Phone Confiscated in Primary School

Bit of a difference between a comic and a mobile phone ....


And that link is scarily similar ,unfortunate that things have to go this far
 
As a parent myself, I don't normally have a lot of sympathy with teachers. However in this case school rules is school rules and you should abide by them - why should you be the exception?
I have little sympathy for you - I am sure that you were informed at the beginning of the school year.
As for buying another one - be prepared to lose it again.
 
I do,nt think we are getting the full picture here. I would like to hear the headmasters version of events. I am sure he had good reason for his actions.
 
Posters seem more or less unaminous that the Principal's action was, prima facie, reasonable in the circumstances presented. As to the legality of same I would hazard to guess that are school rules as to use / possession of mobile phones on school property and that the Principal has ample scope for confiscation as a temporary measure (one month seems reasonable - even excessively lenient)

I think that our police force have more immediately demanding activities to engage their time such as the odd gangland killing perhaps?

To answer the orginal poster I suggest that his friend indeed takes the matter further and seeks advice - although not of a legal nature. Any one suggest a good parenting class?

Can we consider thread closed?
 
Almost every school has rule about mobilees so i am sure the OP's son broke the rules in this case. SO he should be prepared to pay the fine e.g. give up the phone for the month or whatever.

What's the problem?
 
Theo Goon said:
Almost every school has rule about mobilees so i am sure the OP's son broke the rules in this case. SO he should be prepared to pay the fine e.g. give up the phone for the month or whatever.

What's the problem?
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quite right! i would have to agree.. Rules are rules. im sure he'll know now not to take mobiles to school.
 
As an ex-manager of a rather large mobile phone retailer in Ireland I feel that primary school children are far too young to have a mobile phone. I have tried to explain to parents the danagers of letting their child have a mobile phone but every time the child would kick off and abuse their parents infront of the whole shop to get what they want.
I'm sorry but when I was in primary school we had a 1 payphone and if parents are so worried give your child 50c to make that all important call.

Then again if the school did nothing and mobile phone usage became an issue it wouldn't be long before it's know as the school that did nothing for it's students. Everyone is quick to play the blame game.
 
Was looking for information rather than opinions, but you are entitled to them .....


As for parenting classes , he has three kids, and raises them very well, so less of the personal comments.
 
I would think that schools have the right to have rules adhered to. Confiscating property is not an uncommon problem where this is not so. I would be very reluctant to have gardai involved - I would doubt its a crime to remove something which causes a distraction in a learning environment and on a personal note the majority of us went to school without mobiles - 20 cents to use a public telephone which is normally available within the school grounds is an alternative.

That said, this happened to a friends daughter who attends a school in Rathmines. The parents went to the Principal, who insisted that the one month rule applied. Their child was adamant that the phone had been off but am unsure if the parents fully believed that! They got the phone back on the condition that it was turned off during school hours.
 
crumdub12 said:
And yes the world has gone mad , where a school believe it has the right to illegally hold onto someones property.
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In that case it's been mad a long time; schools were confiscating items 40 years ago and more!

Of course, in those days, the parents backed up the school's discipline and abided by the rules..................
 
It's not really fair to compare the confiscation of comics etc., years ago, to that of a mobile phone today. If your comic was taken away, your parents didn't need to know. However, how does the child explain away a mobile phone when his/her parents probably call him/her on it regularly. The game's up so the child is better off telling the parents about the incident.

If the child was in the toilets with the phone turned off, why was it confiscated? Was there a teacher in the toilets? If there is a no mobile phone rule, then parents and children have to abide by that. If, however, the children in the school are allowed to bring mobiles, then I think the Principal is over the top.

It's a different time out there now for both parents and children and a child can get into trouble even if not of his/her making. At that time a mobile can be invaluable. For example, if parents work shift and might be late picking the child up, it's better to call or text and tell the child where to wait. This is a safety issue and I think we can all agree that children are not as safe in our society as they once were.

I'd go back to the Principal again and try to work something out. It was a bit cheeky to be told to buy a new phone IMO. Talk about encouraging the 'throw away' society!
 
Hi Crumbdub12

How old is the child? 4? 5? 6? 10? 12? 14? 15? 18?

Is there a school policy on mobile phones?

Marion
 
The child is 12, and I think the principal has wiped her hands of the issue.

I advised my friend not to get garda involved, I think this will really escalate the problem, and may cause son some problems into the future, and am not comfortable about legal advice, but he feels very strongly about this.

This is why I was looking for information, have you heard about anythng like this before...


Gordanus,

If my friend believed his son had was using phone, he would have got a hiding, he does not bring his children up to break rules , but he feels that he was unfairly treated, and is acting as such.
 
In my school we had strict rules on jewelry & make up wearing.

Any girl caught wearing make up was handed a baby wipe & ordered it off. Likewise with nail polish.

Any girl wearing in excess of the limit of jewlery had it confiscated for the ENTIRE term. There was a lot of valuable gold confiscated while I was school & girls would have had to explain what happened to it.

Parents never got involved, although rights of 'property' & 'person' as such were at issue. Rules were rules & we all abided or paid the price. Discipline is absolutely necessary to provide a good educational environment & although we may have felt 'wronged' at the time, we probably learned a bit about the way the world works.
 
I know of some schools where mobile phones are completely banned. Students can hand in their phones to the school secretary if there is an an urgent need to make contact with the home. Parents sign the school policy at the start of the year. Some schools introduced the policy precisely because of serious misuse of the phones in the school toilets. Students were being filmed by camera phone and the photos were then sent to mobiles of other students. This is an insidious form of bullying. Many schools will only return a confiscated phone at the end of the term.

I agree with this policy because essentially it is enforced to protect the children while they are in loco parentis.

Marion
 
I think it's a good idea to hand the phones in to the school secretary. Best of both worlds really. Children are contactable before and after school hours. While in school, it's as easy to ring the Principal in an emergency as it is to contact the child directly. Probably better in fact as the child can officially be taken from class straight away.

Crumdub, if I was a child and thought I'd get a hiding I'd become a very proficient liar overnight!!
 
Again, without trying to sound demeaning, Jewellery and a phone are different. Why should the school take your Jewellery, they have no rights, (Customs , Garda with receipt), they must not trust parents.

The Tallaght Echo had a front page last week about a girl that was nearly abducted in Fettercairn, times have changed .

The teacher who confiscated the phone stated the phone was off.

If the school had an area you could safely leave phones, this would be the ideal , but budgets etc... , this may not be viaible.
 
primary kids should not have phones ! full stop. i have never heard such rubbish from parents. no wonder we have so many delinquents / spoilt brats. get a grip, get rid of the phone. kids love to show off to each other and this is just another thing to show off with. can't you see that ? you are only encouraging bigger probs for your child. next they will be doing a bit of happy slapping etc.
 
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