Cell Phones and Cigarettes

I have some concerns with the new rules for schools as reported by the CBC. The biggest concern is that the funding cuts came Friday, but yet another cell phone ban is the big news, and no money is left for cleaning the air. 

As a teacher, both cell phones and cigarettes being accepted without question and without boundaries is a problem. Well, students aren't officially allowed to smoke on the property, but we created a nice space for them, kids as young as 13, to smoke just on the other side of the property line out back to keep them from loitering on public property at the front of the school, which wouldn't look good. The same thing happened as a student in the 80s. It's still perfectly legal for children to smoke -- it's just illegal to give them cigarettes. That law comes from legislators unduly affected by tobacco lobbying.

Lots of people are saying vaping is already illegal for teens or in public, but it's only illegal for people to smoke in enclosed public places (inside buildings open to the public) and it's only illegal to sell products to kids. This Ontario page indicates it's illegal to smoke 20 meters (65') from school property, playgrounds, sports fields, and rec centers, and 9 meters (30') from bar patios, but that's news to me. I can't find that in the legislation anywhere and every bar patio without a roof that I've visited allows smoking right at the table next to me, unfortunately. Does that mean that it's illegal to smoke anything on the sidewalk as you walk past a school?? That should be much bigger news if it's actually the case. 

My concern with the new rules around phones and vaping is in this bit:

"If [students] do not comply, they will be asked to surrender their phones or they could be sent to the office. There are progressive discipline policies listed in this. It can include up to suspension if there are repeat violations. . . . Ontario will be the first to block access to all social media platforms on school networks and devices. As part of these changes, teachers will undergo mandatory training. . . . Report cards will now also include comments on students' distraction levels in class. . . . Students will be required to hand over any vape products or cigarettes they're caught carrying and school staff will notify parents in those circumstances. . . . The government said it has earmarked $30 million from its 2024 budget to install vape detectors and other security upgrades in schools."

Um, thirty mill for "vape detectors"??? They're rendered useless as soon as kids open the bathroom windows, and I worry that boards will install them, then block windows from being opened (increasing the concentration of Covid in the area). They collect data inside the bathroom to sync with cameras outside the bathroom, then it's all just a guessing game if the person walking out at that time is actually the person who vaped inside. I predict a lot of accusations going awry. 

And not a penny for actual air cleaning. 

More importantly is that the wording -- that students will surrender phones and smokes or else have to see the office -- implies that they'll be asked to surrender their personal items to their teachers, which opens a huge can of worms. That appears to be the biggest difference between this law and the one passed in 2019. Formerly any phone issues were handled by the office because teachers were not permitted to confiscate student belongings of any kind. The phone issue was so huge that the office couldn't handle the number of kids being sent down, and all the rules just petered out. Putting it on teachers is an undue burden and opens them up to lawsuits from angry parents who just spend a fortune on a new phone which got damaged in the teacher's desk drawer.

And blocking social media platforms?? Does that include the YouTube videos teachers show in class, because that'll be a bugger!! But teachers can just do what the kids have been doing for years and use a VPN or hotspot to get around it. 

I would love to see that training video that teachers will be skimming through as they try to catch up on marking. But I really love that I'm not there to have to deal with this fiasco. What a shitshow!!

Unless students, parents, teachers, and the government are on board -- which is possible with some better communication and collective decision-making -- I'm not confident this will be effective in a way that benefits students. Top-down bans promote rebellion and work-arounds. We need policies that work with people to educate students and parents on the destructive addictive nature of both phones and vaping in order to provoke a willingness to keep them away for their own benefit. A concerted effort through PSAs, assemblies, and classroom discussions can help kids learn to get in charge of their own behaviours instead of being like trained dogs reacting to the pings of their notifications and the cravings from nicotine withdrawal. Phones can be an incredible tool we use, and we all need to learn not to be used by them. 

But you know what IS in our control, what CAN be directly affected by government action?? Cleaning the air to prevent so much illness. Add in upper-room UV and silent CR boxes made with computer fans, and allow windows to be opened to add in additional ventilation and we could directly help the health and well-being of the kids.