MPS has decided to pass a new policy for every public school in Milwaukee. This new policy is to have their students hand over their phones in the morning to the administration. 
They claim that they will keep the phones safe in a locked box, with every phone having a label written by their owner in order to return them “safely” at the end of the day.

MPS’s reasonings for this are understandable, but the measures that they’re taking to fix this issue is not ethical. In fact, this could cause more problems if handled poorly. The argument that “Students do not focus when they have their phones in class”, although true, cannot be accepted as the sole purpose for creating this policy.

First off, the safety measures that have been taken by MPS against COVID19 have been very poor. The sanitization & mask mandates were only enforced for the first 2-3 weeks. Right after that, MPS decided to lay back & drop the safety precautions for it. The fact that the administration at MPS cares more about the new phone policy rather than fixing such a big issue is despicable, & very careless of them.

Students require their phones for multiple reasons, be it for special needs (Medical reasons or note taking) to the simple  fact that having their phone with them at all times makes them feel safer in school, especially in this new era where shootings are occurring  left and right. Many parents of students who attend these schools are actively going against this rule as well, but are being shut down by MPS without a second thought. Students who voice their opinions are also shut down by some of the staff that work at MPS.

The administration at MPS are being very rash about this. They will not let the public vote on this, because they are aware that they will be actively against this rule. By signing this petition, you are stating that this new policy is a bad idea, & that the way that they are going about it is very irresponsible & unethical.