I want my kids to have a way to contact me and each other to discuss schedule changes and coordinate rides. My daughter will be driving herself and my son to and from school, but there will be days when one of them needs to stay late for an activity, makeup work or to meet with a teacher. This is a school over 4000 students, so it is unlikely they will see each other during the day.

Additionally, I want them both to have a phone handy to contact me in the case of an emergency. Two years ago there was a lockdown at the school due to a "credible threat" (turned out to be a hoax). However the students had no idea what was going on and were seeing heavily armed police going through the school. My daughter was very scared, but it helped being able to stay in contact with her mom and me during the incident.