I know this makes me an old-ass fogey, but why are cell phones allowed in schools? If I were a teacher and a kid pulled out a PHONE in my classroom I'd go apeshit.

Wonderful. We've legitimized consumption of child porn.

Way to go.

Simple solution: ban cell phones at schools. Immediate confiscation upon discovery. Problem solved.

I'm with #1 the cell phones don't belong in class whatsoever. They should be turned off and stored in the childs purse, bag or backpack. The kids can turn them on as soon as the bell rings at the end of the school day.

Remember calling from a pay phone to tell your parents you were staying after school for an activity or going to the library or whatever? Then calling from a pay phone to have them pick you up? The pay phone's not there anymore. Kids today use a cell and most likely txt.

Cell phones are part of life. Deal with it.

I know in the school my mom teaches at students aren't allowed to have their phones out in class, taking it out in class leads to confiscation and detention if it happens repeatedly. However they can have them out during lunch, in the hall between classes, and after school lets out. Students don't teleport from one class to another so they do have time other than in class during the school day.

In our school district the schools do nothing if the texts indicates they were sent outside of classroom instructional time. My child was a victim of cyberbulling, in our case the abusive texts revealed that they were sent during instructional time and the students involved did have their phones taken from them. General policy is phones, iPods, etc. are turned off and put away in classrooms.

This is why anyone with a cellphone, should have a lock on it. The part that stopped me cold was "without their or THEIR PARENTS' permission." This means, that even if you as a parent want to respect your child's privacy, the school doesn't care. School administrators are people too, and can be petty and vengeful if what they find is not sexting, but some teen talking trash about the principal, or whatever. When my son is old enough, his phone will have a digital lock. Just because people are young, doesn't mean they have no right to privacy.

Yes, it seems like the better thing is to ban the use of cell phones in class rooms. If the rule is broken, confiscate them and return them at the end of the day. Teachers & administers meddling in this kind of activity is just going to cause many more problems than it is likely to solve.

It isn't necessary to send your child to an institution where bullying and harassment are so commonplace and such Draconian searches are seen as unavoidable.

First, there has to be a safe place where students can leave their phones if the school is unwilling to follow an "innocent until proven guilty" policy regarding students posession of cellphones on school property. In this safe place, the students right to privacy should be respected, and the cell phones not searched while in school posession. The school should also provide alternate means for students to contact their guardians while on school property. No pay phone? Then either bring payphones back, or make more phones available for students to use for this purpose.

As for sexting laws? fucking ridiculous! Making criminals (yes, they are required to register as sex offenders if caught doing this) out of otherwise innocent people is fucking bullshit! Yes, the kids should know better, but if they are not posting it for public consumption, then there is no reason to make criminals out of these kids!

School officials violating students rights to privacy by snooping through their phones should be fired! Schools are government run institutions, does these institutions willful violation of civil rights not create disrespect for ALL government institutions?