I am the parent of a student at Indian River High School and am in need of your support. Over the summer, the School Board passed the new policy regarding cell phones in school. The policy is a ban against possession or use of cell phones on school property while in session. Some people may feel this ban is a good thing, but what most don’t realize is the punishment for a cell phone found in possession is unfair and unjust. If a cell phone is found in possession of a student while in school, the punishment is that a student will be placed on social probation for 10 school days.
What is not made clear is that the punishment is actually 14 consecutive days because the students are not permitted to participate in any school activities, nor are they allowed to be on school property on the weekends as well. This punishment is unfair because it only affects those students who participate in after school activities, such as sports, cheerleading, band and ROTC.
It does not affect those students who do not participate in after school activities because they do not come to school functions anyway. Therefore, it is a free ride for them. The original policy was revamped and made tougher due to many reasons. Some students throughout the district were caught texting, sending inappropriate pictures and cheating on tests with them. But the ultimate reason was because the School Board was hit with an “in-your-face” yearbook picture from one of our other schools in the district last year, depicting teachers and students texting and talking on cell phones while in school. Keep in mind, this did not happen at Indian River High School, but our children are the ones paying the price as well.
With this said, as parents, students and administrators, we need to do what is right for our children at Indian River and put pressure on the School Board to amend this policy, to make it fair and equal across the board for all students at Indian River, and not penalize those who make honest mistakes. Here is an example of how this ruling has affected my son, Justin. He was running late to school last Thursday morning and forgot to remove his phone. When he was found with his phone in his possession, it was turned off and had not been used. His initial mistake was that he had not interrupted his class by turning it in to the teacher immediately when he realized he had it. He was waiting until after class to take it to the office.
Now, he is facing the 10 school days of social probation, which means no football practice, no in-school weight/strength training and no football games for two weeks, while others who do not participate in sports get caught with a phone and have no repercussions placed on them. He also is an assistant to Todd, but due to this social probation, he is not allowed to attend any other sporting events or school functions during this period. This policy, as it is written, may have cost my son an opportunity of a lifetime.
Because of this policy, he was not permitted to play football this past Friday against Delmar, where scouts from the college he so desperately wants to go to were supposed to attend to watch him play. We are not sure at this point what damage this has done to his future, or if his opportunity of going to this college has been stripped from him over a cell phone.
What I will be proposing to the School Board is to amend the policy to allow each individual incident to be looked at as it arises, and to make a determination if it is an “in your face” violation of the No Cell Phone Policy, or an honest mistake. If it is a first violation and it is found that the cell phone is off and not in use, the student should receive a first warning and the cell phone is confiscated. If the cell phone is or has been in use prior to the confiscation, the punishment begins immediately. If that is the case, or it is a second violation, the punishment would be that the student must complete 20 hours of community service and it must be completed within 30 days and a signed report must be given to the school within that 30 day span. If the punishment is not satisfied within that time frame, the student would face either a suspension of some sort or another punishment of equal value.
I believe that this amendment will be a positive solution to the cell phone issue at Indian River because it is fair across the board for all students. Students need community service for college and it will help the community.
I am asking everyone to support us at the next School Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Sussex Central High School. This is for our children and their future. Please pass this on to everyone you know. The more that attend this meeting, the better chance we have of changing this policy. I am also starting a petition to take to the School Board meeting. We need signatures and we need people at the meeting. Please try to make arrangements to be in attendance if you agree a change is needed.
