Cell phones in schools

Our hallways are filled with the sounds of the latest “in” ring tones. Students don’t even try to hide the fact that they are on their cell phones. You can’t miss the mass number of students walking down the halls on their phones, especially those who insist on using the walkie talkie feature. That incessant beep the phones make every time a student finishes a sentence could almost be our school song.

I can deal with the annoyance. It’s safety that concerns me. Just like happened at Freedom High in Florida, cell phones often exasperate flare ups that start in school. After a fight or altercation, students might call friends from their neighborhoods, or even gang, to come and help out. We’ve had intruders enter our building on several occasions because of this. We’ve also had people waiting outside to “bank” students because they received phone calls from people inside the building. Another common issue is that students are calling outsiders when gambling is going on in the building so they can come in and rob the students.

I understand why students need cell phones. Many go through rough neighborhoods to get to and from school, or live in rough neighborhoods themselves. If I were a parent, I would want them to have phones, too. I’m not suggesting that they can’t bring them to school. But there has to be a solution that will create a safe environment in school. Right now students have free reign, and in the current environment there really isn’t a way to prevent incidences like the ones described from occurring.