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Fleming schools ban cell phones on school property
Monday, August 13, 2007 11:32 PM EDT
According to Fleming County School Superintendent Kelley Crain, this is the third change to the school district's cell phone policy. During the 2005-2006 school year, students were asked to turn their phones off while in school; the 2006-2007 school year required students to turn the phone off and keep it out of sight; now for the 2007-2008 school year, students are not allowed to have cell phones on their person at any time during the school day.
The policy applies from the time students step onto a school bus in the morning until they depart the bus in the afternoon. For students who drive to school, they are required to leave the phone in their car during the day, said Crain.
She said members of the school board agreed to the policy after a group of Fleming County High School students demonstrated to board members how proficient teens are with today's technology and how easy it is for them to send text messages and surf the Internet viewing Web sites like YouTube.com and MySpace.com while in the classroom.
"They demonstrated how they could text with the phone under the table without being seen by the teacher ... which is distracting from (classroom) instruction," said Crain.
Crain also pointed out it is difficult for teachers to detect when cell phones are in use because of the ability to set the phone to vibrate instead of an audible ring tone.
"It can be difficult for staff to monitor if phones are being used or not. It's possible they can share answers with each other," said Crain.
The revised discipline code was distributed to students and school administrators are asking parents and students to carefully review the policy which states the following.
"If a student is found, on the school bus to and from school, or during the instructional school day to have a cell phone in their possession, regardless of whether it is turned on or off, the cell phone or other telecommunication device will be confiscated."
"On the first offense it will be kept for 10 school days, the second offense will result in the device being confiscated for 90 days and on the third offense the device will be confiscated indefinitely. In all instances, a parent or guardian must come to the school or central office to pick up the phone. Cell phones will not be returned to minor age students."
"It's an evolving policy because of the way technology changes, but for right now that's our policy. We hope parents understand that," Crain said.
Fleming County High School Principal Brad Sorrell said students were told of the new policy last spring and there were no problems Monday with students bringing phones to school.
Sorrell said in anticipation of emergency situations, like a medical condition or a change of schedule for students involved on sports teams or school club activities, parents could bring the phone to the school office and the child could pick it up at the end of the day.
"No one turned in a cell phone today. I've had no complaints," Sorrell said of his student body.
"We're one of the last schools to adopt a cell phone policy. We want them to know we don't expect phones in the school," said Sorrell.
Mason County School district has a cell phone policy in place which monitors when it is acceptable and when it is not acceptable to use a cell phone during school hours, said Superintendent Tim Moore. Personnel from Lewis, Bracken and Robertson County school districts could not be reached for comment.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or 606-564-9091 ext. 275.
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