School board has solid cellphone policy in place
By board policy, cellphones are permitted on the high school campus, provided they are left in vehicles during school hours. That enables students to have access to their cellphones immediately before and after school.
It?s a fair-minded policy and one that?s intended to prevent cellphones from becoming a distraction during school hours. Reading and writing are supposed to be focus of school ? not text messages.
Where the current policy breaks down is its enforcement. Hundreds of students ignore the rule of leaving their cellphones in their vehicles and carry them into the high school each and every day. It?s no secret this is the most abused rule in the school system.
Some teachers are serious about confiscating these phones ? as they should be. Other teachers opt to look the other way and that sends the wrong message.
If the school board really wants to evaluate ways to improve its cellphone policy, this would be the proper place to start. All teachers need to be enforcing the rules, not just a select few.
If teachers are serious about the cellphone policy, it?s one that can and will work. That?s because it?s a policy equipped with teeth.
Students have their cellphones confiscated after the first offense of having them in school. However, they are allowed to pick up the phone if they are over 18, or a parent can come sign for the phone if the student is under 18.
Where the policy gets tough is on the second offense. That?s when cellphones that are taken remain confiscated for the rest of the school year.
It?s a severe punishment but one students can easily avoid. If you don?t want your cellphone taken away, then don?t bring it inside the school during regular school hours. It?s that simple. If students can?t comprehend that simple mandate, it?s easy to see why Tennessee lags behind other states in academic achievement.
For the students who blatantly ignore the rules, they are given one warning. They can get their phones back and live to call another day. It?s students who show no respect for school policy and are caught a second time who pay a stiff price and that?s appropriate.
Cellphones are a part of our lives and that?s never going to change. Just like computers, cellphones have quickly ingrained themselves in our society.
But they don?t need to become a part of our schools. Teachers are constantly fighting new challenges to educate our children and battling cellphones is an unnecessary burden.
It?s in the best interest of education to keep the school system?s current cellphone policy in place. The only thing that needs to change is getting teachers to enforce the rules.