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In the last several months, we have received more calls and emails from school administrators about issue related to cell phones than probably anything else.  The concerns about cell phones are varied.  For example, students are texting on them all hours of the school day, cell phones can be used to take pictures or video of students or staff members (in the classroom or even places where privacy is expected such as in a locker room or bathroom), and they can be used to cheat on exams.  In addition, one principal told us that her school had a problem with parents actually calling their children during the school day and expecting a response even when they knew the student was in class.

This is a complicated issue.  First of all, many parents want their kids to have a cell phone so that they can be contacted for routine or emergency purposes.  Schools that attempt to ban cell phones from classrooms have a difficult time enforcing the policy, short of searching students as they pass through the doors.  At the very least, schools need to have a conversation about this and come up with a clear policy that outlines where and when students are allowed to use/possess cell phones – and specifies the consequences for violations of the policy.

On a related note, a friend recently made me aware of ChaCha (see www.chacha.com), a cell phone service that allows anyone to send a text message to ChaCha (242242) with a question and they will receive the answer in text message.  And the service is free.  Apparently, ChaCha receives about 300,000 questions a day and utilizes around 25,000 people to research and respond to the questions.  Employees of ChaCha earn between 10-20 cents for basically Googling the question, finding the answer, and texting it back to the sender. They boast a 93% accuracy rate and state that questions are answered within three minutes.  So imagine a student texting ChaCha to ask: What is the capital of Montana?  Clear implications for schools.

I just read an interesting article covering a topic that is frequently brought to our attention when we speak at conferences – cell phones and sexually-explicit images of teenagers being circulated among peers.  The bottom line is that we have got to figure out the best way to get kids to think hard and seriously about the implications of content they create or post or send getting into the wrong hands.  It is largely inevitable, but youth naively assume that it will stay private and protected by a small, intended audience.  The image started out “as a summertime joke between the ninth-grader and her friends.”  How many of us have taken a picture of ourselves naked – even as a joke?  Wait, don’t answer that.  In keeping with my previous post – this picture could be tagged (with her name? with her contact information?) and shared on one of the numerous photo-sharing and photo-gallery web sites out there, and she would suffer the rest of her life from the humiliation.  Let’s hope law enforcement are able to confiscate every device on which this picture is found, and scrub those flash memory cards and hard drives minty clean.  And let’s try to remind everyone that possession and transmission of this sort of stuff is usually a Class I felony across the United States.

In keeping with a trend we have been seeing across the country, another school board in California has decided to ban the inappropriate use of cell phones on school grounds (largely to prevent cyberbullying and the recording and online posting of fights). There is one exception – students are able to use cell phones to capture or record any illegal activities they witness on campus (by students or staff). Some schools across our nation have entertained completely banning student cell phones, and confiscating those that they see on campus (a policy which some parents do not appreciate). Others have allowed use before school, during lunch, after school in the parking lot, or some variation thereof. I’d be interested to hear what your school district is currently doing, or planning to do about these ubiquitous devices – and whether that policy or strategy has borne fruit or proved less than effective. We will follow up with another post in the near future as to our specific thoughts on the matter – based on our work with districts nationwide.

According to this article, the Manatee County School Board is allowing educators and administrators to look through the contents of students’ phones in order to find incriminating text, photo, and video content. First, IANAL and so please keep that in mind. Second, even if this occurs on school grounds, I don’t think it justifies allowing teachers to do this under the pretense of “suspicion,” even if it is “reasonable suspicion.” Third, maybe if reasonable suspicion of a crime existed, it might be more palatable. Fourth, the parents will have a field day with this. Fifth, such an invasion should only be possible by school law enforcement and possibly the principal, and not just any teacher. Sixth, most state wiretap laws (such as Florida’s) would simply not allow the interception or disclosure of electronic communications (such as a text message between two students). Anyone who “intentionally intercepts” any “electronic communication” has committed a criminal act. Many state wiretapping laws also prohibit unlawful access to stored communications (and I presume a picture or video taken by a cell phone would fall under this). A violation would then open up the school district to a civil cause of action by the student (or his/her family). So, in sum, I don’t think this will fly. It would be best if students, without the threat of educators confiscating and rifling through the contents of their phone, would simply not use it in inappropriate ways. Maybe one day….