L.A. Unified to Study Campus Cellphone Ban

The Los Angeles Board of Education is expected to reopen a debate today over students using cellphones on school grounds, possibly relaxing its own widely ignored policy that bans the devices on campus for being disruptive.

The school board is scheduled to take the ringing issue up in the wake of a change in state law last year that rescinded a 15-year-old prohibition on “electronic signaling devices” at California schools. Responding to parents who want to reach their children during emergencies, such as school shootings or earthquakes, the state is allowing districts to set their own rules.

Los Angeles Unified Supt. Roy Romer and school board President Jose Huizar both said that they think students should be allowed to “possess” cellphones on campus, but that their use should be heavily regulated.

Romer’s staff had proposed continuing an outright ban on the devices, citing a desire by principals to stop youngsters from using them to cheat on tests by using text messages and to avoid the interruptions of lessons with ringing phones. In a recent district survey, 74% of secondary school principals wanted to keep the ban and 77% predicted problems if rules were eased.

But Romer and Huizar said they are open to cellphones on campus so that students and parents can reach each other in emergency situations, such as the shooting that occurred across the street from Taft High School in Woodland Hills this month.

“I truly believe that we ought to prohibit the use but not the possession,” Romer said, adding that he would allow principals some discretion in enforcement.

Huizar added, “An outright ban is probably not in the best interest of students at this time.”

The district’s current policy, based on the now-abandoned 1988 state law, prohibits students from possessing and using cellphones on campus, except in cases of medical necessity.

Students, teachers and parents had different reactions to the potential change in policy.

Belmont High sophomore Jose Manuel said he carries a cellphone at school -- despite the district’s ban. He said he wants to continue to keep it at his side, even if it’s turned off, because he worries about school shootings.

“What if there’s an emergency and somebody is dying?” asked Jose, 15. “How will I be able to call for help?”

Christy Esquivel, 17, said she keeps her navy blue Nokia phone in her bag mostly for emergencies, but she admitted that she likes to play games on the phone when she is bored, “mostly in my math class.”

Esquivel sat on a curb in front of Belmont High on Monday chatting with her boyfriend on the cellphone that she pays for by working at Rite Aid. She said she often calls her boyfriend or friends during class breaks and lunch and has never been disciplined for it.

“I can’t be without my phone now,” she said. “I’m so used to it. I can always call my mom to tell her where I will be.”

She said students should be allowed to carry cellphones in school, as long as it does not bother other students. It frustrates her when students’ phones ring in English class because “we’re all trying to concentrate on our essays,” she said. “It’s annoying because the teacher is talking and you can’t understand her because everybody starts laughing.”

Hyesong Kang, whose son is in ninth grade at Belmont, requires him to carry a cellphone because “I want to know where my son is,” she said as her own phone began ringing the tune “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

“It’s very important for emergencies,” said Kang, who moved to Los Angeles from Korea about six months ago. “I think it’s good for every kid to bring a cellphone to school.”

But English teacher Nancy Rutherford, who calls herself “anti-cellphone,” said easing the rules could make it harder to maintain order in her classes.

“I could spend all day taking phones away from kids and, frankly, I don’t have time for that. I’ve got other things to do,” she said.

L.A. Unified would join a growing number of California school districts that are relaxing their rules on cellphones and pagers. For example, school boards in Irvine and Corona ended their bans.

Officials in the two districts said they were responding to worries from parents after deadly shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 and in Santee, Calif., in 2001.

“A lot of parents had raised concerns about being able to get in touch with their children at any given time or for their children to get in touch with them,” said Carol Garland, vice president of the 42,000-student Corona-Norco Unified School District.

Parents wanted the “safety of their [children] assured,” she added.

Students in that Riverside County district are allowed to use cellphones on campus, as long as the devices are off during class.

At the high schools in Irvine, students can use their cellphones during lunch but must otherwise keep them off, according to the district’s policy. Exceptions are made during emergencies or if it is essential to a student’s medical needs.

“We knew a lot of students were carrying phones anyway,” said Leah Laule, assistant superintendent in the Irvine Unified School District.

“They were going undetected because the kids use them appropriately. This just allows students to do it openly and legally, so to speak.”