to leave the class to do so.

Day 2 he threw some idiots phone right into the bucket and the best part was when the kid complained that he would "Talk to the dean" and the professor shouted right back in the kids face "TENURE" Made me LOL a bit at the time.

Somehow I doubt that actually.

That's your right as a free person in this world. While I think less of you for doubting a funny story that I had happen to me in college I will fight to the death to allow you the freedom to act like a male appendage

Hey I've been a male appendage since before talking was a thing!

It may have workers but also jams any nonm land line 911 calls, and puts lives at potential risk.

It may also jam a teachers mobile that's linked to a school shooting aleart system or mass messaging system in case of lockdowns etc.

I can see why it's illegal, phonesa are a problem but that's however ruined there career chances if they get a offence that serious on record, its hardly minor.

Got to be ways to solve the problem though, maybe filtered advanced systems that don't,t block 911 or set emergency numbers during classroom time and allow free use at breaks and lunch.