At least one Kansas district is projecting $150,000 to $180,000 just to equip secondary students with individual phone lockers, according to the Wichita Eagle. The state provided zero dedicated funding. Every dollar comes from local budgets.
Districts choosing fabric locking pouches — think Yondr, the magnetic-lock system concert venues use to keep audiences present — face an estimated $30 per unit. Statewide, the Kansas Division of the Budget put that figure at roughly $13.4 million if every student received one, according to the Lawrence KS Times. Lockers require a steeper upfront investment. Neither option came with a state check attached.
Legislators passed the policy. The price tag was someone else’s problem.
Taking a away the phone during school hours is another band aid.
Practicality, there isn’t a single solution that will stop the shootings, a dozen band aids is better than doing nothing. You can get rid of the phones, could invest that 150k into to the salary of a school therapist, pay teachers more so they aren’t all depressed and overworked. Hire more teachers so classes aren’t 30+, maybe they’d be able to focus on a kid for more than 3 minutes a day. In other words actually fund education.
But sense that none of that is likely to happen this decade,
I don’t like the idea of taking away kids ability to call 911 in an emergency. This isn’t 1980. Classroom phones are an option, but many have switched to voip and rely on some major internet service not being randomly down that day. Supposedly they’d work with 911 no matter what, but I wouldn’t rely on that.
Could switch to dumb phone or set up parental controls to block internet access, and various apps, during school hours, while still allowing phone calls.