It’s early 2018, and there have already been over ten reported school shootings.  There are many actions to be taken in response to these tragedies, but taking phones from teachers during class time shouldn’t be one of them.  Communication is extremely important in times like those, and if a teacher doesn’t have a way to contact someone, it could be extremely costly. Teachers should be allowed to have their phones with them in the classroom.  In a situation like this, teachers are probably going to be worried about the children and themselves, so they most likely won’t be in a state to use the school phone.

If teachers are allowed to have their phones, they will have quick and easy access to phone numbers they have saved if they need to make or take a call.  This shouldn’t give them access to be on their phone during time of instruction. It is, however, useful if there is something tragic happening at the school or in the teacher’s life, it is important to have communication as quickly as possible.  If teachers weren’t allowed to have phones with them, an emergency can take more time than needed, when there wouldn’t be much time anyway.

Put this into perspective: A teacher has a close relative that is extremely sick and at the hospital.  If he or she wanted to know any news about the relative, they would most likely want to receive that personally, because it is a very personal thing.  If any message had to be sent through the school, word could easily get out even if the teacher wanted only few others to know. In addition to this being a way of safety and quick communication, it could also serve as a way of learning about a teacher.  The amount of times and ways a teacher would use their phone in class could help determine to the principal or boss what the teacher is like. Things like work ethic and behavior can be found this way. If the teacher is reported from students to always be using the phone for unimportant reasons or using it too often, it can be concluded that the teacher needs to be told to change, or be punished.

One of the main points made when talking about teachers having access to cell phone use is: The students can’t use their phones in class, so why can the teachers?  This is the teacher’s job, so they shouldn’t be constantly texting or calling other people, as anyone would do at almost any job. It is still important that the teacher has their phone with them, in case of emergency.  It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. It has also been said that a teacher that is constantly on their phone during class shows inappropriate work behavior that the students could acquire from watching it happen so often.  When this happens, it should be reported so that the teacher can be put in the place that they need to be and so the students have a better learning experience.

Teachers take responsibility for the students that are in their classes throughout the day.  Having access to their cell phone makes it that much safer for the students they are responsible for.  Almost every week there is news about school related tragedies. Students and teachers need as much protection as they can get, because no matter what anyone does to try to stop something like that, there’s no way to truly prevent it.  If a tragedy like the ones that have been happening happened at your school, would you want a teacher to be able to have access to their cell phone to call for help?