Schools may crack down on cell phones

The Aiken County Board of Education has passed first reading on an updated policy intended to crack down on cell phone misuse in middle and high schools.

Once the policy gets final approval, students will be prohibited to have phones and related communication devices in their possession during school hours. They will have to leave their phones in their cars or in their lockers or other designated spaces while classes are in session.

Disciplinary actions for violating the policy also have been changed. In-school suspension will be given for the first offense (one day) and second offense (three days). A third offense will carry an out of school suspension and loss of privileges. A fourth violation will bring a recommendation of expulsion.

Previously, students could keep cell phones turned off in their bookbags during the school day.

Students at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School will be exempted from the new procedure, because the school has no lockers. However, the board and administration have asked new principal Mason Cummings to establish a plan for monitoring phone use violations.

The updated policy came out of the School Board's disciplinary committee, where board member Levi Green is a member.

"We felt it would be right to do this," he said. "It might sound like a big deal to parents until they realize what's really going on. This policy is fair to them and the kids and should drive down violations."

South Aiken High School principal Bryan Skipper applauded the proposed policy. When he was a young administrator in other district some eight years ago, he said, cell phones and their contracts were much more expensive and had limited services. Now pay-as-you-go and contracted phones are relatively cheap and have far greater technology advances, such as unlimited texting and cameras.

"We must have 100 (landline) phones in this school," Skipper said. "If a child is sick, has another problem, there is plenty of access. We'll get hold of the parents. If the parent has an emergency, we'll get the child to the phone."

The school district never intended for portable phones to be used during the school day, Skipper said. Parents advocated them, but primarily for after-school communication. Ironically, parents and other family members contribute to their misuse.

"It's mom and dad and they should know better," Skipper said. The problems overall emerged when he was an assistant principal at Aiken High School a few years ago and continued when he became principal at Wagener-Salley High School. At both schools, incidents or rumors in separate situations led to students calling their parents, who rushed to the schools and contributed to a panic.

It's difficult for teachers and other staffers to monitor phone use, said Skipper. Cell phones can be adjusted to silent/vibrate or use ringtones that older adults can't hear. Many students can operate their phones from a bookbag without looking or can use them in restrooms.

"The use of phones related to drug activity is still a problem," said Skipper. "We once found a phone that had information about making drug deals. No one claimed the phone, of course, and we turned it over to law enforcement."

The cameras that come with many phones create opportunities for cheating, the principal said. A good-quality photo can be taken of a test page and e-mailed to others.

"Cell phones are a day-to-day nuisance," said Skipper. "The assistant principals and I could spend the better part of the day dealing with them. There's also the issue with the theft of the phones. The kids want us to find them, and the parents get upset when we don't."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.