[mjs416]

Assuming you have a computer lab or computers in school that have access to the outside world, you should have ALL your friends send the principal and e-mail that simply says Good Morning Mr/Mrs/Ms Smith.... and sign it sent from my blackberry. That would mean EVERYONE'S phones get confiscated OR the school's IT spends the time hashing the email headers.

Great use of tax payer dollars genius. You sound like a vindictive brat. Those dollars could be better spent educating kids like you but instead you want to tie money up for the IT folks wasting time?

BTW if it were me (and it was long before cell phones existed) the school board would be contacted by the family attorney. After the third time a 'disciple issue' was addressed by us having a lawyer go straight to the school committee I was left alone. Schools can put ANYTHING into handbooks. Whether they want to defend those policies or setup additional provisions for implementing the policy in accordance with the law is the real test. I'm lucky I've always had a lawyer close by.

Schools have lawyers on retainer so you spending several hundreds of dollars an hour on a lawyer is small peanuts to them. Districts have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars usually set aside for legal issues. If you want to waste your (or should I say your parents) money - feel free. And those policies implemented are run by solicitors first before implementation.

[JadedNYer]

I am in NYC where there is cell phone ban but whether it is enforced depends on the school. A lot of districts do not have zoned middle or high schools so children as young as ten often travel by themselves on public transportation to schools that are miles from their home. For many parents cell phones are for safety. If a school has metal detectors then the phones will be confiscated. Students often leave their phones at businesses for a dollar a day. Other schools turn a blind eye and will only confiscate it if it is used on the premises. The principal usually doesn't keep it for more than a week and a parent can always retrieve it before that time. Students who have sim cards can get those from the confiscated phone. One of my kids attends a school that has random scanning. When this happens the principal collects any electronics and gives them back at the end of the day.

[kilted thrower]

Schools have lawyers on retainer so you spending several hundreds of dollars an hour on a lawyer is small peanuts to them. Districts have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars usually set aside for legal issues. If you want to waste your (or should I say your parents) money - feel free. And those policies implemented are run by solicitors first before implementation.

Absolutely. Maybe this is a bit different since I'm a union member but if I need to retain a lawyer because of something school related, I'm covered up to half a million in lawyer fees.

[OnTopic]

To clear a few things up...

1. In the case of my parents, the lawyers were ON STAFF. It didn't cost them one dime more than what the lawyer's were already getting paid in their yearly salary.

2. Seeing as I'm pushing 50 at this stage in life "spoiled brat" probably doesn't apply. I am a father, a husband, a home owner, and a business owner. I was taught from my earliest memories to fight whenever I felt I was being wronged, bullied, or put in a compromised position.

3. Just because an entity has you (or your parent) sign something, doesn't make it legal. I have been asked to sign 100's of contracts over the years. Our lawyers usually let us sign contracts that had blatant flaws on the grounds that if we were to litigate the offending clause would simply be voided. Depending on the language of the contract and the location this could cause the contract in its entirety to become void or just that one clause. The advise was always based on us having a stronger position should the clause or contract be voided. In all other cases we requested corrections or walked away from the deal.

4. Yes all school systems have lawyers too. And MOST schools systems, towns, and even small cities have those lawyers on retainer and negotiated fee schedules. Most do not have lawyers on staff paid a yearly salary. So in cases like these if a matter goes beyond the exchange of posturing letters the school system will start racking up a bill. Again not all, but most.

5. Yes student right take a second seat to the rights of the school TO A POINT. Try to setup a whites only cafeteria at your school and you'll get a quick lesson on just how unlimited a school's rights AREN'T. Cell phones do in fact have a role in student safety. When students go missing one of the first things that law agencies do is try to get ping data.

My son had TWO brushes with the school back when he was a student (he's a professional soldier now). In the first we let him swing in the breeze. He was plainly wrong and the punishment fit the crime. In the second case, we danced around the room with a teacher, dept head, & ast. principal. After 30 minutes of that my wife announce that we would agree to disagree until a meeting between the superintendent, principal, and counsel for both sides could be arranged. Five minutes later a compromise that everyone could live with was reached.

This has taken more of my day than it should. I would take a hammer to the old phone and had the school the pieces in a ziplock bag. If they wanted to take it further, I'd refer them to counsel and move on with my day.

[pantlesspenguin]

I took notes on my iPad and computer my senior year of high school and got straight As and am now at one of the best schools in the nation. Sure I would browse the internet and facebook sometimes, but only when I knew material being taught or there was a break. And now in college I use my laptop for most of my notes and am doing just fine...

I did the same thing, I used my Sidekick 3 to take notes in grad school. I was faster with my thumbs than I was hand writing my notes . With each new professor I explained to them before class that they would see me with my phone out during class and that I was using it to take notes and not text. During breaks I would show them that I had indeed been taking notes. One time during a break my prof asked me if I could get the internet on my phone. I said I could, and she asked me to look up the score for a KU game that we were all missing, lol.

I also have a teacher friend that ENCOURAGES smartphone use during her classes as long as it's done while working on an assignment (like to look up facts). She figures that kids will be using their phones anyway, why not make it educational? To me I don't know how this can be regulated, like to make sure each and every student in her classes are using their phones for an educational purpose, but apparently her method works and most of her kids get very good grades.

I know this is difficult for some of us old-timers (OK, I'm only 32 but when I was in school we didn't have today's technology!) to contemplate using devices such as iPads which are viewed as entertainment devices as educational tools, but it's becoming increasingly common! I don't have a problem with this at all, as long as it can be adequately regulated. I would've LOVED to have had a smartphone in middle school/high school. I hated keeping paper calendars/planners, but now I always keep up with the electronic version on my phones. They also would've come in handy after school when my parents would come to pick me up just to have me say "Oh, actually I'm going over to Elissa's for awhile, her parents will have me home by dinner!" Now that I'm an adult, I bet this really pissed them off having to leave work early to pick me up for nothing! However, back then I would've taken a hand-written note from a friend over a deletable text message any day!

Back on topic, I really don't think the OP should be punished in this instance. He wasn't caught, no punishment happened AT THE TIME, and consideration should be given that his "offense" was using a phone to respond to a teacher's email. All that should happen at this point is for the teacher/principal to say "You know that you're not supposed to use cell phones during class, even for school business. Your email to your teacher could have waited, or you could have visited him/her after school. We'll let it slide THIS TIME, but next time you are caught we will take your phone for a week."

[diffused]

Hey BTFan-Hope you can get back to us and let us know how everything turned out for you...

[avt123]

My teacher tried taking my phone when I was in high school. I just walked out of the class.

Damn Nextel bleeped in the middle of a Chemistry lecture lol.

[avt123]

All that should happen at this point is for the teacher/principal to say "You know that you're not supposed to use cell phones during class, even for school business. Your email to your teacher could have waited, or you could have visited him/her after school. We'll let it slide THIS TIME, but next time you are caught we will take your phone for a week."

That's still harsh... A week? lol

My calculator was the only item that was taken away from me by a teacher because I was playing a game on it (snake and mario ftw). I needed the calculator by the end of the day and the teacher refused to give it back. I waited 2 periods when the teacher went on break and took it right from his desk.

[Carl Estes]

Hey, I have an old Motorola RAZOR I will send to you for you to "gift them" per their request.

Again, It's probably illegal to confiscate your phone UNLESS it's just until the end of the day. Then you go pick it up.

Give 'em a brick and walk away.

C

[scribblec]

are you serious?? i would give the school an old nokia 3310 or something , ud have to be a ****** to give them your phone

[sam_b77]

6 pages?? Enough Already.

OP buy the cheapest BB you can get take away the SIM and battery and give it to your school people. If anyone asks for the battery, tell them that leaving a battery in an electronic device that will not be used is a fire hazard.

Now this thread needs to end.....sheesh.

[jd914]

Apparently they do. its part of the school rules

I would challenge that in court.

[GingerSnapsBack]

Hey, I have an old Motorola RAZOR I will send to you for you to "gift them" per their request.

Again, It's probably illegal to confiscate your phone UNLESS it's just until the end of the day. Then you go pick it up.

Give 'em a brick and walk away.

C

Sorry, but it's legal if it's in the school handbook. Rules are rules for everyone, not for just a select few. If you're a student of the school, you are expected to obey the rules or face the punishment. Trying to worm your way out of it does nothing but teach you that rules are made to be broken. It's like saying my parents are rich so they'll buy me out of any trouble I get into.

I would challenge that in court.

And you'd lose.

I love how people in this thread are refusing to tell the OP to man up and accept responsibility. What is wrong with people today?

We wonder why this country is in the crapper and now we know why. You don't have to accept the blame for anything you do. Ever.

Drunk driving? Blame the liquor store who sold you the booze.
Caught texting in school? Blame the teacher who was just doing her job.
Decided to go mad and shoot the mayor of San Francisco and Harvey Milk? Blame Twinkies.

My parents taught me responsibility and to do the right thing. It's a damn shame that parents and children today just don't care.

[Barefoot_Kevin]

I took notes on my iPad and computer my senior year of high school and got straight As and am now at one of the best schools in the nation.

How can that be? Your profile shows that you are in L.A.

[pantlesspenguin]

Wait, I just thought of something that I don't think has been addressed yet.

OP was using his friend's phone, right? OP says he responded to an email from a teacher saying he failed a test. The email signature said "Sent from my blackberry." Now, why did OP have his own email set to push to his friend's device??? If OP had been checking his email on his friend's berry using the web, it would not have left the signature, right?

[TheScionicMan]

He never said in what context he was borrowing the friend's phone. Maybe he borrowed it for a week and used his own SIM? Seriously tho, does it really matter? Are you going to foil the kid's plot like Perry Mason? It's more like the Underpants Gnomes...

PLAN:
1) Make thread on CB that will cause a huge uproar
2) ?????
3) Make huge profits

[pantlesspenguin]

He never said in what context he was borrowing the friend's phone. Maybe he borrowed it for a week and used his own SIM? Seriously tho, does it really matter? Are you going to foil the kid's plot like Perry Mason? It's more like the Underpants Gnomes...

PLAN:
1) Make thread on CB that will cause a huge uproar
2) ?????
3) Make huge profits

LOL. It was just a question that popped into my mind. In my mind, I read it as he was just borrowing his friend's berry during class or something. Do kids really borrow their friends' smartphones for a week these days??

[vicshannon]

not sure where you live and what grade you are in but it's a privacy issue and they may confiscate it for the day but not for a period of time. It is your property and they can expell you from school but not take your property. Who do they think they are, Nazi Germany?

[Branta]

It appears every observer has his own version of the truth... or economy with the truth.

That may not alter the real facts of the matter, which will hang on the OP's ability to convince school authorities that confiscation is unfair in the circumstances agreed by both sides.

[mjs416]

Sorry, but it's legal if it's in the school handbook. Rules are rules for everyone, not for just a select few. If you're a student of the school, you are expected to obey the rules or face the punishment. Trying to worm your way out of it does nothing but teach you that rules are made to be broken. It's like saying my parents are rich so they'll buy me out of any trouble I get into.

And you'd lose.

I love how people in this thread are refusing to tell the OP to man up and accept responsibility. What is wrong with people today?

We wonder why this country is in the crapper and now we know why. You don't have to accept the blame for anything you do. Ever.

Drunk driving? Blame the liquor store who sold you the booze.
Caught texting in school? Blame the teacher who was just doing her job.
Decided to go mad and shoot the mayor of San Francisco and Harvey Milk? Blame Twinkies.

My parents taught me responsibility and to do the right thing. It's a damn shame that parents and children today just don't care.

Dont you like the armchair lawyers in this thread?

Agree 100% with everything you said.

[zoban]

Definately a privacy issue if they try to search the phone..

Even police need a warrant to search your phone.

As to them confiscating it .. no laws broken there as you said it's in the school policy and you accepted it since you are a student there.

Lock it and hand over whatever phone ya want .. A warrant would be required to make you unlock the phone.

Do not give em your actuall blackberry without a full backup even if you do lock it .. If they try to get it it'll wipe itself.

[johnenglish]

JFC you violated school policy. Give them the phone and accept responsibility for your actions.

[FSeverino]

what school do you go to.

The Toronto District School Board just started allowing students to use cell phones in class as long as it does not distract the teachers and students, and the student is paying attention. IE. like a quick look at it is ok and if you sent the email while 'going to the bathroom' or on lunch then there should be nothing wrong. This is ONLY the TDSB though, and im not sure how it is actually being done bc i havent been in there this year.

If they demand the phone then have your parents sign a letter saying you wont do it again but that you need the phone for emergencies... im sure that will work bc if they still take it your parents can say it is a safety issue.


AS for the 'in school rules'
it may be in the rules, but most school rules are vague. Does it say they can KEEP the phone? remove it for the remainder of THAT CLASS, THAT DAY? If the rules arent clear then you can easily say that the time period the school had to take the phone has already passed.

[PlayBookUserMT]

Hello All,

I'm from Ontario, and here public schools do not have this right. When I was in highschool about 6 years ago a cellphone ban was put in place for my final year. Guess what? Two years later it was removed.

Several problems exist with taking personal property, especially beyond school hours.

Even if a contract is signed its possible to be invalidated. You are forced to sign any contracts with the school, not being eligible to opt out of agreeing, but it is your legal right to have an education so for the most part you really don't have to sign anything.

It is possible that, like many teenagers, the parents are the ones who bought the phone, and pay for the phone plan. In this case it is not the child's property being confiscated.,

Punishments have to be relevant to the act. First time offences are usually warnings. Second time offences can involve sending students to the office or detention etc. In Canada I doubt expelling a student for emailing during class is actually allowed. If this happened its likely you could complain to the board and have the principal disciplined.

The OP has committed an infraction and should be punished appropriately, but this punishment can not involve taking private property.

Teachers actually have very little power to do anything. In most cases they can ask a student to do something, but if a real problem arises legal involvement will be necessary.

Since most policies are more of a guideline you don't even need a lawyer. Just mentioning one will put most school officials on edge and things will be dropped. You know what looks bad for anyone trying to keep a job? Going to court. Because Canadian law and the constitution trumps any school documentation its very unlikely you would have to deal with opposition.

You deserve a punishment, but seizure of property isn't really valid. If you choose to oppose the school make sure to note any changes in treatment towards yourself afterwards. Harassment by teachers or officials isn't legal either

Either way I would suggest against giving up your property and suggest a detention period instead or legal action.

Everyone deserves to have their rights (age independent). Sometimes your rights are stupid, but you still deserve to have them. Goodluck.

[SaMaster14]

How can that be? Your profile shows that you are in L.A.

LA will always be my home town, and I"m back for winter break. But I'm actually at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.

This topic is getting a bit ridiculous though.

I for one, never said he shouldn't accept responsibility, but we are forgetting that the OP really DID NOT get caught red handed, it was something after the fact, so there was NO initial disturbance. PLUS, with the evidence we have, it was a first time offense and the school wants the OP to hand over his phone, after the fact, for a WEEK. That seems like an incredible overreaction for one email.