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ParNts, Skools Need Tuf Rlz For Cell Phone, Texting Abuse

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

Oh those troublesome cell phones. In the hands of high school students, they can become a way to cheat or bully others. And pity the poor teacher delivering an important lesson while students surreptitiously text their friends.

Hillsborough school officials are right to rein in abuse, within the limits of the 2004 state law that allows students to have cell phones on campus.

The district's policy says cell phones must be turned off during school hours. But because the rule hasn't been uniformly enforced, children are text messaging friends in class - communications their parents once made via notes passed in the hall.

To their credit, school board members asked students to identify potential solutions, including this particularly promising one: at the start of every class, require students to put their telephones on their desks, turned off.

Because cell phones are small, they're easily concealed. And some students have become adept at typing with their thumbs while pretending to pay attention. Even normally well-behaved students can't resist the temptation of sending text messages in class.

If the phones are out in the open, teachers will have a better chance of maintaining order. Surely, some students will try to skirt the rule by carrying two phones, which is why strict enforcement is the essential second half of the solution.

Some school districts have considered buying signal-jamming technology or using high-tech paint that can interrupt cell-phone reception. But there's no need for a complicated or expensive solution, especially with funding cuts coming.

Asking the Legislature to ban cell phones at school isn't the answer, either. Parents want to be able to communicate with their children, especially in those tenuous after-school hours. It's a scary world we send our children out into. Who can blame parents for wanting a cell-phone lifeline?

But adults don't get a pass from reining in cell-phone abuse. Parents should be a full partner in enforcing school rules and modeling the proper usage of cell phones.

Neither should school board members send text messages during meetings, as some have been observed. Nor should teachers take phone calls during class. And far too many families allow cell phones to ring and texting to occur at the dinner table.

If we want our children to live politely and practically with their electronic security blankets, adults at home and school must set and enforce clear boundaries for the Text Generation.

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