School Cellphone Bans Have Buzz, but May Be Hard to Enforce

A lot of urban schools don’t provide school buses for most students, and/or rely on city public buses with safety issues. So the cars around at first/last bell are still pretty dense. I totally agree though, and would never pick an elementary/middle school not within walking distance.

I could see the value later (my kid is 7) of a feature or watch phone for after/before school emergencies, like if they have activities after school or are walking home on their own. Of course, disable during school hours, a lot of phones support that via parental controls these days (but you still have to allow 911, although not a bad compromise).

Your opinions do not make these things "helicopter parenting"

> There exist systems that should be taking care of communicating the status of students in an emergency scenario

How is the school going to know the status of all students in an active shooter situation?

Phones in school aren't a problem if you, as a parent, teach proper use and enforce rules. The school can help here too.