Insider Account of NYC's Middle School Cell Phone Raid

As if the New York City school system didn't have bigger fish to fry, a recent surprise raid by police at our neighborhood junior high school resulted in quite a haul: 404 cell phones, 69 iPods, 23 assorted electronic devices, two knives, and one imitation gun, according to a story that ran in the NY Times.

Raids like the one that took place at MS 54 on Manhattan's Upper West Side have become a routine part of the ongoing effort to control cell phone use in school. The police show up with metal detectors in the morning when the kids are first coming to classes and conduct a search, confiscating any banned items.

The school has just fewer than 1,000 students, so a haul of 404 cell phones is significant. According to policy, when a cell phone, iPod, or other electronic device is confiscated, parents can pick up the items at the school on alternate Tuesdays of the month.

That morning, some students caught wind of the impending raid and called their parents to collect the contraband before it could be confiscated. Others ran home to ditch their electronics before getting on the line to go through the metal detectors. Some kids managed to get through the detectors by hiding their phones in the bottom of their backpacks (one student said it was because his phone was mostly plastic).

Parents and students are upset, frustrated, and some are up in arms about the raid. I called a good friend and parent whose daughter attends the school to get a firsthand report. The majority of parents want their kids to have cell phones in case of emergency (these kids are traveling to and from school on public transportation), but also think that the kids have demonstrated restraint and respect when it comes to using them in school. (Four hundred and four cell phones seem to have gone largely unnoticed and with very few incidents in the school year preceding the raid.)

My friend noted that the most upsetting part of the day for her daughter was that school was seriously disrupted by the ruckus. Students missed homeroom and spent a good part of their first period class waiting on line to get through the detectors. Some parents who came to rescue the phones from their children were told not to approach their own kids while they stood on line. The whole episode continues to take time away from what the school should be focusing on: education.

While cell phones are officially banned in NYC schools, most schools don't take any action unless the electronics are taken out during class time. It's a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that appears to be fairly effective.

Of course not everyone shares the view that cell phone use in school is problem free. Many (many of them teachers) feel that cell phones in schools are a huge distraction and make it ever more difficult for teachers to do their jobs. The newer, better-endowed phones can be used for cheating on exams, snapping photos in the locker room, and texting friends during class.

The question is: If kids are using their phones responsibly (and not during class), should they be allowed to have them in school? "Responsible" is hard to define, and even harder to enforce. One parent felt that the point wasn't "that the MS 54 kids were using their phones during school hours/in class, because they're not. If 400+ phones were confiscated and the school doesn't have a problem with improper use, what does that say?"

If any of you live in communities that have reached détente in the cell phone wars, I know a middle school in NY that would be all ears.

Postscript: In a one-time adjustment to policy, the Principal gave the confiscated phones back to the students the next day, not making them wait for the usual Tuesday return. Sadly, one child was mugged and beaten on his way to a school dance that day. (Hopefully he was able to call his parents on his cell phone.)