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Ban them during class, sure!!! No need for texting while learning. Take them away for the day if that rule is broken.

It won't solve any problem with cheating, we all cheated when there were not even calculators that allowed saving any formulas, don't make this about something that it is not.

Between classes or on breaks, where is the problem, are the schools afraid that some fight may be on youtube showing that they don't have control over their students? Worry about the fighting, and stop teaching our children that it is ok that their rights can be taken away by a governing body.

If my child ends up being caught in another GunFree zone slaughter, and the students can't call for help or call home that they made it out ok because their cell phone was locked up in a locker or a teachers desk. I would have my lawyer file suite before the dusk cleared.

Why is time and money wasted on things that would be a non issue if we wouldn't keep cutting funds and support for the future of our country.

Love the idea. Wish it was statewide.

I used to volunteer in a high school Spanish class and EVERY day class would be disrupted by a phone, at least three students were caught texting, and nce one even used her phone to store info about a test - a new way to cheat!

I send my child to school to learn, and resent mightily that other parents have not instilled respect of others into their little precious offspring. When your little darling takes away good classtime from MY child, we have a problem.

Oh, you're out there. And you know it.

Cell phones have no place in the classroom. Out of sight. off. Kaput. Your precious can call you when she/he gets on the bus or goes to lunch.

I hope the other counties follow Hillsborough's lead.

Teachers need all the support they can get from parents and the community at large if they are expected to provide a decent education to our young people. The goal is to reduce interruptions in class via cell phone yet to allow phones in case of emergency.

It would seem to me that a reasonable and inexpensive compromise would be to place insulated boxes in each classroom. As students enter the class they deposit their cellphones into the box. The student or student's family is reponsible for marking the phone for identification. At the start of class the box is closed. The insulation in the box will muffle ringers that go off during class time. Calls coming in during class time are to be ignored. At the end of the class, students retrieve their phones and depart the classroom. Any students who refuse to use the box and are using the phone during class will have their phone confiscated and their parents will have to come to school to retrieve the cell phone from the principal personally.

All of this is with the understanding that the school will NOT be responsible for the phones if they are lost or stolen on school property which is the current policy. This would allow teachers to teach without interruption of cell phones, cut down on cheating via cell phone and allow phone use in case of emergency.

It's a reasonable compromise don't you think?

I understand the phones for kids that are latch key kids, I understand that a child that is driving themselves could need as phone. As the parent of 4 kids, I know that all I have to do is call the school and I can talk to any of them. If my child was staying home alone, I would want them to call me asap... I also understand in the wake of Columbine and other schools, that cell phones are a way of alerting students of an emergency, BUT there is this neat button on most phones called volume. When I go to church, to work, to the library ect... I set it to vibrate. I don't miss any important calls, and we all know that emergencies never happen when we are sitting at home, next to the home phone. Yet, I am not a distraction to any one around me.

As for cheating, When I was in Elementary school, a fellow student was learning sign language beause a parent was deaf, she taught a group of us the alphabet. What started off as something innocent was soon realized that it could help us with test. It was very short lived, but kid's who wish to cheat WILL....

Cell phones should not be used in schools. They should not be seen or heard during school hours. They are useful however for after school activities. I don't know how many times I needed to pick up a child early due to inclement weather or later than normal if a project ran long. Common sense dictates that phones should not be used during school hours, that is a no brainer. Children caught using a phone during school hours should be punished. Take their phone away if they can not follow the rules!