[JonathanDnk]

I disagree strongly that "more phones is better".

Say 500 kids in the school have phones. 250 of them call 911. The vast majority of emergency call centers have zero chance to deal with that volume. So all the emergency responders are caught up on the lines sifting through children while the adults with the most useful information are stuck on hold.

Let's say the same number of kids call their parents, either before or after they try 911. 100 of those parents drive directly to the school in 100 different vehicles, coming from both directions on what is probably a two-lane road. Now the crime scene with police needing to get in, ambulances needing to get out, etc. is completely congested with terrible traffic that slows everyone down, and police officers who should be focused on dealing with the shooter and saving kids are instead focused on crowd control.

Meanwhile, within the school, teachers and other staff are trying to manage the situation. They need children to be paying absolute attention to them and following their instructions immediately. But instead, half their kids are on the phones obsessively tracking news and social media or sobbing to their parents.

A teacher in every classroom means you have a phone in every classroom, plus in the offices, plus on staff moving through the hallways. That's more than enough phones.

[igetspam]

I can appreciate this. I can also appreciate your decision to disagree. One could argue that there are improvements to be had in our emergency call centers but having lived in both urban and rural environments, I feel confident that emergency services know how to get around most traffic problems. (Sometimes they'll just invent a hole.)

I'm not, not going to enable my kid to get a hold of me in an emergency. There's just no chance of that. I don't trust that the schools have this under control and (anecdata time!) the teachers I know don't really feel it either. Show me progress on school safety. Prove we're doing more than just theater. Then we (the royal "we," not you and I) can have a healthy discussion about use of electronics in a school environment. I don't _want_ my kid to have a phone at school, I just don't _trust_ that we're doing everything we can to ensure physical safety.