Student cell phones

At Presque Isle High School, there’s a simple policy: Don’t bother bringing a pager or cellular telephone to school if you are a student. They’re not allowed.

At Bangor High School, the rules are a bit more accommodating. If there is a pressing reason for a student to have a cell phone, such as a health concern, it’s allowed; but pagers are non grata.

As wireless devices become more affordable and accessible to teen-agers — some pay-as-you-go plans can give kids cell phones or pagers without a contract, and, conceivably, without parental permission — Maine’s schools are increasingly beginning to wake to the need for policies dictating their use.

The need for both control of such devices and respect for students are evident. There is no excuse for allowing telephones or pagers to disrupt classes; the chances that such devices can distract students more interested in things outside the campus than what is on the blackboard does require attention.

But at the same time, it is only fair to presume the best of students; that they can be entrusted with behaving properly, and ought to be trusted thus, unless they demonstrate that they do not deserve it. So far, most school districts in the state have left the choices to individual principals. Neither SAD 1 nor Bangor’s public schools have districtwide policies. Portland has no districtwide policy, either, although both its high schools have banned cell phones and pagers.

The Maine School Management Association, which helps superintendents and school boards form policies, has had a handful of requests for model policies, says Dana Douglass, executive director of MSMA. So far, his association hasn’t gotten around to forming a policy, nor has it found many school districts in the state that have cohesive policies. Mostly, Douglass said, it’s up to individual schools to make their own rules, and he expects that to be the way most schools deal with the issue.

There can be varying degrees of permissiveness. School districts that find cell phones and pagers are too widely abused and too disruptive of the school environment can ban them outright; schools with extensive extracurricular programs could allow students to bring phones to school, hold them in the office, then return them to students after the final bell rings, giving kids the chance to call home for a ride after the practice or performance is over.

Unlike New Jersey and Maryland, where misuse of cellular phones and pagers have led states to criminalize their possession on school grounds, Maine doesn’t yet have a problem. With a proactive approach, school by school, Maine can prevent having to resort to such drastic measures — ensuring safe and productive schools, while preserving student freedoms, too.