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In one of his last actions before leaving Milwaukee Public Schools, former Superintendent William Andrekopoulos asked the Milwaukee School Board to end the ban on cell phone possession by students. The rule was passed in 2007 over concerns that students were using the phones to call in reinforcement for fights. The new policy – passed quickly and quietly in June by the school board – no longer punishes students for possession but does prohibit students from using them at school.

The ban was a challenge for school staff to enforce. “Within the second day of implementation, there were just as many cell phones in the school as there always were,” says board member Terry Falk. “There were only a handful of schools trying to enforce it.”

(illustration by adrian palomo)

Preventing students from carrying cell phones would have required airport-style security, he says, something that was never implemented. “The only people who stopped carrying phones were the good kids. All the kids who were the troublemakers kept carrying their phones,” he says. “You either have to decide you’re going to have a rule and enforce it, or you don’t have a rule at all.”

The new policy, passed at the June 24 board meeting, reads: “Any electronic communication device that is activated, used or displayed will be confiscated, inventoried and stored in a secure location until the school administration holds a conference with the parent or student.” If the device is used “in a manner that endangers the physical safety or emotional wellbeing of others,” it continues, it will be confiscated until disciplinary proceedings or turned over to police.

At the June 17 Legislation, Rules and Policies Committee meeting, where the new policy was first proposed, a representative of the district’s Department of Parent and Students told board members district administrators reviewed cell phone policies in other large districts as they crafted a new one for MPS.

“This policy prohibits students from activating, using or displaying the electronic communication device,” she said, “so possession is no longer against our board rules.” The prohibition against using phones would also apply to extra-curricular activities or any field trips, she added.

According to the Associated Press, many large school districts have banned cell phones because they distract students, but MPS is one of the few to ban them because students were sometimes using them to call in reinforcements during fights. District officials said fights made worse by such outsiders were about a monthly occurrence, but seemed to grow worse in 2006.

william andrekopoulos

In one particularly large brawl that occurred in early 2007, six students and three adults were arrested. Andrekopoulos proposed the ban, which the school board passed and put into effect by the end of the month. The superintendent promised to expel any students who used a phone to call in backup for a fight and threatened to suspend other violators or confiscate their phones.

“It was a little difficult (to enforce),” says district spokesman Phil Harris. “A lot of parents wanted their children to have cell phones in order to be able to call home in the event of an emergency.”

Falk says Andrekopoulos’ proposal to change to policy “came out of the blue. There was a recognition it wasn’t working.” He suggests the current policy may need to be revisited as some schools are using smartphones for educational purposes or to link teachers and students through text messaging or other programs.

After passing the committee, the rule change sailed through the full board without discussion or even a specific vote. Board members must identify items passed by committees they would like to discuss further during the meeting, but the cell phone policy was never singled out. It passed without a word of debate.

Harris says the new policy will take effect this fall, at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. Falk and Michael Bonds, board president, say enforcement of the new policy, as with the old one, will be up to individual schools. “If schools feel (a phone) is disruptive, they have the right to confiscate it,” Bonds says.

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