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Opinion: Where are your kids and why do they have their phones in class?

"Are you not concerned or are you not the least bit worried?"
stockimagephoneatnight
Cellphone at night.

I have two questions: one for the School District 57 board and one for parents.

First, for the SD57 board. Why are you allowing students to use cell phones during class? Last I checked it’s not against privacy rules to make students place their phones in a cabinet at the front of the class and retrieve them after class so why isn’t this being done? Many schools around North America do this so why not here? Is it more important for a student to see what’s on social media during class or to actually learn during class?

I’ve talked to teacher’s aides that spend all their time telling students to put their phones down and pay attention during class with mixed results. Some students listen others verbally abuse the TAs and others go further so again why is there no policy about cell phone use during class or do you leave it to a teacher or TA to deal with it or are you busy renaming another school?

Second question for parents. At night, do you know where your kids are? On several occasions over the past month, I have been awake at odd hours and will often go out for a coffee at one of the area 24 hr convenience stores or fast-food places and I’ve regularly seen well-dressed kids under the age of 15 walking the streets or hanging out at the convenience stores at 2 and 3 a.m. with other kids and sometimes young adults. So again do you know where your kids are at night? Are you not concerned or are you not the least bit worried? I might be old school but I had a curfew and respected it.

Dean Soiland

Prince George