News - Local News

POSTED: Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008

Whatcom County schools struggle with electronics policies

Cell phones have become a permanent fixture in everyday society, with adults and kids alike relying on them for emergencies and convenience.

But for school administrators and teachers, student cell phones can be a big nuisance.

"They're having much more of an effect on the learning environment than people might think," said Meridian School District Superintendent Tim Yeomans. "Even when phones are on buzz in the classroom ... when you're in a learning environment you can hear those and it disrupts everybody."

And cell phone buzzing isn't the only issue. Now that most phones can take pictures and videos and teens are quick at text messaging, administrators worry about cheating, theft and taking inappropriate pictures.

All high schools and most middle schools in Whatcom County have some kind of policy about when students can use cell phones and other electronics, including mp3 players and handheld video games.

The rules vary, depending on the school and district. One district is even trying to create a single, formal policy for all its schools, but in most districts rules are set school by school.

For example, at Squalicum High School, staff decided earlier this year to handle cell phones and mp3 player use on a classroom-by-classroom basis, said Principal Keith Schacht.

"Most students are respectful of a teacher's request to put cell phones and electronics away," he said. "If teachers do confiscate it for the day, kids can pick it up after school ... and we have some repeat offenders where parents come in and talk about it."

But at Ferndale High School, where the rules changed this year, students must keep phones off and away during scheduled class time. Violation of that rule means the electronic device is confiscated and a parent must come pick it up.

Before this year, the school used a progressive discipline model, with students first getting their device taken away for a day, then a week, then the semester and sometimes detention and suspension. This is the basic policy that many high schools use.

"We recognize that electronics are a part of life and saying they can't have them isn't effective," said Ferndale High Principal Dawn Mark (formerly Dawn Fairchild). "We're trying to teach them to use them in a responsible manner."

The school policy changed around the beginning of October, with announcements and information posted a week in advance. Mark said the number of phones that needed to be picked up has dropped significantly over the last month.

"What this has done has significantly reduced the disruptions in class and now we have parents working with us to help educate their student on appropriate electronic use in school," said Mark, adding that for some repeat offenders in previous years, "it only took one trip by mom and dad (this year) compared to three or four confiscations."

Even with the stricter rule, students at Ferndale High say they regularly see other students text messaging during class.

"I think it's really, really rude to be on the phone texting and stuff during class if there's teaching," said senior Taylor Inman-Scott, 17, adding that there is plenty of time to use your phone during breaks and lunch.

And while many students feel the usage rules are fair, they think making a parent come to the school is unfair.

"I think it's a dumb rule because it's our mistake and it shouldn't be our parents' responsibility," said freshman Michael Dykstra, 14.

DISTRICTWIDE POLICY

Even with clear guidelines at schools, some teachers still are lenient about electronics use, especially mp3 players, during independent work times. And with different schools enforcing different rules, even within the same school district, some students and administrators argue it's unfair.

The Meridian School District is trying to avoid that by creating the first formal, school board-approved, districtwide policy in Whatcom County.

"Going school by school allows for misrepresentation and misinterpretation," said Yeomans. "It also allows for inconsistency."

On Monday, Nov. 17, the Meridian School Board started discussing how to create a districtwide electronics policy, something that many school districts around the state, let alone the country, have yet to do.

"We're about to tread into some really interesting territory, not just us, but around the country," Yeomans said during the discussion.

The Nooksack Valley School District also has a districtwide policy, but Superintendent Mark Johnson called it informal, adding that school administrators got together about a year ago and drafted rules on their own.

One of the issues facing administrators is that every month, new devices come out that are capable of things the administrators hadn't thought about.

"Stuff changes so fast and it's so common now," said Rick Thompson, the acting superintendent of Lynden School District, "that I'm not sure you can make a policy that can keep up with the changes."

Yeomans warned board members that "even when adopted, down the road (the policy) would need to be routinely addressed and modified."

TECHNOLOGY RAISES QUESTIONS

One of the biggest hurdles in creating a districtwide policy is deciding what to do if a phone has been used inappropriately. For example, if a student brought a binder of nude pictures to school, the binder would be confiscated and searched. But if a student is showing nude pictures on a phone, can an administrator confiscate the phone and search it?

"Is searching someone's backpack the same as searching someone's phone?" Yeomans asked. "Why this is different is it involves conversations that are assumed to be private."

Meridian board member Brian Evans asked why the board simply can't ban the use of phones and other electronics on campus, pointing out there are several phones at schools for students to use in an emergency.

"If a parent comes into the office and says, 'I need to see my child now,' they're not going to go run around the halls looking for them," he said. "There's a procedure for that. There should be absolutely no difference to access my child through the cell phone."

But administrators agree that cell phones and mp3 players won't be disappearing anytime soon.

Schacht, whose daughter is a student at Squalicum High School, understands the need for parents to be able to get hold of their child at any moment - his daughter has a cell phone. But he also believes that many times the call is not important enough to interrupt class.

"We're kind of conditioned to immediately getting a hold of whoever we want, wherever we are," he said. "But if there's an emergency, we have about 100 adults here that can help out in any situation."

To cut down on cell phone interruptions for his daughter, Schacht uses a cell plan he heard about from another student. The plan allows parents to restrict when their children can send or receive text messages and phone calls. By blocking his daughter's reception during the school day, it means she isn't tempted to check her phone for messages and she can still get any necessary ride changes at the end of the day.

The block still allows her to use her phone for other purposes.

"People my age, we don't understand that a cell phone is also a (student's) calculator, their text machine, also their calendar," Schacht said. "It's hard for older people to grasp that concept, and it's only going to get more prolific next year and the following year.

"Eventually we're going to have to figure out how to incorporate this technology into education."