Bell : City Council Urges Ban on Student Pagers

The Bell City Council is urging the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education to establish a policy banning portable paging devices from school grounds.

Charging that beepers are increasingly being used by Bell High School students, allegedly for drug transactions, City Councilman George Cole said he suggested the policy. “I can’t think of any legitimate reasons why dozens and dozens of high school kids should be carrying beepers,” Cole said in a telephone interview.

The council took action at Tuesday night’s council meeting by ordering a letter to be drafted and sent to the school board, requesting consideration of a ban.

“My concern is that the district has not decided on a policy on how this should be handled,” Cole said, adding that Bell High officials, at the direction of Principal Mary Ann Sesma, began confiscating pocket pagers from students.

In a letter to the council, Bell-Cudahy Police Chief Manuel Ortega wrote: “The feeling around City Council members was that, with rare exception, the minors were carrying the beepers to keep in touch with persons associated with the buying and selling of drugs.”