TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Students use them to secretly communicate at school, to cheat and sometimes to share pornographic pictures with friends. They threaten their peers with them, and organize fights. Above all, they're distractions on campuses, school officials argue.

So much so that some this summer are working on making it clear to parents and students that if cell phones continue to distract daily school operations, there will be consequences.

The Taft Union High School District recently revised its cell phone policy to include a step-system of punishments for students breaking rules: from confiscation to expulsion.

"We're trying to create an environment that will be most effective for students and teachers. We have to eliminate the distractions, and nowadays, the disruptions come from cell phones. That's the reality we live in," said Mark Richardson, superintendent at Taft Union High.

He added: "At some point in time, it becomes a situation where you're not only violating policy, but defying authority."

USES AND POLICIES

School officials understand that cell phones are a part of daily life, and in some instances can be used to get in touch with loved ones during emergencies.

That was the case at Panama-Buena Vista Union School District earlier this year after trustees heard a report from a campus supervisor on student cell phone use.

Rick White, the supervisor at Thompson Junior High, shared that staff confiscate up to 50 cell phones a week from students due to inappropriate use: sexting (sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically), cheating in class, and "cyber-bullying" (threatening others via electronics). The school has about 800 students.

He also argues that during emergencies, students clog up phone lines calling parents, who then crowd school parking lots to pick up children and prevent emergency response teams from getting through.

"There's really no use for cell phones on campus," White said this past week. "There's no positive use for them at all in school."

His report seemed to surprise board members, who then asked district staff to make clear to parents the rules and regulations while staying sensitive to safety concerns.

Cell phones are allowed on Panama campuses but cannot be used during school hours without a doctor's note. Campus officials can also search and seize phones, including messages and photos, as allowed by education code.

This summer, district staff polished off a form that will be sent home to guardians along with parent packets. They must sign the form and return it, stating they understand rules, before students can bring phones to school.

"We're just trying to be more direct in communicating with parents," said Gerrie Kincaid, an assistant superintendent at Panama-Buena Vista Union.

Nicole Hallmark, a parent of a third-grader at Sandrini Elementary in Panama, said her daughter takes a phone to school, but tells her to shut it off while at school. She calls cell phones a "necessary hassle." Hallmark worked as a yard aide at Warren Junior High and often confiscated phones.

She realized their importance when her daughter, who did not have a cell phone at the time, decided to walk home one day without telling her, she said. A call on the cell phone would have prevented the stress of searching for her.

"In today's world, they need cell phones in case of an emergency," she said. "As long as they use them responsibly, I say go for it."

OTHER POLICIES

Countywide, cell phone policies vary only slightly. Some, like Bakersfield City and Rosedale school districts, have banned them on campuses unless students have doctors' notes. Others, like Kern High and Fruitvale school districts, allow them as long as they don't cause disruptions.

"Students aren't restricted from having cell phones, but they can't use them without supervision," said Fruitvale Superintendent Carl Olsen. "They're going to have the phones. It's reality."

Greenfield Union in south Bakersfield doesn't allow phones on campus, but Ollivier Junior High Principal Sheila Johnson said her school is "more strict."

Last school year she sent a letter home to parents after students were getting "out of control" with texting in class.

"Classroom time should be for classroom time," she said. "It was important to me to take it that extra mile."

Phones started being taken away, and only parents were allowed to pick them up. Parents started getting frustrated because they had to keep coming to school to pick up phones, she said.

"We were doing battle on a daily basis," she said.

In her letter to parents, she recommended a $5 monthly service that would block cell use during school hours and on school nights after 9:30 p.m. -- something she uses with her teenage daughters.

PREVALENT USE

The issues with defiance are what led Taft Union High School District to instill a step system. Before the new policy was drafted, there wasn't much of a deterrent for students, Richardson said.

Kids were texting on campus constantly, he said, and it seemed every kid had a phone.

A recent Pew Research Center study found some 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004. They've become indispensable tools in teen communication, the report states.

Nearly 90 percent of those teens are text-messagers. One in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, the report said, or 3,000 texts a month.

About a quarter of teens attend schools that ban cell phones, but 65 percent of cell-owning students bring them anyway. Almost half said they text in class at least once a day or more.

A study by Common Sense Media, found one-third of students with cell phones admit cheating at least once with them.

At Kern High School District, students can have cell phones, but not use them. Consequences for breaking rules depend on each situation, said Otis Jennings, KHSD head of Pupil Personnel Services.

"We recognize that cell phones are needed now," Jennings said. "But they should be turned off throughout the day, from bell to bell."

Some students are better at that than others.

Judith Tirado, a North High School senior, said everyone brings phones to school and everyone texts, "All day, every day." Most students, she said, behave with phones and stick to just texting.

If KHSD implemented penalties like in Taft, Tirado said, "I would cry, because that's not fair."

"I still pay attention in class," she said.

Other high school students said teachers and administrators are lax about cell phone rules as long as students don't cause major distractions.

Edward Rodriguez, a junior at North High, doesn't take the chance. After school recently, he sat outside with his cell phone. He turns it off during class, and on after class only to call for a ride, he said.

"I need it only get a hold of people," he said. "I won't break the rules."