Is It Legal For A Teacher To Confiscate Your Phone In Texas?

Most grade school classrooms have a cell phone policy. Your teacher doesn't want you to have it out browsing the internet instead of paying attention to Algebra or using it to cheat on an exam, which makes sense. Teachers spend an exorbitant amount of time preparing lesson plans and do their very best to send you home knowing a little bit more than you knew the day before. Cell phones can be pretty distracting to students and can take away from their learning experience.

However, some parents might not like the idea of a teacher flat-out taking a phone away from their child, for many reasons. What if there was an emergency and your child's phone was locked in a drawer?

Is it actually legal to take a student's cell phone away from them in Texas?

According to the Texas Association of School Boards, it's okay to take a student's technological devices away from them if they are being misused during instructional time. They can hold the device until the end of class, or turn it in to a campus administrator to be retrieved at a later time.

You also might be interested to know that if for some reason your student's phone is lost or stolen while in the teacher's possession, they are NOT responsible for paying for a new one. I bet this doesn't happen very often, but there is a huge clause in the TASB Theft, Loss, or Damage to Technology Devices at School that makes it very clear that they are not liable and you cannot sue them for lost or stolen items that have been confiscated.

Just some food for thought! The best thing to do? Make sure you remind your student that cell phones always need to remain in their bag or pocket during lessons. Better safe than sorry.