HOUSTON — Madison High School students are planning to meet with school officials on Tuesday to share a list of demands that include repealing the new cellphone ban.
According to Houston Independent School District officials, the ban was implemented due to fights centered around phones. The ban went into effect Monday. Both students and parents were upset about it.
Parents said all students should not be punished for the actions of some.
"I'm just mad because my child had nothing to do with it and he's never got in trouble," Tysian Willhite said.
Willhite is the mother of an 11th-grade student and said she feels students should have their phones for safety.
"You don't know what might happen," she said.
"These kids get their phone taken, anything can happen," said Monica Swift, another parent of a Madison HS student.
HISD released a statement on Monday reiterating that students must turn their phones in when they arrive at school and phones would be returned during the last period.
"Madison students do not have the privilege of using their phones during lunch," the statement said. "That is because cellphone video has been at the center of multiple recent fights on campus."
Some students staged a walkout Monday to protest the new phone ban. Those students said they still plan to protest until the ban is repealed.
There's no word if the district or the school will take disciplinary action against these students if the walkouts continue.