APS' cell phone policy survey

The leadership of the APS wants to write a policy that restricts cell phone use. They are making a mountain out of a molehill. The are simply manifesting their frustration over their lack of control over the situation, and think they can regain control by writing another rule.

The problem is that they really don't expect students to follow the rules; so writing yet another rule is no guarantee of compliance, only a source of frustration for the relatively few teachers who will try to enforce the rule because it is the rule; despite the lack of support they will get from site administrators. They will fight a kid over his phone, turn it over to the principal, who will be the good guy by giving the phone back to the kid (with an admonishment that if they get caught again, there will be "consequences"), and the teacher will be the bad guy. It is their car that will get keyed, it will be their coffee that get spit into, it will be their desk drawer that gets crapped in.

Fundamental to any policy is enforcement. Winston Brooks has saddled teachers with a Discipline rubric that lists "disobeying authority" as among the most minor of infractions a student can commit.

He wants teachers to enforce yet another "stupid" rule, and yet is willing to do nothing to students who will disobey that rule, no matter how many times they disobey it.

For example, one of the reasons they cite as a problem that will be addressed by a ban is, cyber-bullying by means of cell phones.

I would suppose, there aren't that many students using cell phones for cyber-bullying, so they're writing a policy that effects 90,000 students, a 7000 teachers, to address the misconduct of a relative handful of kids.

It is cyber-bullying that should be against the rules, not "using a cell phone" to do it.

There is no indication that the administration will own the enforcement of the new rule; teachers will be expected to bear the burden. Note that no effort has been made to solicit their opinion individually; the term "staff" includes a lot of people who will not be expected to fight with some kid over his phone. In truth, the term "teacher" includes a lot of people who will not fight with kids over phones.

Before they create another rule for teachers to enforce, they need to ask teachers if they actually will. Otherwise, were going to end up writing another rule that kids will ignore, and in the end, we will have only reinforced the notion that rules are made to be broken.

The survey included the following;

1*. parent, student, staff, other

1. Should APS have a Cell Phone Use Policy? Yes No

2. Is it reasonable for schools to expect students to keep cell phones and other personal electronics powered off, silenced and concealed from view during the school day? Yes No

3. Do you think high school students should be allowed to use their cell phones and other personal electronic devices like iPods during lunch? Yes No

4. Do you think high school students should be allowed to use cell phones and other personal electronic devices like iPods during passing periods? Yes No

5. Is it reasonable for schools to expect students to keep cell phones and other personal electronic devices powered off, silenced and concealed from view on school buses? Yes No

6. Do you think it is reasonable to restrict students from using cell phones and personal electronic devices on school property or at school-sponsored activities to access and/or view internet websites that are otherwise blocked at school, including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube? Yes No

7. Do you think school personnel including teachers should be allowed to confiscate cell phones and other personal electronic devices if students violate the rules outlined in the district’s cell phone policy? Yes No

8. Comments or concerns: