I wanted to pick the 3rd choice. But, absent sufficient guidance by school board policy and absent control from the board and the Director, I don't want to subject the students to arbitrary idiosyncracies of the principals. I have known of one principal whose peronal policies are subjective, oppressive, and unreasonable, not to mention somewhat inconsistent in application. If the principals were given that kind of leeway by policy and/or the Director, then I could not be in favor of the 3rd option in the poll. Hence my vote for the 4th option.

RB

Check the numbers though. Number 4 is essentially the latest version that was rejected at the last School Board meeting. If you read the entire policy...it makes no sense and simply can't be undestood by either the Board or the people who are supposed to follow the rule.

It is too much to ask for grammatically correct complete sentences here?

This is not an issue that should be left to Pricipals, but should be an across the board policy worked out with Parents, teachers, and yes, students.

There is an opportunity here. I can think of any number of times when cell phones could be used to communicate with the students and reduce disruptions.

Cell phone disruption in class should be managed in the same manner as any disruption in class.

The BOE, teachers, and faculty are taking a problem, and making it a bigger problem... Because They Can. Because in this instance, they have the leverage to actually make a deal out of it. But at what cost?

Let me make my point:

It's very simple. As my high school student said, if a teacher teaches the entire period and doesn't allow cell phone use, 99% of the students don't use them during that period. If a teacher has time in which they aren't teaching, (in other words "down time"), then more students will use their cell phones during this time. Some teachers allow cell phone use during this time, others do not. Just as some teachers allow talking during class, and others do not.

But basically, cell phone use should be treated in the same manner as passing notes, talking during class, getting out of your seat during class, or disrupting the class. Whatever manner the teacher deals with other disruptions, whatever level of toleration the teacher allows or does not allow with other disruptions, the same policy should apply in that class to cell phone disruption. Cell phone disruption is not a violent crime, a cell phone is not a weapon.

Ask yourself, "what's the difference between notes and cell phones"? They can both be taken up, but the student and the parents do not place any value on the notes. The phone, however, is valuable. And therein lies the difference. If a teacher takes up a note, is that the end of note writing? Of course not. As long as there is paper, kids will write notes. If a student talks in class out of turn does the teacher take the student's mouth up for 48 hours? Of course not.

The teachers, faculty and BOE know the phone is valuable. Therefore, the phone is something they can physically control. But at what cost? Do students miss two days of educational time in the class room because they are sent to ISS at Midtown for their second violation of passing a note? For turning around in their desk and talking in class? For disrupting the class in any way aside from fighting or violence? No.

The attendance policies should be set to increase educational time for students. But the cell phone policy demonstrates that the attendance policy is really just to meet state mandates. If education really mattered, they wouldn't remove students from educational class time for two days for a single cell phone violation.

As John Stossel would say, "Give me a break". This is clearly a situation where teachers simply need to control the behavior to meet the teacher's comfort level, just as they do all the other non-violent situations.

If a student disrupts the class with the phone, simply have them put the phone on the teacher's desk until the end of class.

Anything further is just a control issue, "because they can". Just because they find something they can somewhat control, doesn't mean they have to go hog wild.

Don't take a problem and make it a bigger problem. It costs everyone ... parents, principals, vice-principals, Midtown staff, the BOE policy committee, the BOE and the DOS time and energy. Why? Because someone might get hurt? No. Just because they can.

The school system is so invested in creating, passing and enforcing a cell phone policy that they will not see the big picture for a while. They have blinded themsleves. It will take 4 or 5 years before they recognize their policy doesn't work, and in fact creates more problems. Then perhaps they will begin to revise their policy to make sense and to be reasonable.

But you probably shouldn't encourage me :)

The policy changes still include sending a student to Midtown (In School Suspension) for a cell phone violation.

Why would anyone vote to ride a horse backwards?

Why do they continue to create, implement and enforce more and more restrictions, codes, rules, penalties, and punitive consequences?

Especially consequences that actually remove good-performance students from the educational setting for days at a time. This is so irrational it is difficult to grasp that well-meaning, intelligent adults would even remotely consider that an option.

What if, instead of spending hours and hours of time coming up with new rules, they just told the teachers not to allow cell phone use in class.

The kids are alright. Our youngest generation will make great teachers!
They'll probably have every student's cell phone number in their contact list and send a bulk text out at the end of the school day that says something like "Reminder: Chapter Test Tomorrow".

Some adults would be amazed at the information a kid will tell you through a text that they wouldn't tell you in person. IDK why. They just do. We can ignore it, or we can embrace it.

I envision at the start of a school year in the future, instead of getting dead trees in the form of school handbooks and assignment books, and instead of lugging around three ring binders, students will get a small electronic PDA type device that stores all that information. One day they'll probably e-file their assignments to the teachers.

As for cell phones being used to cheat, students have cheated for ever. They will continue to cheat, and they don't need a phone to do it. If they cheat with a cell phone, the discipline should be the same as if they cheat without a cell phone.

There simply should not be a separate cell phone policy.

In their zest for new and better rules and more defined penalties, there will be a cost. Roane County will limp into the future, while others will walk briskly.

Run for School Board. ;>)

Actually, I think we have good people on the board now, Some of them are just isolated from parents and students, something RoaneViews.com is trying to correct.

Tyler and Earl are regular contributers here...Wouldn't it be nice if all the Board members were as involved?