Tough Lessons for Students in a Wireless World

The News & Advance
Published: September 16, 2008

A lesson that students in area high schools are being taught these days is not one that comes from a textbook. Like many lessons that do come from textbooks, however, it is a valuable one they can take into life after their school days.

The lesson? When not to use a cell phone, that ubiquitous electronic device that so many students — and adults — keep glued to their ear during most of their waking hours.

Simply put, cell phones are a disruptive nuisance in the classroom. For that reason, school officials in the region have taken a hard line against their use during school hours. In terms of regulating student behavior, that’s a step in the right direction.

Heritage High School Principal Mark Miear covered the problems presented by cell phones succinctly the other day when he said, “Cell phones today are more than phones. Instances of cheating, text messaging answers on tests, taking pictures of tests because they are cameras as well — there are so many things cell phones can do, not to mention ringing during class.”

The distraught teacher is doing all he or she can do to maintain decorum in the classroom and keep the students’ minds on the subject at hand. And then a cell phone rings. And many of those rings are not the dainty little ting-a-ling that one associates with the old land-line phone sitting on the hall table at home.

But those rings don’t come often any more because school policies make it clear that cell phones are not to be used at school during the school day.

At Heritage, the first time a student is caught using a cell phone, he gets two hours of Saturday school. The second offense brings with it three-day suspension. In both cases, the phones are confiscated and must be picked up by the parents. The same policy applies to students at E.C. Glass.

City School Board policy, in fact, is strict and clear about cell phones. It says that “possession or use of cellular telephones by students within school buildings is prohibited.”

Miear, like other principals in the area, understands the arguments of parents who might want to communicate with their students at school. But he says the policy must be enforced.

And it is being enforced, although enforcement is a time-consuming chore. According to numbers submitted by the school system, there were some 400 disciplinary referrals last year involving prohibited cell phone use at the two city high schools.

The policy regarding cell phones in Campbell County schools is slightly different. It does allow possession of “wireless communication devices” as long as they are “kept turned off and kept out of sight.” If a phone rings unintentionally (probably meaning the student had not turned the phone off), it is confiscated and the student receives in-school suspension. If a student is talking or texting intentionally, the phone is confiscated and the student receives out-of-school suspension. In both cases, parents must pick up the phone.

Brookville High School Principal Jim Whorley sees the policy on cell phone use as a learning experience for the students. “It’s training them for what they will face later on,” he said, noting that restrictions apply to cell phone use in the business world.

There are times when use of a cell phone is inappropriate and students need to understand that. Driving a motor vehicle is one of those times, but that’s another subject.

In Amherst, students at the high school may have cell phones, but they are not allowed to be turned on. If they are, the penalty for a second offense is overnight suspension and a meeting between an administrator and the parent or parents.

Are the students learning the lesson offered by school policies on when it is not appropriate to use their cell phones? Judging by the numbers of the phones that have been confiscated, the lesson has been a tough one to absorb. As usual, parents could help with the cell phone problem, if they would.