The Staples High School PTA Executive Committee wrote a letter regarding superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice’s proposed cell phone ban. It was to be read at last Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.
When the session was canceled, the letter was emailed to all BOE members. A member shared it without consent, and it was published by a local media outlet.
The Staples PTA Executive Committee says: “To ensure transparency, we would greatly appreciate it if ‘06880’ shares this letter in its entirety with the Westport community. Anyone wishing to engage in further discussion should email us at shs_pta@westportps.org.”
Dear Members of the Westport BOE:
We, the members of the Staples High School PTA Executive Board, write to you as a united group concerning Superintendent Scarice’s proposed bell-to-bell cell phone (and personal device) ban at Staples High School.
For context, we are deeply committed to Westport Public Schools. We are the mothers of 25 current Staples students, 10 Staples graduates, and 11 kids rising from elementary and middle school.
Collectively we’ve spent 181 years inside of WPS, and our members have volunteered on 40 WPS executive PTA boards, including 15 turns as president. You’d be hard pressed to find a group more invested, with more historical knowledge, and with more school spirit than the current Staples PTA.
Cell phones are currently allowed, in certain places and times, at Staples High School.
First, we do not support the personal use of cell phones in the classroom. We believe kids should not have unfettered access to their phones, nor should they use phones for any unapproved personal reason inside of the classroom. That said, we unanimously oppose a school-wide cell phone (and personal device) ban, and we unanimously oppose the purchase of Yondr bags.
As you consider the various options on the road ahead, we feel it important to share 3 requests made to Superintendent Scarice at a meeting on March 19th:
- That separate community conversations be planned between parents — one for K-8, and another for 9-12.
- That a committee be formed, consisting of teachers, admins, students and parents.
- That the survey be sent after the community conversation. We are disappointed that none were realized.
You are already aware of our concerns for the replacement of cell phones inside the classroom as integrated by teachers. Many among our Staples staff count on – and expect – phones to be used by students as cameras, video recorders, calculators, scanners, and more. No workaround has been presented for these uses.
Regarding the wuperintendent’s justification for a ban, we maintain – based on hundreds of conversations with parents, students and even teachers – that there is not a cell phone problem inside of Staples High School.
Further, while there is a policy governing cell phone use, it is rarely enforced, largely up to teacher discretion, and unknown to most students and parents.
Should the WPS BOE deem Staples a candidate for tighter cell phone regulations, then why not just tighten the rules? And have students – and their parents – sign a code of conduct, just like we do for internet use and plagiarism. We are confident this is a prudent place to start.
We believe students should have access to their phones during lunch and free periods. We’ve heard you when you say that the lunchroom is a good place to have a conversation and “just talk.”
But if you were to visit the Staples cafeteria, you’d see that’s exactly what they do: they talk. Even with their phones on their person.
And please understand cell phones are how our students find one another in the lunchroom. It’s a huge space with hundreds of kids on a rotating schedule. They use their cells to find their friends, then sit and talk.
These are not Staples students. But they could be.
Much of this conversation relates to social media usage. The Staples PTA does not believe students should use–or have access to–social media during classroom time.
We are surprised that the Westport Public Schools do not block these sites off of the district networks. That seems like an easy solution. In addition to considering a clearer cell phone policy, we ask that you consider blocking these sites before a bell to bell ban.
Most concerning of the proposed cell phone ban is the cost associated with Yondr bags. Wilton Public Schools spent $80,000 with Yondr (not $1,800 as reported by the Westport Journal) – with a smaller student population (1,200 at Wilton HS versus Staples’ 1,700+), and magnetized the outside of their one school entrance. Staples uses 5 separate student entrances.
That doesn’t even take into account the manpower needed to lock and unlock the Yondr “stations” multiple times during each school day, and the staff needed to maintain the bags themselves. If Yondr bags are to be used, it’s prudent to plan extra head count to the Staples staff for these roles. And they are a recurring cost.
Yondr bags have a limited shelf life. and every freshman class will need new ones, at a cost of $25-30 per unit. That doesn’t account for lost and broken bags (currently at a rate of 2/week reported in Wilton).
Students entering Northbridge High School in Massachusetts present their Yondr pouches — with phones inside — to be locked. (Photo/Allan Jung for Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
Has anyone determined where the Yondr magnets will be mounted? They are affixed to concrete poles outside of Wilton High School; the Staples facade is glass and brick. Are there construction costs associated with bringing Yondr to Staples?
Finally, we know that the Staples population will soar to well over 1,800 in the next few years, and so we ask, what are the actual costs, both for now and into the future?
As an overall question: What is the perceived defined problem, and what is the measurable solution? We believe that a cell phone ban is a movement–applicable to elementary and middle schools–as opposed to an actual Staples problem, and without a clear issue to solve or goal to meet, this is all just symbolic.
We also maintain that our Staples students are bright, motivated, eager to learn, gracious with their time and community support, and overall good citizens. The Staples PTA is profoundly confident that if given structured rules around cell phone usage inside the classroom, our students will rise to occasion, without requiring a punitive, prison-like environment.
That is a testament to everyone involved in their educational journey, and why Staples is the #1 high school in the state. So let’s treat these students as the young adults they are.
Let’s give them parameters and structure, but most importantly, let’s give them latitude. Let’s trust them with their free time, to make good decisions, and embody the Westport Public Schools’ value system.
Let’s work together to empower them.
Sincerely,
Jodi Harris, Co-President
Stefanie Shackelford, Co-President
Elena Caggiano, VP-Past President
Marie Tyber, VP-Secretary
Lara Willis, VP-Treasurer
Michelle Macris, VP-Treasurer
Aileen Brill, VP-Ways & Means
Jenny Sydor, VP-Ways & Means
Ying Stafford, VP- Communications Sandy Srihari, VP-Volunteers
Tracy Benton, VP-Volunteers
Karina Betfarhad, VP-Graduation
Amie Peck, VP-Graduation
Pamela Bernstein, VP-Community Outreach
Maria Mulvehill, VP-Community Outreach
Caroline Hendley, VP-Member at Large