I’m sorry, but this whole “it’s unfair to deny kids the use of personal technology in class” is darkly hilarious to me. I did, in fact, try coding on my TI-85 in English class because I was bored, and it was immediately taken. Why is a phone more acceptable?
It wouldn’t have been taken if left in my backpack, so any “well, what about an emergency?” arguments are disingenuous. Put your phone on silent; refrain from using it. This is not phone time. In an emergency, parents calling the school was effective with primitive '90s technology. Surely, they can still do that now.