Composto Comments On School Cell Phone Ban
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Plans for demonstrations to protest the ban on cell phones in New York City public schools continue even though Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has said he will review the policy. "I'm sure we're going to work it out," District 30 Superintendent Dr. Philip Composto said at the May meeting of the Community Education Council (CEC).

A protest against the ban on cell phones in schools was planned for May 11 outside City Hall and almost 2,800 signatures have been posted at thepetitionsite.com. The Web Site is sponsored by Carmen Colon of the Association of New York City Education Councils, an umbrella organization of CECs. It calls on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to impose an immediate moratorium on the confiscation of cellular phones that was touched off during a new program of random scanning for weapons by school safety officers in middle and high schools last month.

With the city having banned all beepers and electronic devices since 1987, Bloomberg has said that the ban on cell phones will remain firmly in place. "Officially, everybody's been told no cell phones," Composto said, "If it's seen, it's taken away."

But CEC 30 Member Yolanda Baricevic said she has been advised of problems. "What happens if something goes wrong? How do students get in touch with their parents?" she asked.

"[Some] young people have used these phones in the wrong way," said Composto, pointing to the fact the phones can also be used as cameras and are able to send text messages silently, allowing students to cheat on tests. He also said problems can arise when groups of students communicate with one another to arrange fights after school.

As the largest school system in the country, New York is the only one of the 10 biggest districts nationwide to have a total ban on cell phones in school buildings. Cell phones are allowed in school buildings in Los Angeles, Miami and Houston while it is up to the principal in Chicago and Philadelphia. The cities of Baltimore and Detroit have bans on cell phones in schools similar to New York City's.

Currently, only students in schools with metal detectors are actually barred from bringing cell phones into their schools. In most other schools, students will turn off their cell phones and bring them to school without consequence. If a cell phone is detected when a student passes through a scanner, it is confiscated and a parent must go to the school in person to retrieve it.

In a survey conducted by the publication Inside School, more than 75 percent of 774 respondents said students should be allowed to carry cell phones into schools as long as they are turned off during the school day.

Another 10 percent said it should be left up to individual principals to decide cell phone policy in their schools, and 14 percent agreed with the ban on cell phones in schools.

"Like I said, it is something the Chancellor is working on," said Composto.