What does 300 students with cellphones do as a lifeline in any event during the school day that would actually warrant it?

I don’t think any ban is saying that they can’t have the phones in their locker, off, for use after school hours.

What I do find funny,

Fifty-eight percent of such parents want their children to have cell phones so they can get in touch with them or learn their whereabouts when needed while 48 percent say cell phones help them coordinate transportation to and from school with their children.

As if that was not a problem for previous generations that didn’t have cell phones. There are plenty of answers that work that don’t require cellphones. Like… I don’t know… Talking to your kids. Or at worst, calling the school office and relaying a message to your kids if something significantly deviates from your normal plans.

And their next line proves the point that half the children with a phone shouldn’t have it.

Nearly as many say children need mobile devices to communicate about their mental health or other needs.

No, you don’t need a phone to communicate about your mental health during school hours. Your phone isn’t the correct device to do that. If you have mental health concerns you need to see medical professionals, and if it’s immediate, the school nurse. Not your phone, not your dumb as rocks social media. Your phone is not a device that can help assuage ANY medical/health condition. The fact that the child thinks they NEED the serotonin/dopamine hit of their precious phone in order to mentally cope with anything and adults are perpetuating it… that’s just fostering dependence on these devices and makes the whole thing worse.

Maybe if the USA would solve its gun problem this wouldn’t be as much of a concern