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Hillsborough School Board Gives Initial OK To Tougher Cell Rules

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

TAMPA - Beginning in August, Hillsborough County school students will have to keep their cell phones and other electronic devices out of sight or have them confiscated, school board members decided today. The plan still needs a formal vote.

"If we see 'em, we take 'em," is how Vice Chairwoman Carol Kurdell summed up the board's shift in dealing with an explosion of texting and calling during school.

The confiscation won't be permanent, though.

Procedures must be drafted and voted on by the board, and details – including consequences, the rules for cell phone use by bus riders and teachers – worked out. Today's workshop meeting included six of seven board members, and they agreed on the tougher rule. April Griffin was absent.

State law allows students to have cell phones at school as a safety issue, but Hillsborough's policy has been that cells must be turned off during school. Students openly carry and use them. Enforcement varies by school, but teachers can't police the rampant silent texting and the videos that end up being posted on the Internet.

This year, state law also invalidated test scores of students with cell phones on them during the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

At least one school, Burns Middle, has required students to leave phones and backpacks in lockers all day, Principal Brenda Nolte told the board. If they were out, they were confiscated until the end of the day, parents were called and an in-school suspension was enforced.

Board members said they liked that idea, but not all students have lockers, and Tampa Bay Technical High Principal Chris Farkas said that would not be practical at high school.

Teachers will be asked for input on their cell phone use before procedures are drawn up.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.

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