Is it safer for students to have access to their phones during a school lockdown or not? 

I just released a podcast episode that addresses this question, and coincidentally just last week, I hosted some girlfriends, one of whom serves on our school board, who shared with me that a mother had recently reached out with concerns about phone access during potential school emergencies. The mother expressed that she wanted her child to have a way to contact her directly.

My school board friend, who incidentally advocates for phones away for the day at school, asked me to explain why not allowing them might actually enhance safety.

As I started to tell her the many reasons, I could feel my heart start pounding because this is such an emotional topic for me. I feel the importance so deeply. School safety is critical, along with all the other reasons that phones need to be locked away during school hours. 

I share some quotes here from my conversations that are featured in yesterday’s 20-minute Screenagers Podcast, Why School Safety Experts Want Phone Bans. 

This includes a police officer, an elementary school principal, a superintendent, and a school safety expert who consults with schools across the country.

‍

But please do listen to the 20-minute podcast — it really is one of my favorite episodes. Listen Here: Apple Podcasts // Shopify // YouTube // Website

‍

Before I share quotes about why "Away for the Day" phone and smartwatch policies are critical for the safety of our students, our teachers, and everyone on school grounds, I want to share some survey results. 

While speaking at a school district on the East Coast recently, I asked parents to participate in an anonymous survey. One of the questions asked was whether they believed students were safer during a school lockdown if they had access to their phones or not.

I was pleased to see that the overwhelming majority of elementary and middle school parents knew that students are safer without phones or smartwatches during school hours.

Yet slightly over 30% of parents of high school students said that having phones was the safest choice. 

I lead with this because it is really important that we all start educating others on what is actually best practices.

(By the way, we need a nationally representative survey to be done on that question so that we can see how much work needs to be done to educate parents, teachers, and others about this topic.)

‍

Here are some quotes from people in the know that you can share with others. 

‍

Superintendent

‍

“One of the biggest arguments parents have is that kids should have access to phones, especially high school, during the day in the event of an emergency and a security breach. And, we tell them, no, the first thing we want to have is first responders in the building as soon as possible."

"We had a real-time emergency …We went into lockdown, and moments after that, students started communicating with their parents, texting, and calling from their cell phones. As a result, our first responders were arriving at the school, and we had parents lined up in our driveway, and the first responders literally couldn't get their vehicles to our school. The driveway was backed up all the way to the street."

‍

Police Officer

‍

“I do not like children having access to their phones directly in school because of the safety aspect of it. You can't get away from the information or the misinformation that gets presented. The slightest little rumor of a threat or the slightest statement that gets made, which isn’t investigated, leaves the school quicker than the police even get notification or before staff gets notified.”

“Even recently, we've experienced things like where we're investigating one incident or one potential threat. Something else is being relayed that we weren't even aware of through social media. And it's leaving the school before our school resource officers were even aware that it had occurred.”

‍

Elementary School Principal

‍

"When I was a principal at a high school, we had a lockdown occur one time, and because all of the students got on their phones immediately, the network of the school crashed, and then none of our phones worked.”

“I am not a proponent of cell phones, especially during an emergency situation."

‍

School safety expert who consults with schools across the country 

‍

"One of the biggest arguments parents have is that kids should have access to phones, especially high school, during the day in the event of an emergency and a security breach. And, we tell them, no, the first thing we want to have is first responders in the building as soon as possible. We have to speed up our responses to emergencies, not slow them down."

"I would like to see a policy where there's no phones allowed, bell to bell. Period. Put in the lockers or some other kind of system where there's accountability that those kids can't access them."

‍

‍

Questions to get the conversation started with your group or familiy:

1. Before talking about this, what did we all think was safer — access to phones or not?
2. What ideas do we have on how schools could have phones and smartwatches truly locked away for the day?
3. What if in classrooms (of all grade levels), there were special cabinets that could hold about 30 phones, and each morning students stopped by their assigned classroom where they put their phones for the day?

‍

This week on YouTube

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly, you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:

‍

‍