{"id":14769,"date":"2017-05-16T11:15:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T18:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=14769"},"modified":"2019-03-13T11:18:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T18:18:14","slug":"victoria-school-bans-cellphones-after-accommodating-them-doesnt-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=14769","title":{"rendered":"Victoria school bans cellphones after accommodating them doesn&#8217;t work"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"detailHeadline\">Central Middle School tried to find learning opportunities for cellphones, but it didn&#8217;t pan out<\/h2>\n<div class=\"byline\">\n<div class=\"bylineDetails\"><span class=\"authorText\">Liam Britten<\/span><span class=\"bullet\"> \u00b7 <\/span>CBC News<span class=\"bullet\"> \u00b7 <\/span><time class=\"timeStamp\" datetime=\"2017-05-16T06:04:24.675Z\">Posted: May 15, 2017 11:04 PM PT | Last Updated: May 15, 2017<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"placeholder\">\n<div class=\"placeholderImage aspect-56\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"loaded largeImage\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.2431746.1401371312!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/sexting-smartphone.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"imageMedia leadmedia-story full\"><span class=\"leadimage-caption\">The principal says even when students were told to keep their cell phones tucked away in their lockers, many would use them during bathroom breaks. (CBC)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<p>After trying to find ways of accommodating the devices, a Victoria middle school is completely banning cellphones in classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>Central Middle School principal Topher Macintosh says the school has tried to come up with a cellphone policy over the last few years that would allow students to use them during class to facilitate learning, but it simply wasn&#8217;t working out.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/entertainment\/locking-cell-phones-yondr-concerts-comedy-school-1.3845465\">Put that phone away! Locking cellphone pouch puts focus back on the live show<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;We found for the academic benefit we&#8217;re getting [is] outweighed by the negative,&#8221; he told <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/allpointswest\"><em>All Points West<\/em><\/a> host Robyn Burns. &#8220;We felt it was a fairly simple decision in the end.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Currently, students are allowed to keep cellphones in their lockers and retrieve them when a teacher has an activity that requires them.<\/p>\n<p>Macintosh says those activities have become fewer and farther between, and more often, students would simply sneak off to their lockers during a bathroom break and use their phones during class time.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/cellphone-children-schools-health-education-1.3745874\">Back to school: How young is too young for a cellphone?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He says those surreptitious smartphone sessions tend to lead to interactions creating &#8220;bad blood&#8221; between students, and are generally a distraction.<\/p>\n<p>Macintosh says parental support is going to be essential in making the ban work. He says most parents are supportive of the idea of leaving cellphones at home entirely.<\/p>\n<p>He says the school will be working to provide a secure storage option for cellphones at the school&#8217;s office for parents who want their kids to take a phone with them to school for safety reasons.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/sleep-cellphones-social-media-1.3474018\">Cellphone use to blame for teens lack of sleep, says psychiatrist<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hoping it will only apply to a small number of families,&#8221; said Macintosh, who added that a\u00a0survey will go out to parents to get feedback on the ban.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listen to the full interview:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><em>With files from CBC Radio One&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/allpointswest\">All Points West<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/cellphone-school-ban-victoria-1.4116609\">https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/cellphone-school-ban-victoria-1.4116609<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Central Middle School tried to find learning opportunities for cellphones, but it didn&#8217;t pan out Liam Britten \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: May 15, 2017 11:04 PM PT | Last Updated: May 15, 2017 The principal says even when students were told to keep their cell phones tucked away in their lockers, many would use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,103,433,6,23,44,355],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ban-on-phone-in-school","category-canada","category-cbc","category-cellular","category-school","category-victoria","category-victoria-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14770,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14769\/revisions\/14770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}