Groton bows to future, loosens student cellphone policy
Groton — Students in Groton Public Schools no longer have to keep their cellphones turned off and out of sight under a new policy adopted by the Board of Education.
The policy, approved unanimously this week, allows students to use electronic communication devices like cellphones and iPads during the school day if the teacher gives permission, the phone is needed in an emergency or the device is part of an individual special education plan.
"We're going into the 21st century," Assistant Superintendent Susan Austin said. "Here we go."
Students at Robert E. Fitch High School have been allowed to use electronics like cellphones, tablets and iPads only during lunch, between classes and as part of a lesson if the teacher allowed it.
John Jones, principal of West Side Middle School, said students will still have to keep their phones in their lockers and turned off, unless directed by a teacher.
Middle school students are discouraged from bringing in cellphones and may not make calls except in an emergency, according to the school handbook. Phones brought to school "must be secured in the student's locker and turned off during the school day," the handbook says.
But now a teacher could instruct students to retrieve their cellphones from the lockers to use during a lesson, then return the phones to the lockers at the end, the principal said.
"Education today has to deal with real-life applications," Jones said. "And we can't do that if we're telling them to put their real-life applications away."
Students need to learn to use the devices responsibly, he said.
"They all go home to their computers. They all go home to their games, their electronic games. It's part of their life," he said.
West Side enrolls 480 to 490 students, at least two-thirds of whom have cell phones, Jones said.
He doesn't think the world will go to ruin because of students using cell phones.
"I think the world would go to ruin if we didn't keep up with technology. We can't be anti-world. But having said that, I think we have to use (them) in a responsible way, and it has to be monitored," he said.
Last year, West Side disciplined a student over a cell phone about every two weeks. The discipline remains the same: The first time a student is caught, the phone goes in the locker; the second time, it goes to the office, and the third time, a parent is called to pick it up, Jones said.
In November, the Groton Parent Council talked about living in a digital age, including cyber bullying and teaching students to use technology responsibly, said Clare Rogers, chairwoman of the council.
"They are good tools," she said of electronic devices. "They can be good tools, but it's again, knowing that fine line. It's a difficult, tricky situation we're in, but we're in it."
Rogers' seventh-grade daughter attends Cutler Middle School, and it's a comfort knowing they can reach each other if they're running late. But technology can hinder communication in other situations. "You can't read their eyes. You can't see the body language," Rogers said.
Dave Russell, president of the Fitch Athletic Booster Club, has three children - triplets - who graduated from Fitch last year. All were allowed to use their phones if they needed to, he said. It was up to the teacher, he said.
"I think it's a pretty liberal policy, but unless it really gets abused, I don't think they should have any problem," Russell said.
He planned to wait until the kids were older before buying them cell phones but bought the phones after his sixth-grade daughter got on the wrong "late" bus after school, didn't come home right away and couldn't call home.
Russell said he wouldn't support a blanket policy allowing cell phones, but one that gives the teachers control. "You can't be walking down a hallway with 600 kids carrying on a conversation," he said.
He hasn't seen that. Some teachers refused to allow the phones at all while others allowed them if students finished class work and homework and were not disruptive, he said.
"As long as they're not being loud and texting and talking in the hall, and being rude and ignoring teachers, I don't think it's a problem," Russell said.
Some are adamant phones should never be used, "but there's a lot of kids out there that you've got to get messages to. Nine out of 10 (families) have two parents working," he said.
d.straszheim@theday.com
Twitter: @DStraszheim
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.