After four months of research, the Policy Subcommittee brought a draft cell phone policy to the School Committee for a first reading on 5/23/24. We encourage all families to review the Subcommittee's presentation. Much of the information below comes from that slideshow.
This Thursday, the School Committee will hold a second reading and vote on the draft policy.
In District Update #91, Policy Subcommittee Chair Melissa Gerry invited families to share their concerns and thoughts about a new policy. Five families contacted Ms. Gerry: Three in favor a new policy, and two with concerns that were similar to concerns heard from families in other districts.
If you would like to share your thoughts about the proposed policy at this week's School Committee meeting, you may do so during citizens' comments. Please contact Taffy Bassett-Fox in advance to let her know you intend to share comments.
If the School Committee approves the policy, the Administrative Team will begin planning implementation of the new policy for the new school year.
The most likely scenario is that we will begin using Yondr pouches. All students at PVRS and some students at the elementary schools would receive the pouches, which we can purchase with grant funding.
The Administrative Team will develop proposed language for the student handbooks about use of the pouches. The School Committee would then need to approve that language over the summer.
Well before the new school year begins, all students, staff, and families would have clear information about what implementation of the pouches would look like.
In the last District Update and at the School Committee presentation, the Policy Subcommittee shared the family concerns they observed most frequently in their research. The concerns echoed those that our staff believe families were most likely to have.
We have included below some of our responses to these possible concerns.
Afterschool schedule changes
What if my student's dismissal plan changes?
What if there is a change to a practice or game schedule?
- Families can call their school's Main Office to let them know of afterschool changes. All phone calls will be answered by a staff person, or any messages will be returned within 10 minutes.
- Our district will be implementing ParentSquare, a widely-used communication tool for schools and families, by the end of this summer. ParentSquare should make sending and receiving information with school even easier.
Access to technology
My student needs to listen to music to focus on their academic work.
My student says the Chromebooks don't work fast enough (or don't allow them to take photographs in Ecology class, or don't have the right apps, etc.)
- Our Director of Technology has confirmed that the district can provide a solution to all of the technology-related issues identified by students.
- If we need additional iPads or other devices to meet specific needs, we will buy them.
Teaching responsible use
How will students learn how to use their phones responsibly if you don't allow them to use phones at school?
- From Away for the Day
We know that the control center for impulse control, the frontal lobe, is not fully developed in middle school-aged children. When we say “kids just need to learn how to handle phone use in places like classrooms,” we are setting many kids up for failure. We will help them more by giving them self-control challenges in which they can succeed.
Safety concern
What if something bad happens at school?
I want my child to be able to contact me or emergency services right away.
- This is perhaps the most frequently heard concern.
- Our law enforcement partners from the Western Mass School Safety Task Force have stated that they do not want students on their cell phones during a school emergency.
- A safety expert quoted by Away for the Day shared a similar perspective:
Using phones can distract people from the actions they need to be taking in the moment, such as running, hiding and listening to directions from first responders.
The sound of the phone, whether ringing or on vibrate, could alert an assailant to a hiding place.
The shooter could be monitoring the event themselves on social media and find more victims or elude capture that way.
Victims and worried family members trying to get through can jam communications, interfering with first responders.
Emotional support
My student has been struggling with anxiety and needs to be able to contact me for emotional support. How will they manage all day if they can't reach me?
- Our schools have excellent counseling staff who are skilled at supporting students with anxiety and other emotional needs. We encourage families with concerns about their children's ability to cope at school to meet with staff to develop support plans for their students.
For the past two years, the district has hosted before and afterschool programs operated by the Collaborative for Educational Services.
Unfortunately, the enrollment numbers have stayed quite low, and we will not be able to run the programs next year.
It was not easy to make this decision. We have tried to find creative solutions that would allow us to keep the programs operating - but no viable options have appeared given the low numbers. See below for average daily enrollment.
BES
Before School: 8
After School: 10
NES
Before School: 3
After School: 9
The district has sought to make the programs as accessible as possible. Using Covid-era grant funding, we have been providing an 80-90% subsidy for families that qualify.
We will continue to research options that, in future years, could help us open the programs once again.
From the Marshall Memo: A Tribute to Adele Faber
Adele Faber, a former high-school teacher who helped countless parents and educators communicate more effectively with young people, died April 24th at age 96. Faber and Elaine Mazlish wrote the 1980 book, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk
On parenting
- I was a wonderful parent before I had children. I was an expert on why everyone else was having problems with theirs. Then I had three of my own.
- Children don’t need more things, they need more love.
- It’s not helpful when parents respond with more intensity than the child feels.
- The attitude behind our words is as important as the words themselves.
- Sometimes it’s more important to be kind than to be right.
- Children often experience praise of a brother or siter as a put-down of themselves. They automatically translate, ‘Your brother is so considerate’ into ‘Mom thinks I’m not.’ It’s a good idea to save our enthusiastic comments for the ear of the deserving child.
- It’s a bittersweet road we parents travel. We start with total commitment to a small, helpless human being. Over the years we worry, plan, comfort, and try to understand. We give our love, our labor, our knowledge, and our experience – so that one day he or she will have the inner strength and confidence to leave us.
On autonomy
- Never do for a child what he can do for himself.
- When we give children advice or instant solutions, we deprive them of the experience that comes from wrestling with their own problems.
- Support your child through his or her struggles, rather than rescuing them from every difficulty.
- Our role as parents is to be our child’s emotional coach, not to fight their battles for them.
- Children grow less anxious and develop more self-control when they realize they can manage their feelings and problems themselves.
- The more that children believe they have a say, the more they are willing to take responsibility for their behavior.
On emotions
- Behind every behavior, there is a feeling. Behind every feeling, there is a need.
- It’s hard for children to change their behavior when their feelings are completely ignored.
- Not till the bad feelings come out can the good ones come in.
- It’s important to make a distinction between allowing feelings and allowing actions. We permit children to express all their feelings. We don’t permit them to hurt each other. Our job is to show them how to express their anger without doing damage.
- Connection is our deepest human need.
On praise and criticism
- Praise should focus on the child’s effort, not his or her abilities.
- Children become very uncomfortable with praise that evaluates them. They push it away. Sometimes they’ll deliberately misbehave to prove you wrong.
- When a kid is starving, even cotton candy is better than nothing. But why settle for so little? We want to give our children the kind of emotional nourishment that will help them become independent thinkers and doers.
- Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, start by acknowledging what a child has accomplished. Then point out what still needs to be done.
On support
- A child needs encouragement like a plant needs water.
- Encouragement can be the oxygen of the soul.
- When a person is drowning, it’s not the time to give swimming lessons.
- Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it.
- When our children feel safe around us, they can open their hearts to us.
- To be loved equally is somehow to be loved less. To be loved uniquely – for one’s own special self – is to be loved as much as we need to be loved.
