As a teacher and parent of a tween and a high schooler, I could not be happier about phone bans in schools.

If you’re on the fence about this one, picture a classroom where students do not have their phones, but their teacher does. During a class lecture, the teacher uses their phone as a mirror to apply makeup or brush their hair. As students seek clarification about a complex topic, their teacher ignores them and laughs at an incoming text from a friend. A teacher stares at their phone even if they’re “not using it” while a vulnerable student seeks advice. The teacher scrolls through their social media while they simultaneously grade quizzes and make several errors in the grade book. With phone in hand, a teacher leaves class midlesson to Snapchat their friends in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Finally, the teacher takes a selfie with another teacher during a student presentation that the kid worked on for a week.

Many students engage in this imagined teacher behavior all the time. Do we want thoughtful, engaged and well-educated kids or not? It is a no-brainer: There is no need for phones in the classroom.

Nicole Wiesendanger
South Portland