Students' cell phones have become a problem at Peach County High School, where principal Claudia Patterson has had to contend with multiple bomb threats.
"One week, we had three bomb-threat calls," she said. "Two were from cell phones being used on the bus."
Patterson brought the issue to the attention of the Peach County Board of Education at a work session this month. The session, with high school council members and law enforcement personnel, was addressing general student behavior problems at the high school, and cell phone problems were a major topic of discussion.
Most school systems in Middle Georgia ban cell phones outright, both on the bus and on campus.
Bibb, Houston, Pulaski and Jones county schools do not allow students to bring the phones to school, with punishments varying from confiscation and fines to in-school suspension.
In Crawford County, students may bring cell phones on campus only under certain conditions.
Crawford County High School principal Mike Campbell said the policy was changed this school year.
"We didn't allow them at all last year," he said. The change was brought about by more students taking after-school tutorials or participating in extracurricular activities, he said.
"This allows them to get in touch with their rides," Campbell said. "We live in a cell phone society, and 90 percent of our students have one."
According to the student handbook at Crawford High, cell phones may be brought on campus as long as they are turned off during school hours and remain in the student's book bag, purse or locker. The phones are to be used only for emergency purposes. Cell phone use on school buses is up to the driver's discretion.
Peach County's policy is along the lines of Crawford County's, Peach County Superintendent Tommy Daniel
