I wasn't trying to be witty at all. I was legitimately curious.
I didn't know teachers needed to use their smartphones for work. What do they need their phones for? Do they have landlines in each classroom to call parents or the office? Do teachers get laptops or PCs these days or are they expected to use a personal mobile phone to google things?
At my daughter’s school, they use a phone app to check the kids in as they arrive, and check them out as they leave. It replaces the paper list they used to have. Don’t ask me how it’s an improvement. I suppose they are able, in case of fire, to get an accurate head count that way.
The apps are often a part of some larger platform -- some of my friends have their kids in schools or daycares that do something similar, but the parents can also see the checkin/checkout info. I'm guessing at your daughter's school, the data is centralized in some way, which the admin can use for things like school-wide attendance statistics, which are often also tied to funding in some way.
Another use case is documentation - as they do activities, the teacher will use their cell to snap photos of the kids doing stuff. They can then use the school's app ("platform", I suppose) to send out a short note/summary at the end of the day, which parents can read on their end in the parent app. Also, reminders about things to bring tomorrow, notices about upcoming activities, etc. I am assuming they use these documentation items at the end of the year for grading, etc.
I didn't know teachers needed to use their smartphones for work. What do they need their phones for? Do they have landlines in each classroom to call parents or the office? Do teachers get laptops or PCs these days or are they expected to use a personal mobile phone to google things?