On-Campus Use ofCell Phones Is OKd in Irvine
The Irvine school board ended a ban on student use of cell phones and pagers with a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday night.
Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation last month allowing districts to permit the use of “electronic signaling devices,” banned since 1988 after fears that students would use them to make drug deals.
Cell phones are now seen as essential during emergencies--such as the school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and Santee, Calif.--because they enable students to contact parents and officials.
Irvine Unified’s policy allows students to use cell phones, pagers and two-way radios during lunch and extracurricular activities, and in an emergency or in any circumstance under which a doctor determines the device is essential to the student’s health. The devices would be turned off at other times.
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