Robert Mayne sees the sly texters slouched at their desks. He hears the muffled chirps of smartphones tucked in bluejeans or backpacks. He worries a student might email the week's math test to a friend in the afternoon class.
"They're not just phones," said Mayne, a high school math teacher at Chariho High School in Richmond. "They take photos. They text. They email. There are games, the Internet, Youtube. It's not just one distraction. It's dozens."
Count Mayne a supporter of legislation in Rhode Island's General Assembly to prohibit students from using cellphones during the school day. Some educators question how a ban would be enforced, and whether they're waging a battle against technology they can't win. But Mayne said a state law will give teeth to efforts to curb bullying, inappropriate photos, cheating and the myriad disruptions caused by cellphones in school.
Under the legislation students could still carry phones in school, but they couldn't use them during school hours, including study hall and lunch. A first offense results in a warning. A second violation would lead to administrators confiscating the phone for three days. The third time, the phone would be kept for five days. Exceptions would be made for emergencies.
Sen. John Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, introduced the bill after leading a legislative task force investigating cyberbullying. The work led Tassoni to conclude that cellular prohibition is the best way to ensure students are focusing on a textbook, not Facebook.
"If a phone becomes a problem, then we're going to take it away," he said. "Not only are people using them to bully other students, but they're using them to cheat."
While many school districts restrict phone use, Rhode Island would be the only state with a law specifically banning phone use in school, according to the Education Commission of the States.
Good luck, said Kenneth Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services. According to Trump, 80% of U.S. schools restrict student cellphone use. That Rhode Island is considering a statewide ban just shows that local policies aren't working, he said.
Providence, the state's largest school district, prohibits cellphone use during the school day. Administrators confiscate phones from students who cause repeated problems, though a warning usually resolves the problem, according to Nkoli Onye, the district's executive director for high schools.
"We don't search our students," Onye said. "We don't want to be the phone police. We simply ask that if they have a cellphone, they keep it out of sight."
Onye predicts that schools will someday embrace devices much like today's smartphones as a teaching tool, she said.
"The technology isn't going away," she said. "Will we even have textbooks in schools in 15 years, or will students use something like an iPad? The big question is how we use this technology to enhance education."
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The technology isn't going away ... Will we even have textbooks in schools in 15 years, or will students use something like an iPad? The big question is how we use this technology to enhance education.
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Its very important in schools that when we go in schools we shouldn't disturb their concentration by ringing phones so we have to take our mobiles either switch off or on mute..
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Its a very good thing that RI lawmaker seeks to mute cellphones in schools and its very easy to understand that mobile phones create noise and disturbance and studies wants silence..
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Sen. John Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, introduced the bill after leading a legislative task force investigating cyberbullying.
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Posted by: Residential MD | November 08, 2011 at 04:45 AM
Even i find it correct to prohibits cellphone use during the school day as students might make misuse of it.
Posted by: Alfonso Fanjul | November 16, 2011 at 01:17 AM
As we all know study wants silence.. it becomes an important topic to prohibit the use of mobile phones in schools.. it diverts the mind of student through studies..
Posted by: Pepe Fanjul Jr. | November 16, 2011 at 04:10 AM
Yeah this is the best way in regards with studying and concentrating, the children and perform well as there would be no such thing which can divert the attention of the children.
Posted by: JKP Foundation | November 17, 2011 at 04:04 AM
Students are now a days are more concentrating on fun rather than studies. Allowing phones in school will make their interest for their studies low. so, your decision is correct.
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Students are interested in fun and other entertaining activities rather than studies..therefore it is necessary to mute cellphones during school..
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According to me, students would first receive a warning under the proposal.
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A second violation would lead to administrators confiscating the phone for three days. Serious Offense..!
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It should be the first concern of the officials to make cell phones mute in the school.
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