Submitted by LOB, Feb 20, 2008 14:42

As a school teacher (rural community in Kansas) I see cell phones use disrupting school all the time. We have a policy where the phones are supposed to be turned off during school hours. If caught the phone is taken away for a day, second offense and parent has to come get it. Third offense they lose it for a week or two. And the fourth (maybe fifth) offense they are not allowed to have it at school rest of the year. But students are constantly using them to text other students, their parents, and some have even gotten ahold of teachers cell #'s and are texting them. They are taking inappropriate pictures, sometimes recording video - without permission or notificatin. They are not only being sneaky and doing some of this in the classrooms, but in the hallways, bathrooms, locker rooms, etc. They could cheat on home work or tests using them or could take inappropriate pics/videos, they could use them to set up drug deals or call in bomb threats, and according to research done by independent firms they have more dissadvanatages then advantages when it comes to cell phones and safety issues. Check out this source: http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell_phones.html . People got by without cell phones for all of eternity before 1990, and they can get by without them today - at least in certain places. According to some of these parents, one could argue that it is a constitutional right for kids to carry cell phones in school - if that is the case then who is going to pay for the phone for the kid whose family can't afford it. We should use welfare money to pay for phones for those who meet income guidelines. This is rediculous, and so is the arguement that cell phones should not be banned in school.

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