Sound Off: Should cell phones be allowed in schools?
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The story: A few years ago, Lincoln's public high schools gave up the battle against cell phones in school.
Now, students -- with heads bowed and thumbs hopping -- text madly as they shuffle between classes and relax at the lunch table.
But when they're in class, phones better be out of sight and off (or at least on vibrate).
"We used to say we banned them and students couldn't have them. But the reality is, everybody has them," said Pat Hunter-Pirtle, principal of Lincoln Southeast High school.
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In fact, 71 percent of American students ages 12-17 own a cell phone, according to a Pew Research survey released Aug. 19. The survey, taken in early 2008 as part of its ongoing Teens and Parents project, will be updated early next year.
Everyone expects that number to leap significantly. Many Lincoln school principals said 71 percent seems low, especially if you consider that the same Pew survey of adults found that 85 percent own cell phones. The rate is even higher among parents.
Increasingly, the cell phone is seen as a critical tool for our daily lives, said Aaron Zabawa, associate principal at Culler Middle School. The parent of a kindergartner, Zabawa predicts it won't be too long before his son is carrying one to school.
Parents and kids rely on it for communication. Some use it as their clock, camera, planner, entertainment system, news source and encyclopedia. The phone is only a tiny component of this high-tech palm-sized computer.
Which is why schools will eventually be forced to rethink cell-phone rules.
"Definitely that day is coming," Zabawa said, noting that students at Harvard University use cell phones and other wireless technology to respond to and discuss questions in classes ranging from physics to economics to art and drama.
Nationally, most schools ban or limit cell phone use among students.
However, despite school policies, the reality is that more than two-thirds of teens admit using their cell phones in school when they shouldn't.
Since allowing Lincoln public high school students to use their phones outside of class and at lunch, violations and phone confiscations have decreased significantly, Hunter-Pirtle said.
But they still happen. Lincoln North Star Principal Nancy Becker estimated she had 10 confiscated cell phones at the end of last school year because students - and more often their parents - failed to come in and pick them up.
Most Lincoln Public Schools consider cell phones a "nuisance item," classifying them among other longstanding contraband like toys, comics, candy and gum. If discovered, they will be taken away and returned to either the parent or student at the end of the day.
At Beattie Elementary School, cell phone-carrying students turn them off and turn them over to the teacher for safe-keeping during the school day. They pick them up before heading home.
Many families rely on cell phones. They use them to check in with their kids, leave a text message reminder about an after-school doctor's appointment or handle emergencies.
Although most parents only intend to leave a message when they call during the school day, many kids forget to turn their phones off or can't resist the urge to check who's calling when the phone starts vibrating in their pocket.
Bill Bucher, principal at Lux Middle School, where cell phones are required to be turned off from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., said many times when kids get caught using the phone, it is actually mom and dad calling or texting.
"I don't think they are unnecessary messages," Bucher said. "But I don't think parents realize the disruption when it goes off in a math test."
Or the magnitude of the issue when multiplied 25-fold by the number of students in the class.
At Pound Middle School, the cell phone rule is simple.
"We never allow a student to have a phone turned on or used in the building - ever," said principal Chris Deibler. "They can bring them to school, turn them off and put them in the locker during the day. They can use them before school in the morning on the porch and after school when they need to contact rides."