To comply with a new state law, the district is expected to relax rules and allow elementary students to carry cell phones. However, the School Board will restrict where they can be used.
By MARY SPICUZZA
Published October 17, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - Sheryl Hunter said the Hernando County School Board is about to make her holiday shopping a bit more difficult.
Sitting in her white sport utility vehicle outside Chocachatti Elementary School while waiting for her two granddaughters, she said her 10-year-old granddaughter has been asking for a cell phone for Christmas. So Hunter, 54, wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that the School Board will be voting Tuesday on whether to allow elementary school students to carry cell phones.
"I have difficulty with high school students having them," she said. "Golly, I can't see myself giving them cell phones to take to elementary school."
Hernando is just one of dozens of school districts in Florida that have been relaxing rules about cell phones to comply with a new state law, which took effect July 1.
That law, based on a proposal sent to the Legislature by high school students, states that school districts can no longer prohibit students from bringing cell phones to school.
The School Board will still be able to limit where and when students can use the phones. The proposed revision to the student code of conduct says that, like the current policy for high schools, cell phone use will not be allowed inside elementary school buildings or on school buses, and may not disrupt school functions.
High school students can now use cell phones before and after school and during lunch. Elementary students would not be able to use them at any time during the school day, the proposed revision states. Students would be able to use them outside before and after school.
Repeated cell phone offenses could lead to bans for specific students and disciplinary action, including suspension.
Even with proposed regulations, some in the district are reluctant to allow cell phones at the elementary level.
"Personally, I don't like the idea of cell phones on campus," School Board member John Druzbick said. "The attention of the students should be what's happening in their class, not on their cell phones."
Druzbick said that many students already violate cell phone rules by talking in class or text messaging test answers to their classmates. In the past, he has suggested banning cell phone use on campus.
Like other school districts across the country, Hernando has had a love-hate relationship with cell phones for years. The School Board banned cell phones in 1995, and said students could be suspended or expelled if caught carrying them.
At that time, cell phones and pagers were seen as disruptive to class, and were often associated with drug dealers.
But cell phones have experienced an image change since the mid 1990s. They are now promoted for safety and security, and have a major mainstream following.
For example, a 2004 survey conducted by the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, found that nearly half of teens - ages 13 to 17 - own their own cell phones.
In 2002, the School Board loosened its rules and allowed middle and high school students to carry cell phones because pay phones were being removed from campuses. It did place regulations on when they could be used.
But after students were caught receiving calls during class and text messaging test answers to each other, the district was considering banning cell phones again this summer.
Under the new state law, a ban is no longer an option, Hernando's director of student services Jim Knight said.
The district also hopes the new policy will satisfy parents' wishes to be able to get in touch with their children.
"I think in the real world, parents want to be able to contact their children," said Roy Gordon, communications manager for the Hernando County School Board.
Several parents and students applauded the proposed change to district policy. They cited concern about incidents of school violence, including the murders at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
"It kind of seems like a good idea, especially after what happened at Columbine," Deborah Harlow, 34, said while waiting for her 8-year-old daughter outside Chocachatti Elementary School. "Those kids were able to call their parents right away."
However, the proposed revision states that "all cell phones are to be off during a school emergency (as determined by the principal or designee)."
Harlow said her daughter doesn't have her own phone, but added "she knows how to use mine real well."
Jodie Renczkowski, 15, said that her cell phone also helps her mother, Barbara, contact her if she needs anything. But Renczkowski, a sophomore at Central High School, did admit that there is some cell phone abuse among her peers.
Still, some doubted that a policy change would bring a flood of cell phones into the hands of Hernando youth.
Principal Sue Stoops said it has been a non-issue at Brooksville Elementary School, where only one student that she knows of has brought a cell phone on campus.
Several students agreed that few elementary school students have gone wireless.
"I don't have a cell phone," Alyssa Cooper, 9, said, adding that most of her classmates don't own them. "Even my sister doesn't have one, and she's 12."
Researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Mary Spicuzza can be reached at mspicuzza@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.
