A mother has told of her ‘outrage’ after her daughter’s phone, with her bus ticket on, was confiscated at school, leaving her to walk home alone in the dark
A woman has told of her ‘extreme anger’ after finding out her daughter’s school had implemented a new phone policy for students, which resulted in her 17-year-old daughter walking home alone in the dark afterward, in a high crime area.
After revealing her daughter, named Clem, had been caught using her phone in the school toilets, an area out of bounds for phone usage, she told how the school had taken her phone, telling her she couldn’t have it back for four days, after which time a guardian must visit the school to collect it.
She said: “On Thursday my daughter came home late and said she had to walk home because the school had taken her phone (bus tickets are on their phones) and buses aren’t taking money to avoid contact.”
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“Clem did tell the school about her ticket on her phone and went to the main office for the £1.20 bus fair as a last resort, but the school wouldn’t give it to her, and buses aren’t taking cash as of recent.”
She then revealed that her daughter had been in a cubicle on a phone, when a female teacher had looked through the gap and caught her: “She claimed she was looking for a younger student who was at risk to themselves and others and saw Clem in the cubicle on her phone (she wasn’t using the toilet, but it’s still creepy).”
After initially calling the police when her daughter hadn’t arrived home and was uncontactable by phone, she contacted the school to set up a meeting with the head teacher, where she was told that they had extended their confiscation period from one to four days, after recognising one day wasn’t a big enough deterrent.
“I was floored, my daughter had to walk home, in the dark and cold because the school held her phone overnight. I told them what my daughter had told me and they confirmed that’s what happened. I told them that I have no issue with them taking the phone for four days at school, but they need to give her phone back to her after school so she can get home safely. After a bit of debating, they finally agreed.”
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However, when she told her husband about the incident, she was shocked when he called her a ‘Karen’: “He told me that Clem should walk home as punishment, despite the high crime rate in our area.”
After taking her take to Reddit she asked for advice from readers to a**ess if she was in the wrong, however most were firmly on her side: “The school is putting children at very high risk with this dumb a** policy. I can understand taking the phone away from them in class… But if they’re in the bathroom or on a break they should be able to use the phone (within reason).”
Another said: “They denied a child’s ability to get on the bus and made her walk home in the dark. That’s a quick way for bad things to happen. Completely negligent on their part!”
One reader questioned the policy, incase of emergencies: “I’m surprised the school had the authority to take phones for longer than school hours! They must be aware that children use their phones for bus tickets? How about if they were in a genuine emergency situation outside of school.”
“The board should be put on alert that this kind of thing is happening so they can recognise a pattern of poor administrative decision-making if it is or becomes a problem,” raged one reader, while another said: “For just using their phone, that is too big a punishment I honestly wonder how some schools manage to justify stuff like this…”
