Will the Mississippi Legislature ban cellphones in schools?
State Senator Briggs Hopson (D- Delta Point Restaurant) sponsored a bill that will allow schools to restrict cell phone usage.
SB #2151 decreed schools
shall develop and adopt specific policies to ban the possession or restrict the use of cell phones by students during class or while under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of the school.
The bill allowed exemptions for medical reasons, presence of danger, or if it is required in a student's individual education plan. The bill will take effect July 1, 2025 if passed into law.
The Senate Education Committee tightened the bill as it added penalties for schools who do not adopt a cell-phone restriction policy:
(b) If a school or school district fails to adopt and transmit a policy as required in this subsection, the State Department of Education shall deduct one (1) day's worth of the school's or district's funds under the total funding formula for each day after January 1, 2026, that the school or district is noncompliant.
State Senator Hopson said no one spoke to him in opposition to the bill.
The committee passed the bill. It now sits on the Senate calendar awaiting action. Text & history of bill.
Kingfish note: The Senate should add a provision that gives schools the explicit authority to seize cell phones and hold them for a period determined by the school. The legislature should pass the bill.
30 comments:
More arranging of deck chairs on the sinking Titanic.
What the legislature really needs to do it what most Asian schools do. Permanently segregate the disruptive students. Make every school district have separate class schedules for the C-F students and A-B students. It wont be about the segregating by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character.
Ought to ban them everywhere. A pox on society.
Wish we could un-invent cell phones and social media. Garbage.
So much for the first amendment. And you want the schools to be ok with stealing phones?
Used to be called, I believe, tracking; I.e. the very best students were placed together in one class, the next best in another, and so on down the line to the knuckle-dragging cretins. That way, the cretins didn’t disrupt the better students, and there was none of that silly shit about the best students would teach the worse ones and lift them up.it would be wise and efficient to return to the practice, which, of course, means that the education establishment will never in a thousand years do it.
Let the best students have phones, the worse ones can have something to aspire to if they bone up and test well enough to win promotion to the Premier League.
How will they report active shooters?
I like the idea of no cell phones in class. Kind of dumb that they were allowed in the first place. Some other schools outside of MS have done this and seen good results. I dont agree with some having them and some not. Just more reasons to provoke fights.
@11:30 Absolutely they should. These kids don't need phones in classrooms. We made it hundreds of years with no phones in classrooms. We can still do it now. What are you even talking about first amendment anyway? They can stand on a corner and and hoop and holler all they want, after school.
Now just wait a minute. How is my Bubba going to be able to bully the wimps and pass test answers back and forth?
Schools are already seizing phones. My son had his phone confiscated at Madison Central. He got it back later, but they will take them if teachers see students using them in class.
Can they be banned from the workplace as well?
Students have the perfect tool to cheat on tests and totally distract themselves during class, and there is a debate on whether or not to ban them?!? That’s why our schools are churning out illiterate kids.
And 11:30, cut the hyperbole, this is not a first amendment issue. My teachers would not allow me to use cheat notes during tests or even whisper answers back and forth with a classmate, but I can promise you that did not impinge on my first amendment rights.
Funny, colleges are using apps on phones to increase student engagement in the classroom. Apps like TopHat and CampusKnot (a Mississippi start-up) are used all over the country.
Not to mention that most school districts now require iPads or laptops in the classroom. But heaven forbid that we actually use the tech that they are already familiar with.
This legislation is a solution looking for a problem. A teacher can already ban a cell phone in the class if so desired.
Schools already have authority to ban or restrict cell phones[ but unfortunately not the will ] Legislature providing exceptions will render the law useless as parents will help students take advantage. Every student will have a " medical; " or some other exception. Cell phones in schools are a scourge to education in our country.
They should have never been allowed in the first place. These kids have no social skills and the grades seem to go down every year. The students are not using their phones to further their education. They are texting their friends and posting on Tiktok. Get back to the basics of education without distraction and maybe for once Mississippi won't be on the bottom.
Dang, you mean I cannot use my cell phone in class, but wear pajamas and house shoes!
Better have some language in there that specifically states what teachers and school employees should do, since teachers can’t expel or suspend kids, and they don’t want to bother administrators with write up’s about cell phones unless the State and school districts really care.
Some of us have kids that do their work, make their grades, mind their business, and can have their phones without any issue. It’s a shame that they have to be punished for others’ irresponsibility.
If somebody did the research, they would find some correlation - and yes, causation of - this bill. Higher ed in Mississippi is suffering terrible enrollment numbers because the youth don't want to work. They're far too used to being on their phones AND iPads all through K-12 to keep them occupied, but they're learning nothing. They drop out once they hit college territory because you actually have to pay attention and think. They thought that "dual credit enrollment" (college credits while in high school) was going to solve the higher ed enrollment problem, but that was a bust. (Over 30% of Community College enrollments are actually high schoolers).
The MS Legislature is completely full of shit, and they think everyone else are idiot assholes.
If your child was in lockdown due to an active shooter, I'm pretty sure you'd want a way to contact your child...during and after.
You obviously know nothing about the first amendment to the Constitution. You doubt believe in a student's right to wear a halter top or a jock strap to class.
Amen. I agree 100%
Oh stop it. My little one is just perfect. Just stop. There is no reason a kid should have a phone in the classroom. Social media, games, cheating, not paying attention, and the helicopter parents.
Has it dawned on you yet, in an active shooter scenario, that your kid could be hiding and his/her cellphone going off would actually call the shooter's attention to your kid?
9:55 No, as they currently keep their phones on silent throughout the day as required by the school.
Oh good grief! Kid does not need phone while in class. Period. You are in school to learn. Drop the damn phone in the principle's office on the way it, pick it up on the way out. If the parents cant seem to "break away" from their "baby" then go see a shrink.
As 3:57pm points out, most of this is about the parents' insecurities, and not the kids' even wanting to have the phones. Home schooling is the future of education so get ready parents!
I was really shocked to see parental friends of mine argue so vehemently for their kids to have a phone during school hours.
Sure seems like parental insecurity and their own (likely accurate) concerns that they have not prepared these kids to handle any adversity as others suggest.
One thing I know about kids 1:15 is that they sure do follow all the rules without fail.
So thank God the school makes them put their phones on silent.
That clearly solves 9:55's concerns.
As long as the kids know to get under their desk in case of a nuclear attack, there ought not be no prollem.
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