June 1, 2007
Police Make a School Call
The police made middle schoolers cry! The NY Times has a great article about the mother lode of electronic gadgets that the cellphone police seized during a visit to Middle School 54 on the Upper West Side. While the police were probably more interested in weapons, since public schools prohibits cellphones and other electronic devices, the NYPD came up big.
The Police Department was there to carry out a random sweep for prohibited items, requiring all 900-plus students at the school to walk through metal detectors before entering.Get this: The devices, which were confiscated, must be picked up by parents and "no earlier than Tuesday." One parent said, "I’m filing a criminal complaint that they stole my phone.” The article has other fun observations - check it out, if you live and die by your phone.Their total haul included 404 cellphones, 69 iPods, 23 other electronic devices, two knives and one imitation gun.
“People were crying,” said Samantha Haber, 14, an eighth grader.
Officially, the X-ray scans are meant to catch dangerous items. But since the unannounced sweeps began in April 2006, they have mostly detected cellphones, infuriating parents who see them as lifelines and have loudly opposed the checks.
Last month, a judge ruled that the Department of Education can continue to ban cellphones, as there is no "constitutional right to bear cellphones." Still, students and parents, who want their children to have access to a line of communication in case of an emergency, plan to appeal.
Photograph by S.D. on Flickr
|
whenever my lips hurt real bad, I just go to the principals or counselors office and ask if I can use their guys's phone. whats with these kids and their cell phones? gosh.
these kids are crying cause they did something wrong. boo hoo hoo.
and these parents say it's a "lifeline" is bull... they didn't have cellphones when they went to school.
adults suffering from memory loss.
parents are being ridiculous..plenty of ways to get in touch with kids in case of an emergency...we did it for decades before cell phones...
Then how bout we confiscate the cell phones Cops carry? Lord knows they use them a lot.
They don't need them on duty, they have thier expensive communication equipment.
This is getting ridiculous. If it's a problem, address it. Is the UFT or principal's union complaining it's disruptive?
How hard is it to have students check their phones in a locker?
give me a break.
let's also get rid of email. the internet. computers. better yet let's have all the kids go to a school frozen in 1972 because heaven forbid the kids have something the "adults" didn't have when they were kids. how 'bout we put them in a one room schoolhouse for good measure. then perhaps the nypd can find something a bit more productive to do with their time. i hear there are a few unarmed men in the bronx that need shooting.
It's "mother lode", not "mother load."
"One parent said, "I’m filing a criminal complaint that they stole my phone.” "
Where does one begin with this? I can understand that it's an inconvenience, but please get over yourself.
There was this one time that I told my mom to get Nestle Quik from the store, and I had forgotten to say I wanted Strawberry Quik instead of chocolate. Well, my cell phone was stolen by the school and I wasn't able to call her in time. When I got home, just as I guessed, she had gotten chocolate. OMG! Please don't take our phones away. This is no LOL matter.
How hard is it to have students check their cell phones in the locker? Hard enough that they don't do it.
Are teachers and principals complaining? Yes.
Does anyone else think that maybe middle schoolers don't need a cell phone? Phone lines certainly existed when I was in middle school and my parents would have laughed if I wanted my own line at the age of 12. The parents need to grow up, but the kids also just need to be kids.
eric - that's my fault. i switched that.
ah, the response to all who you don't like,
get over it.
I don't hear the UFT complaining. This was not a problem school at 103 and columbus.
You can expect more lawsuits coming. This is just going to make good kids hate Cops. Not a good idea, mr. officer. Why does every NYPD cop need a cell phone? they have a walkie talkie and their supervisor has a cell, why do they need one?
I bet it's not in the guidebook to allow it.
Time to sue. it's going to be hot hot hot.
Is there no perceived right to privacy in NY middle schools??? Since when was an Ipod and cell phone a "danger" to schools? It is scary that police have nothing better to do than this! Did they confiscate the kid's calculators too?
Its too bad the kids and parents they talk to in the article dont seem to grasp the bigger picture...
Way to go NYPD!
Busting those unruly thug children with their cell phones of mass destruction.
I am glad to know that all the violent crime in NYC has been eliminated, so that the NYPD can waste time and resources confiscating cell phones. I will now sleep soundly knowing I now live in a crime free city.
There has to be a more civilized solution to this issue.
Until then maybe addressing the issue of why the NYPD carry cell phones and waste taxpayer money on the job with personal calls needs to be looked into.
Sounds like fair game to me...
If you take issue with the rule, complain to the Dept of Education, don't blame the police. They just did their job, and its reassuring to see they cannot be intimidated by the public pressure.
Rules are rules, and these kids knowingly broke them. Now they suffer the consequences. Not to blow this even more out of proportion, but if they learn at this age that they can break any rule they don't agree with, then they're on a path for much worse behavior in the future. More "innocent" violations like tax evasion, etc.
Three words. Waaaah fucking waaaah.
I have an idea. Since the whole idea of cell phones is to be able to keep tabs on one's offspring, why not just start implanting chips into kids, the same way we do for pets? Then kids won't need to call home -- we just locate them by GPS! Even better than cell phones, and less disruptive!
Maybe get over it is not the correct sentiment, I apologize.
That being said, cell phones are a distraction ("forgetting" to turn them off, texting friends because you can't wait the 45 minutes until class is over, etc) and students do use them to cheat.
what's the matter NYPD, There's no innocent person to shoot yesterday that you gotta bust kids in the affluent Upper west side?
oops, too late, there was one.
We all know there are rules for "us" and "them" the cops. "us" always loses.
At least we know the NYPD can do all it can to up it's goodwill, bust kids and shoot people in the same day.
The cell phone "ban" is a bad idea. Teachers and administrators in the schools have trouble inspiring kids to learn and think critically. Apparently they also don't have a clue about getting the kids to cooperate with some simple rules about what is appropriate cell phone use. Its for the common good of all the students that kids are not distracted by their cell phones during class hours. But banning cell phones is a lazy and stupid way out of the problem as is the concept of "enforcement" of such a rule. Its not about enforcement and crime, its about understanding and cooperation. What a bunch of lazy incompetent fools!
The mother who says she will file a criminal complaint is an idiot and is probably raising an idiot. "Stole" your phone? They temporarily confiscated it. You were told all the time how to get it back and in fact told when you must get it back. Maybe all the other crybabies in NYC should sue the police any time their illegally parked cars are "stolen" by impound.
Can't ALL sides come to a compromise? Teachers, Administrators, Law enforcement and PARENTS.
If a student is using it as a cheat device or disrupting class then any parent can understand if their kid is being punished for it. Certainly a parent in this school, hint hint hint.
The problem with people saying that a ban is going too far, in this instance, is that this is one of those things that, when it first existed, there weren't rules for. At least in the suburbs where I was in high school in Jersey, cell phones got banned because seemingly compromise rules were always flouted by students. We tried saying that they can't be on and students left them on. We tried saying they had to be kept in the locker and students kept them in their backpacks/purses. We tried the measures that people are now suggesting as a "compromise", but students (the majority, not just a couple of "bad eggs") said fuck it all and continued carrying their cell phones and having them ring in class and all the things about them that are complaints in the school system.
I can't belive only #16 & #20 understand why these things are banned: kids use cellphones & ipods to CHEAT! They can save an entire semester's worth of notes on their 20 gig ipods or text each other answers. You old people need to get a clue.
You can't ask the schools to hold the phones in a locker for way too many reasons. Besides the logjam at the beginning end of the day it'll cause, there will be too many knuckleheads trying to sneak them in instead.
Besides which, as you can tell from the parent comments in the article, the first time a checked phone gets lost or stolen, the parent will be all over the media about how thewy are going to sue the school.
The phones aren't needed in schools. Its against the rules. Deal with it if you break the rules.
The cheating thing is a big deal. I think the cops did the right thing - and it's not as if the kids are never seeing their phones again...they're just confiscated for a couple days.
Z- I used my graphing calculator to cheat during calculus in high school, back in the early 90s! Should these be confiscated as well? The problem in terms of cheating is that the kids are 'smarter' than the teachers.
seriously, i'm so tired of this story and these spoiled kids and the entitled parents. yesterday i saw a cop on the subway... texting. really? is it necessary?
Yeah but iPods? That's dumb. As if kids didn't have discmans and walkmans before that.
Now I hate cops. thanks for ruining my day.
I'm on lunch session now, wanna take my phone away?
If you are 15 years old in the eight grade, you have more to worry about than feeling "naked" without your cell phone.
@ #15:
You have a chip implanted in your pet? What?
Cell phones are NOT a necessity, cell phones are a convenience and sometimes a nnuisance.
But parents want to keep in touch with their kids and I don't think that is unreasonable.
The BOE is going to have figure out a compromise.
I understand this why this rule exists, even if I think it is a bit draconian. I think that if I were a teacher, I would allow students to have their cell phones and ipods on their person. However, I would make it explicit that if the student were caught using the device in class (meaning the cell phone rang and it interrupted the class or the student was paying more attention to their phone than the teacher) he or she would be thrown out of class, no ifs, ands, or buts. More than one disruption means suspension.
The parent who says they are going to file a police report is a tool. I'm sure her kid is a tool as well. Kids learn their sense of entitlement from their parents.
TK: I wasn't allowed to use a graphing calculator in my AP class for that reason. If anyone was caught with one, it would be confiscated.
cell phones are a necessity. which one of the critcal and mocking posters above don't have cell phones and use them on a daily basis? it's idiotic to ban them from schools. simply make rules to enforce the use of them.
such as, for example, the fact that FOUR HUNDRED AND FOUR cell phones were confiscated on a normal school day. so are "cellphones" themselves really "disruptive"? or is it the unenforced behavior that is disruptive. if the cops had not seached every single student then most likely during that day, nobody would have been the wiser that any of those 404 students had their cell phone on them.
also how the hell do you cheat on a test with a cell phone? what is this, the lifeline on who wants to be a millionaire? if someone is using a cell phone during a test, obviously that would be cheating.
why do we feel the need to treat schoolchildren as criminals? kids need to have to learn to make responsible choices. the real story in this article is the fake gun and the knives. that is the real threat to the kids going to school - weapons.
@#30
If you adopt a pet from a shelter, they insert a microchip under the pet's skin. Every shelter scans new arrivals for a chip, so if your pet gets lost and ends up there, they can contact you based on the chip ID. That's how it is in LA area anyway, not sure about the rest of the country.
It's great to see the NYPD's resources being used to resolve this pressing issue of kids armed with cellphones and iPods. The horror! What the fuck happened to common sense? If a kid's phone goes off during class, confiscate it. The rest of the kids who are smart enough to utilize the "Silent" function don't need to be punished. Carrying a phone/iPod in your backpack does absolutely no harm to anyone.
Btw, People here seem to insinuate that these devices make cheating easy. That's garbage. If a teacher can't catch his/her students cycling through their phones and iPods during a test, then they just aren't doing their job. I'm sorry, but fiddling with an iPod is as blatant as cheating gets. I don't know what kind of schools you guys went to, but if I was playing with my phone during a test, I would have gotten an automatic F. If people want to cheat, they sneak a glance at their neighbor's test. The crafty ones will use a device which is allowed to be out on your desk. (eg graphing calculator) A teacher that doesn't notice something as obvious as a kid cheating with his/her phone isn't going to notice the wayward glances either.
"That's garbage. If a teacher can't catch his/her students cycling through their phones and iPods during a test, then they just aren't doing their job."
Why the hell should a schoolteacher have to take even two seconds to do that during an exam and disrupt every other student taking the exam? Clearly, NYC public school students can't handle cellphones/Ipods/etc. responsibly - that's why the rule exists.
Cell phones are not a necessity. Just because you use them on a daily basis does not mean that you are using them for anything crucial.
I don't have a cell phone and I get along just fine. When I had a cell phone three years ago, I never used it except for emergencies. I eventually got rid of it because I used it so infrequently. If someone wants to get a hold of me, my house phone works just fine.
People get pissed that they cannot call me whenever and wherever. I could understand if there was an emergency or something important I that needed to be reached for, but how often does someone call to discuss something truly important? Hell, if it is an important conversation I especially want to be somewhere quiet where I can collect my thoughts, not exposing my life to the entire subway car because I am chattering away loudly.
People are addicted to instantaneous communication. I can see its benefits and its drawbacks, but I still choose not to have a cell phone. If someone wants to talk to me and I am not there, they can leave a message at either my home or my work and I will get back to them because I check both often. I don't need to have a cell phone for someone else's convenience. It may piss my roommate off when she wants to call me to tell me to pick some eggs up from the grocery store, but barring an emergency, I feel there is no reason for me to be accessible to anyone by phone 100% of the time.
Now email? There's something I could not live without.
"Why the hell should a schoolteacher have to take even two seconds to do that during an exam and disrupt every other student taking the exam?"
Did you really just ask why a teacher should have to pay attention to middle school aged students during a test? Because they might be tempted to cheat, perhaps? Are you insinuating that a ban on these items would allow a teacher to stop paying attention to the students? As if students can't cheat without iPods...
If a teacher doesn't notice kids playing with phones and iPods during a test, then that teacher isn't doing a satisfactory job of ensuring a fair and acceptable testing environment for the students. You would have to be COMPLETELY oblivious to not notice a student using an electronic device during a test. If you're saying that teachers shouldn't have to monitor the students because they should all be responsible and trustworthy, then I invite you to get in touch with reality.
you know what they're using them for: checking their myspace profile views, and texting each other.
With over-crowding teachers have a right to enforce a no-cellphone rule. If they can say "no talking" they can say "no cellphones".
Mind you, I think the correct way to do this is for the board of ed to invest in cellphone jammers that are installed in classes. If they were useless in class then bringing them wouldn't be as big an issue.
All gadgets should be banned in exams.
Holy shit those phones are ancient!
haha glenn, i was thinking the same thing!
Incommunicado, the only people who ever called me on my land line were my grandma and telemarketers (charities exempt from the no call list). my grandma calls my cell now, so why should I have to pay money so others can call and ask me for it?
the point is, not everyone can function w/o a cell phone. if technology changes and people's occupations change to fit technologies, they're going to require a cell.
obviously most kids probably don't require them, but I don't know how their families function. regardless, they're not going anywhere. schools just need to figure out how to deal with them. the calculator examples are perfect.
1. Fourth amendment violation. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.
2. A waste of the NYPD resources. They have more important fish to fry.
3. A waste of time for the students. 900 students at 15 seconds for each search adds up to a process that must have taken at least three and a half hours to complete. That's outrageous.
the phones shown in the picture are NOT the ones that were confiscated. you must be new here - gothamist generally just up and posts any picture that makes the story look "interesting". click on the photo credit...
For all of you saying "Well, I didn't have them when I was there age, so why should they?" I have this to say:
How would you like it if the NYPD came in and took YOUR phones? And iPods? Huh? Oh, well of COURSE that's DIFFERENT, because you're professionals doing REAL WORK.
Cellphones are very important to middle school kids. Does it have to be? No. But it is, and if the DOE isn't going to recognize that then they're seriously messed up. Because they don't realize that EVER SINGLE KID HAS A CELL PHONE! SO STOP BANNING THEM!
Yes, I'm a high school student.
Good then, They should keep this program going for the remainder of the year ! It should be instituted permanently ! I've stated this before no child needs a cellphone in school . When I was in school beepers were the thing . The difference there was that the parents weren't paying for the child's beeper . (In most cases)The reason it wasn't a problem then was because not many students had beepers, & they weren't intrusive to the "Learning process" . With that as a fact then no one Administrator complained about them . Today with cellphones you have to deal with them going off while classes are in session (While makes the teachers job that much tougher) Student not paying attention, Worst off they can be used as a source to cheat . We all know how hard a time student have keeping there grades up as it is & the Parents aren't helping the cause by encouraging them .
Yea but think about how much happens with schools these days, someone could break into the school killing people and the only people who know at the time and could call the police are kids. Cellphones have disadvantages, but there could be major advantages, if something horrible happened then the kids could get to a phone right away.
I think cellphones are great in schools.
I am an 11th grader in highschool, and my school dont even let us hardly use the school phone.