Cell Phones a Challenge for Schools

By Jake Jacobs, The Macon Telegraph, Ga., The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Dec. 27–FORT VALLEY — Peach County schools are having a major hang-up about cell phones.

Students’ cell phones have become a problem at Peach County High School, where principal Claudia Patterson has had to contend with multiple bomb threats.

“One week, we had three bomb-threat calls,” she said. “Two were from cell phones being used on the bus.”

Patterson brought the issue to the attention of the Peach County Board of Education at a work session this month. The session, with high school council members and law enforcement personnel, was addressing general student behavior problems at the high school, and cell phone problems were a major topic of discussion.

Most school systems in Middle Georgia ban cell phones outright, both on the bus and on campus.

Bibb, Houston, Pulaski and Jones county schools do not allow students to bring the phones to school, with punishments varying from confiscation and fines to in-school suspension.

In Crawford County, students may bring cell phones on campus only under certain conditions.

Crawford County High School principal Mike Campbell said the policy was changed this school year.

“We didn’t allow them at all last year,” he said. The change was brought about by more students taking after-school tutorials or participating in extracurricular activities, he said.

“This allows them to get in touch with their rides,” Campbell said. “We live in a cell phone society, and 90 percent of our students have one.”

According to the student handbook at Crawford High, cell phones may be brought on campus as long as they are turned off during school hours and remain in the student’s book bag, purse or locker. The phones are to be used only for emergency purposes. Cell phone use on school buses is up to the driver’s discretion.

Peach County’s policy is along the lines of Crawford County’s, Peach County Superintendent Tommy Daniel said.

“Students may have cell phones in their possession as long as the phones are not seen or heard,” Daniel said. “We acknowledge there are practical uses for them.”

Daniel said the problem is that cell phones are being seen and used at the high school.

Brock Snyder, a Peach County sheriff’s deputy, said the high school has received about nine bomb threat telephone calls this year.

One call was made from the pay phone at the school (the phone has since been disconnected), another from a convenience store on Ga. 49 and the rest from cell phones, Snyder said. Six people have been arrested in the bomb-threat hoaxes, he said.

Campbell said Crawford County High also was hit with bomb threats.

“We did have a couple of bomb threats earlier this year, on Halloween and Nov. 1,” Campbell said. “But other than that, we haven’t experienced problems” with cell phone use by students.

Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese said a lot of the cell phones used to call in the threats had been disconnected, but when powered up were still able to dial 911.

Deese said this provision came about some years ago as disconnected cell phones were donated to abuse shelters. People in the shelters would then be able to dial the emergency number when needed, he said.

Patterson, the Peach County High principal, said the state already recognizes the potential for mischief with cell phones, and they are banned in areas where standardized tests are taken.

Students have been known to take pictures of the tests with camera phones and e-mail them to others, she said.

In addition, there is potential for mischief Patterson sees as more pernicious.

“We’re focused on keeping kids safe,” she said. “As a mother, I don’t want any child having their picture taken, with a cell phone, partially nude in a locker room.”

Sheriff Deese mentioned an incident in the Midwest about a month ago where a photo of a girl was taken in a school locker room and then posted on the Internet.

At Peach County High, cell phones are also used to warn other students when an officer is investigating incidents, Snyder said.

“I can’t go from one building to another without someone calling them and letting them know we’re coming,” the deputy said.

Deese offered a digital solution for the problem, suggesting the school supply the sheriff’s office with a database of student cell phone numbers.

“We can register the cell phone in the system and use the student’s name and phone number, so it’s possible to trace if a call has been made,” he said.

Deese also suggested confiscating cell phones and requiring parents to pay $10 to reclaim the phones.

“We have to make policy stringent; perhaps keep the phone for five days,” said board member Evangeline Carter.

“Just make it inconvenient for them.”

Superintendent Daniel said some policy changes may come, but for the moment he and the school board are just seeking information.

“We’re on the lookout, trying to make the policy better,” he said. “When we finish, we may go ahead with what we’ve got and continue the policy or make it more restrictive.”

—–

Copyright (c) 2005, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.