Schools crack down on cellphones

By Bruce Meyerson

updated 7:54 p.m. ET Sept. 19, 2006

NEW YORK - Alabama was lifting the cell phone ban for its public schools just as New York City was implementing a crackdown.

Just about every school system in the nation is facing the same conundrum, with little consensus, about how to balance a modern reality against the need to maintain order in the classroom and the hallways.

With more than half the nation's teens now carrying them, cell phones have become an appendage that many refuse to leave at home, and which many parents want them to carry at all times for emergencies and general peace of mind.

At the same time, teachers and school administrators complain of growing disruptions, from phones going off in class to improper use of text messaging and cell phone cameras.

"Electronic bullying was starting to emerge. They were text messaging threats, sending intimidating messages to each other," said Randy Clegg, superintendent for the Clinton Community School District, an Iowa community about 30 miles from Dubuque and 190 from Chicago. "We're putting sophisticated stuff in the hands of teenagers and you deal with all the typical teenage stuff."

In July, the district adopted a policy where its 4,500 students are allowed to carry a phone, but risk having it confiscated until the end of the day if they use it or it goes off during school. A second infraction requires a meeting with a parent. Since the start of the new term, about three or four phones have been confiscated, said Clegg, estimating that more than three quarters of his system's middle and high school students — and a growing number in elementary school — now carry phones.

Wireless companies view school-age children are a key source of growth in a market where the number of first-time users is fast dwindling. While many are signed on through family plans that only generate an additional $10 or $20 a month in base charges, kids often ring up extra fees for text messaging, ringtones and video games.

At last count, nearly three-quarters of the nation's population had cell phones. By contrast, 53 percent of Americans aged 12 to 17 have them, according to a recent survey by Simmons Research. That figure, which Simmons extrapolates to roughly 13.1 million teens, is up from 39 percent in late 2004 and 33 percent in 2002, suggesting the trend has begun to accelerate.

"Part of the reality is that they're going to have it," said Clegg. He noted that he too found it comforting when his daughter, now in college, had a cell to call home from extracurricular activities, including long bus trips returning well after midnight from high school band competitions.

"I don't think it's appropriate in this day and age to do an outright ban," he said. "What are you going to do, check every kid who comes into school? That's not practical."

But that's precisely what New York City has been doing with greater frequency since April, when officials decided to more rigorously enforce a 17-year-old ban on portable electronics as part of a stepped-up sweep against weapons in schools. Now police units are setting up metal detectors at different locations in the 1,400-school system each day, a move that prompted a lawsuit by a group of parents.

MORE FROM TECH AND GADGETS

Tech and gadgets Section Front

Facebook hit by ‘Control Your Info’ intruder Twitter phishing ploy goes for ‘Direct Messages’ Apple doesn’t seem to like mixing apps, politics LinkedIn and Twitter link up Apple can see Microsoft on the horizon Online holiday shopping is trickier this year What your Facebook photo says about you Auction site launches for millionaires only Tagged.com settles with states in invite fight Sony offers ‘Cloudy’ for buyers of Internet TVs Tech and gadgets Section Front   Add Tech and gadgets headlines to your news reader: