Student cellphone use a cause for concern for Baltimore County schools

BALTIMORE - Baltimore County school leaders are discussing ways to win the battle against cellphone use in the classrooms.

Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers is working in collaboration with the Teachers Association of Baltimore County and other stakeholders are having conversations that will eliminate the students' in-school distractions.

"Smartphones and school time simply do not mix," Rogers said. "Sixteen BCPS middle and high schools have volunteered to pilot a new program utilizing pouches to restrict cellphone use as a way to reduce distractions and disruptions in the classroom."

The Teacher's Association of Baltimore County and other school unions will meet five times over the course of this school year with the district leadership to discuss various solutions to combat the issue of cellphone distractions.

"Impact on instructional time"

Advocates say cellphone use during school hours creates several safety issues for students, including recording fights, online bullying and obsession with social media.

Instead, parents say the students' attention should be on their teachers rather than on their phones.

"The impact on instructional time, distractions, safety issues as it relates to students being open to the internet," Ramona Basilio, with the Baltimore County Council PTA.

"It's the privacy concerns," said Cindy Sexton, President of the Teacher's Association of Baltimore County. "People are being recorded without their knowledge or certainly without their permission."

"It's about their future"

Parents like Folake Osoba, who has a 6th and 11th grader, say the cellphone effort will take an all-hands-on-deck approach starting at home.

"Try to talk to them about why we say no to this, not because we don't love them, but it's about their future too, their future starts now," Osoba said.

Simone Volikas, the Vice President of the Dulaney High School PTA, says parental involvement and engagement is a huge help to teachers.

"There's rules already in place by BCPS and I do think we put too much pressure on teachers all the time," Volikas said. "We need to bring respect back."

Parents say the social media generation is evolving with fast-growing technology and educators and parents are embattled in their fight to protect the minds of our future.

"If they rely on all of this cellphone usage from now until kingdom come, what is going to happen to their future? What is going to happen to us as parents?" Osoba said.