Hamilton County Schools may reconsider cellphone policy

Three strikes and you're out when it comes to students and cellphones in Hamilton County Schools.

But that doesn't sit well with school board Chairman Mike Evatt, who wants to re-examine the school district's cellphone policy in search of something less punitive.

Evatt said he'll likely appoint a committee in November to look at the policy. He said students losing their phones for weeks or months at a time could create a safety concern for parents, who use cellphones to keep tabs on their children.

"When you have a son or daughter, it's your lifeline," he said.

Even if a new policy is drafted, it won't allow cellphones in the classroom, Evatt said. But it might have less severe punishments.

"We just need to look at it and make sure the punishment meets the crime," he said.

But some principals say the policy causes few problems, because parents and students are familiar with the rules.

Hunter Middle School Principal Robert Alford said cellphones generally don't cause a problem there. Most students obey the rules and don't have cellphones out, he said.

But those who are caught using a phone get no warning.

"The warning is, 'This is the policy,'" he said. "They know what it is: Don't have them out."

He thinks the current policy is working but wouldn't protest a change.

"If the school board decides to change the policy, then we'll follow that one," he said.

Shannon Beattie, the mother of three sons at Sale Creek Middle/High School, said she uses cellphones regularly to keep in touch with her kids, especially during sports seasons. If one of her boys lost his phone as a punishment, it would create a problem, she said.

But because her kids know the rules, she doesn't think it's an unreasonable punishment.

"If they were using it when they weren't supposed to be using it, then I guess they're going to be in trouble with me, also," she said.

Tobin Davidson, principal of Soddy-Daisy Middle School, said students and parents are well aware of the current policy.

"I think the current policy's great. I think it's fair," he said. "We really don't have a cellphone problem, just because the policy is in place."

Soddy-Daisy Middle students are required to keep phones turned off and in their lockers while in the building. Phones are permitted after school, but only outside the building.

Davidson said the school averages about one confiscation a week. But the consequence comes as no surprise.

"They're well aware of the policy here, so it's not like we're springing something new on them," he said.

Because the current policy seems to work, Davidson says he wonders what effect a softer policy might have on cellphone usage.

"If it's not broken on our end, I hate to mess with it," he said.