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Hernando Today

Cell Phone? Not In School, You Don't

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: September 10, 2008

Updated: 09/10/2008 06:30 pm

BROOKSVILLE - Central High School junior Maria Thrasher knows she's not supposed to use a cell phone on campus.

A straight-A honor student who says she has never been in trouble at school, she knew she was taking a risk when she pulled out her phone to send a text message to a friend after lunch last Tuesday.

However, she's also a teenager - and when an administrator spotted the violation and demanded she hand the phone over, she opted to face three days of out-of-school suspension, rather than face the horrors of turning in a device with "personal stuff" on it, she said.

But she never thought she would have trouble getting her homework.

After being suspended Tuesday for not handing over the phone, Maria, 16, said she spent the remaining three days of last week attempting to contact school officials to get her homework assignments and makeup work, to no avail.

"I missed turning in projects, a lab, essays and a lot of notes," she said, rattling a list of classes that includes three advanced placement classes and pre-Calculus.

"I thought I'd have the (three days) and the weekend to catch up, and now I have to catch up during the week, on top of my other work," Maria added.

According to Hernando County School Board policy, students are allowed to make up any work missed during out-of-school suspension of up to five days.

However, there is nothing in the policy that says students must have their work immediately, assistant principal John Stratton said.

"We want the kids to have their work and make it up," he said. "We do our best to get students their work as quickly as we can, but it depends on the situation and circumstance."

A larger issue

While school officials cannot legally prevent students from having cell phones at school, they can rule that phones must be out of sight, turned off and not being used. This is the policy at most Hernando County schools, including Central High.

However, this is the first year high school students have not been able to have their phones turned on at lunchtime, which was previously the rule because juniors and seniors were allowed to leave campus at lunch, student services director Jim Knight said.

"It's been a real problem," he said. "We want cell phones out of sight, because kids are misusing them. They're taking pictures of other kids and cell phones are turning up missing. We've had that happen several times."

More than 30 Hernando County students also were caught with cell phones during the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in the spring, causing their tests to become invalidated and administrators to enforce penalties more this year than in the past.

However, for current school-aged students, cell phones are a way of life. Using a cell phone to text message a friend across the room is the equivalent of writing a note, Maria said.

"You always see it in class - people hiding their phone in their purses or book bags," she said.

It's not just older students, either.

At Brooksville Elementary School, assistant principal Nancy Johnson said problems have died down this year, but that during the 2006-07 school year, "it was constant," she said.

"We were taking them away constantly," Johnson said. "We weren't used to elementary school kids having cell phones, but all of a sudden all the parents started buying their kids cell phones. They were even bringing in old ones as toys."

"Now they've gotten pretty good. The situation improved last year, and I haven't had to take away a single cell phone this year," she added.

At all local schools now, typical school procedure states that if a student is caught using a phone, the phone will be taken and placed in safekeeping for the student's parent to pick up.

"If they refuse to give it up, that's when they face out-of-school suspension for gross insubordination," Stratton said.

Maria said her mother works, and would likely not be able to pick up the phone anytime soon. This was part of the reason she accepted the punishment, she said.

Superintendent Wayne Alexander predicted that cell phones will always be a source of tension at schools.

"It's the nature of society and kids, and it's something we'll always have to stay on top of," he said. "It's not just us. It's an issue throughout the U.S."

However, he said the district's expectations are clear, and it's up to the students whether or not to follow the rules.

"Kids make choices, and sometimes there are consequences with them," he said.

Teachers and cell phones

Teachers, meanwhile, are not given specific rules regarding cell phones.

Since many have families, they often have their phones turned on for emergencies, yet placed on vibrate mode. They can be seen using their phones during breaks or at lunchtime, at their own discretion.

The district has never had a problem with teachers abusing cell phone use, Alexander said.

"Some things are common sense. They're getting paid to do a job," he said.

Gulf Coast Academy charter school administrator Nevin Siefert agreed.

"Our teachers are teaching from bell to bell. They wouldn't have the opportunity to answer a cell phone, let alone use one," he said.

School principals, maintenance personnel and department heads also have district cell phones through Nextel, at a cost of $130,000 in this year's budget, according to finance director Deborah Bruggink.

But even those are necessary, and only given to personnel who need a phone due to the nature of their job, Alexander said.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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