Schools banning use of cell phones | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Schools banning use of cell phones | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Thursday, February 1, 2007

Schools banning use of cell phones

By Judy Keen
USA Today

KAISER HIGH HAS INSTITUTED BAN

Kaiser High School implemented a cell phone ban two years ago, mainly to eliminate disruption during instructional periods, said Principal Larry Kaliloa.

"Students are basically compliant, but we still see students using them," Kaliloa said.

State Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen could not say how many other schools have implemented similar bans. Each school is allowed to make its own policy on cell phone usage, he said.

At Kaiser, cell phones are not allowed during classes, field trips or other instructional times, but students may use them during recess and lunch, Kaliloa said. Students caught using them during class have their cell phone confiscated and have to pick them up at the end of the day from administration. Parents may be notified or cell phones may be confiscated for longer periods if students repeatedly disobey the rule.

The cell phone rule also prevents other problems, he said.

"With text messaging, there is the possibility of students cheating during tests. We haven't caught anyone doing that, but it is possible."

— Loren Moreno, Advertiser staff writer

MILWAUKEE — Schools across the United States are cracking down on students whose cell phones disrupt classes and make it easier to cheat.

Starting this week, the 222 public schools here began enforcing a ban prompted by fights that escalated into brawls when students used cell phones to summon family members and outsiders.

"It's a mess," says Ed Kovo-chich, principal of Bradley Tech High School. He broke up a fight last month that involved a non-student carrying a pistol who arrived after getting text messages from students. Under the new policy, Kovochich says, "If you use it, we take it."

Many states banned electronic devices in schools more than a decade ago when pagers and portable music players became popular, says Tom Hutton, a lawyer with the National School Boards Association. The laws were aimed at pagers, then a tool for drug dealers.

After the 1999 Columbine school shootings and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, schools yielded to parents' desire to have instant contact with their children and tolerated phones, Hutton says.

"Now they're starting to tighten up enforcement," says Ken Trump of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting company based in Cleveland. "While technology has opened up many positive things, it also has a dark side."

School officials say they're trying to stop students from answering phones and sending text messages during class and taking photos of tests:

Late last year, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School in Glyndon, Minn., started confiscating ringing phones. School officials keep the phones for 24 hours for a first offense, three days for a second offense and six days — including a weekend — for third offenses.

"I've got their attention," says Principal Tom Gravel, who took three or four phones daily from his 352 students before the new rules and now confiscates about one a week.

Public schools in Biloxi, Miss., have a zero-tolerance policy despite parents who have argued since Hurricane Katrina that their children need to have cell phones at school. "If we see one or hear one, we will confiscate it for the rest of the school year," says deputy superintendent Robert Bowles.

Eight parents and a parents' group are suing New York City public schools, which last year began enforcing a ban. Their lawyer, Norman Siegel, says the parents don't believe phones should be used in school. "The issue," he says, "is the right of the parents to provide safety to and from school."

The case was argued recently before the New York County Supreme Court; a ruling could be months away.

Some students and parents here object to the ban. "Sometimes they might need a phone for an emergency," says Erica Ramirez, 50, whose son, Abraham, 15, attends Pulaski High School. Shenill Smith, 16, says phones are disruptive, but adds, "I don't feel good about" the ban. Carlos Ramos, 16, says students will ignore the rules, and "everything's going to be exactly the same."

Superintendent William Andrekopoulos says the district's 90,000 students could be suspended or have their phones confiscated. If students use cell phones to endanger others, they can be expelled. Parents can apply for waivers if there are medical or other reasons for their children to have phones.

Electronic devices were banned here years ago, Andrekopoulos says.

It's unfortunate that ugly incidents have forced a change, he says. "We think it's definitely become a safety issue."

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