I was one of these parents who told my kid she doesn't need a cell phone in school. (And don't tell me "everybody" has one.) She needs to call home, go to the office and use the phone.

Pay phones are a thing of the past. Once, she couldn't call because the office was closed. Another time, the lady at the desk refused use of a phone. The final straw, she was off campus for a school activity and stranded with no way to contact. I caved and got her a cell phone; it was an imperative for my kid's safety.

Unless the schools hire phone-sniffing dogs along with drug-sniffing dogs, kids are going to come to school with cell phones, along with i pods and electronic games.  I'm not entirely comfortable with confiscating them (some of those phones cost a hefty amount) for abusing their possession. Detention or suspension should be enough.

Do they have the authority to confiscate them?  Afterall, the phones belong to the parents, not to the children.  To me confiscating them is tantamount to stealing.

If a child is texting in classroom or something which violates school policy, then he or she should be warned and if it happens again, sent to the office.  Depriving my kid of his cell phone is certain to earn a call (and/or visit) from me, and I'm sure many other parents as well.

Cell phones being used during class are contraband. They are not allowed and schools have every legal right to confiscate them. Of course, parents are free to retrieve them. You got a problem with it, deal with your kid. They are told many times not to have them out in class. They are the problem in this case, not the schools.

Really rubs me the wrong way when "parents" think it is OK for their kids to break established school rules. Shows their disregard for the schools and that is transferred to the kid. Why would a kid need to have the phone out during class?

One local school deals with the cell phone issue very nicely.  1) You can bring your phone and use it before school, at lunch, and after school. 2) If a faculty or staff see it being used otherwise, they confiscate it and it goes to the girls/boys dean where they can pick it up after school, along with their detention slip.

Texting in class is a problem, and students have their clever ways of hiding it.  The rules are the rules and every student should be respectful and follow them, period. Why this is even debatable is beyond me... There is nothing wrong with handling things this way at all.

Yes erin, they have the authority to confiscate anything a student possesses, even if the student is 18. As long as a student is on school grounds, the school is responsible for them. The policy regarding cell pnones and pagers is in the Education Code. "Electronic devices can be used before school and after school. While in class and at lunch and intersession breaks the phone must be off and put away. Even during a school emergency the phone is not to be used. A teacher or staff member is responsible for all contact that may be necessary." Not really verbatim, but close. Sorry parents, your kids are not perfect angels while at school, that is why there are these punishments. I had a student last year whose phone was confiscated and his mom wouldn't come pick it up until the last day of school. Seven months without his phone! We all laughed when he got it back. He had something like three hundred text messages. 

I think this is all funny....I remember when I was in school 5 years ago. I used a cell phone in school. It wasn't that big of a deal then, it was more laid back as long as I wasn't flashing the phone off or disrupting class or anyone, it was OK. I wasn't having phone conversations in class but I used it on breaks.

I guess everyone can complain about the rules but they are not going to change. So if you get into trouble for "using" not having a cell phone and the school has the legal authority to remove the phone from the student's possession, then so be it!

How did millions of children manage to survive grade school before there was a cell phone.  There is no need to have constant, instant communication with the world.  Throw the cell phone under a steam roller!

I'm with Witbee and midterm.  One rule where I work is no cell phones during classes and they can be suspended for using them.  These are adults, you wouldn't think you'd have to tell them.  I've been to meetings and trainings where people would text or would get a call and leave the room.

You really can survive a couple of hours without using a cell, honest you can..

I think that decision to use cell phones between classes and at lunch should be up to the parent.  We're entrusting our children to these teachers, not surrendering our rights as parents to them.

Didn't I read somewhere about a parent calling his child during class time because he was serving in Iraq and not exactly on a set schedule where he could call them in the evenings?  How would this fit into our notion of cell phone use at school?

The parent needs to respect the school rules. That being said, if it was something extremely important, the student could get special arrangements made thru the administration. Nine times out of ten when I take a cell phone from a kid, they are talking to/texting mommy. Why? Nothing specific.

However, I have taken phones from kids who had it out during exams (cameras, anyone?) and during lectures (taping the teacher or other students w/o permission is highly illegal).

And the administration can access the picture files if they feel there is probable cause (gang tagging, etc). The stories I've heard about parents, grown men, breaking down when they saw the pictures on their (or someone else's, kids cell phones would curl your hair.

 I think that decision to use cell phones between classes and at lunch should be up to the parent.

Not on campus. You pay the administration huge amounts of money to make these decisions for you. Trust that they have the education and training to do the things necessary to keep your kids safe on top of getting them educated. There are phones in rooms all over campus. You can easily reach them if you need to.

That being said, I don't really have a problem with talking during lunch. But between classes phones are used to arrange ditching too often.

In grade school, my parents always made sure I had coins tucked in my backpack to use a pay phone if I needed to call them. Pay phones have been replaced by cell phones these days. If schools were more willing to provide students and parents official means of contacting each other during school hours (and not denying the child the phone as catpaw relayed), maybe less parents would purchase cell phones for their children. I know of a few parents who have gotten cell phones specially programmed to not allow texts or calls except to 911 and a list of phone numbers programmed into the phone just to have emergency contact with their child.

I've told my kid to take my digital recorder to school and leave it in his backpack to "tape lectures".  The ironic thing is the lectures where from a teacher known to be a bully to students.  What I was trying to get out of taping this was some evidence of EVPs and evil spirits influencing the teacher.  I'll let you know the results once I buy a digital recorder.