“Push the pin until it clicks.” Mr. Lee held out a gray pouch. A boy slid his phone inside.
Twelve student reps stood in a line behind him. Their families sat on folding chairs in the school gym. No one looked at the clock.
The school had to pick a new phone rule. Mr. Lee was there to show both plans to the board.
“Plan one is all day,” he said. “You lock your phone when you walk in. You open it when you go home.”
The rule would stay the same in class, in the hall, and at lunch. A teacher would never have to ask if a phone should be out.
A mom in the first row raised her hand. “What if plans change? What if I need my kid?”
“You can call the front desk,” Mr. Lee said. “Your child can use the school phone too.”
The boy held up the pouch. “So I can't text my mom at lunch?” Mr. Lee shook his head. The pouch would stay shut.
Then Mr. Lee showed plan two. Kids would keep their phones at lunch and in the halls. Each class would still be free of phones.
That gave kids a way to reach home. It also gave each teacher the same fight at the start of class.
A teacher near the wall spoke up. “A phone can be in a hand when the bell rings. Then it can slide under a sleeve.”
A girl in line looked back at him. “But lunch is our time. Why take the phone then if class is the problem?”
The school head held one pouch in each hand. One plan gave the school one firm rule. The other gave kids more time and more reach.
Mr. Lee set the key on the table. Each student pressed a pouch to it. Click. Click. Click.
The board waited for an answer. The school head had to pick how often that click would come.