Pre-k teacher texting while kids play?

meghans30

Teacher is new ; this is her first week. Picked K up VERY early today and caught her texting while the kids were playing with balls in the gym. I don't want to mention this to the director if it is not worthy of mentioning. I admit, on this half day I had my phone out also... But, there was an incident on the playground this week where a child broke their collar bone on the playground. These kids are 4 and under. They need her undivided attention. Mention it? It's also not a very good first impression. She didn't know I was sitting on the steps watching for a few minutes.

Emiliana7

I would mention it to the director.

shopgirl78

Would be different if she was checking emails?  I check my phone while I sub, its how I found out my neighborhood was going up in flames earlier this year...

Honestly, you don't know if its a one time thing or not.  I wouldn't sweat it unless you note it becomes an issue. 

eta:  I didn't catch the broken collar bone, was she in charge at the time?  If so, yes I would mention it.  

jlw2505

My 2 cents on this is that in a daycare setting with kids that young, the teacher is working and her job is to watch the kids with her full attention.  If she was on break - go for it.  I think it is very different for a teacher of young kids to be texting than someone who works in an office or other setting.  Anyone that has a job of watching kids as their job should not be texting while working - same goes for bus drivers or anything like that - no texting while working.

meghans30

jlw2505:

My 2 cents on this is that in a daycare setting with kids that young, the teacher is working and her job is to watch the kids with her full attention.  If she was on break - go for it.  I think it is very different for a teacher of young kids to be texting than someone who works in an office or other setting.  Anyone that has a job of watching kids as their job should not be texting while working - same goes for bus drivers or anything like that - no texting while working.

I just get concerned because if she does it in the gym when she knows no one is looking, is it out in the classroom as well? I don't really want to get her in trouble; maybe she doesn't know what the policy is. I'd just like the director to give her a friendly reminder that watching the kids is her job, not checking email or texting. On her break? No problem. When you have 10 kids in a very large gym throwing balls? Not so good!  

meghans30

shopgirl78:

Would be different if she was checking emails?  I check my phone while I sub, its how I found out my neighborhood was going up in flames earlier this year...

Honestly, you don't know if its a one time thing or not.  I wouldn't sweat it unless you note it becomes an issue. 

eta:  I didn't catch the broken collar bone, was she in charge at the time?  If so, yes I would mention it.  

Honestly, if it was a quick check of email and she put it away, it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but I sat and watched for a few minutes. Im not sure who was in charge when the collar bone incident occurred. I am friends with another parent (the child who was injured).  

shouldbworkin

I know that DD's teachers check email during the day, they have responded to me while she was there before.  But, there are always 2 teachers there at a time and I've never seen any of them with their own personal phone out while I was there.  If she was the only one there, I wouldn't be too happy about it and would at least be asking the director what she thought about it. 

happy_momma

I might approach it by first asking there director if there is a policy about it, and then go from there.  If the director says that there isn't one, then I'd suggest that there should be.  And if there is a policy and the teacher violated that, I'd likely report it.

DD's school policy is that the teachers are not allowed to have their cell phones out while the kids are awake. Period. No phone calls, no texting, no checking email.  If there is something critical, calls can be made and received on the school phone.  I like that policy a lot.

kellnbri

At the daycare I work at we are not permitted to have our cell phones on us at all.  They may not be in our pockets or sitting on a table, they must be put away. 

meghans30

happy_momma:

I might approach it by first asking there director if there is a policy about it, and then go from there.  If the director says that there isn't one, then I'd suggest that there should be.  And if there is a policy and the teacher violated that, I'd likely report it.

DD's school policy is that the teachers are not allowed to have their cell phones out while the kids are awake. Period. No phone calls, no texting, no checking email.  If there is something critical, calls can be made and received on the school phone.  I like that policy a lot.

I like this policy as well. There may not even be a policy, so I'm going to first ask what the policy is regarding staff and personal cell phones. 

Chapter79

For me, it would depend on what she was doing on phone and how long. Texting would not be OK with me, not while the kids are playing and she should be watching them.  If she's quickly checking mail- eh, I wouldn't be bothered.

I know my daughters teacher (grade K) uses her phone to e-mail at school hours because I've gotten mail from her before (once when DD was scratched on bus and nervous next day at school, teacher e-mailed me for reassurance that she was doing OK and acting herself)... I think the timing was when kids were in music class, though, so she wasn't with them. (I know it was from her phone- it said "sent from iPhone" at bottom). 

So it would depend. While with kids? Eh.. break? Fine.

speckledfrog

The preschool I work for has a no cell phone policy.  When you are working you are working.  You can check your phone on your break and that's it.  We don't even let teachers use it for a clock because it needs to be put away completely.

I would definitely mention it to the director.  

expectingnothing

I probably wouldn't mention it without knowing more details or seeing her do it again.  But my girls go to a relaxed environment daycare and several of the college aged aids are also my babysitters and have texted me at work before with minor things asking if I brought in a sippy or if they can have a treat or letting me know they got a scrape and applied neosporin.  I appreciate those little alerts.

kada626

If she was the only one watching the kids and she was busy on her phone, I would say something.