By: Blakely Greenwell

In today’s world, it is considered out of the ordinary to not have a cell phone on you at all times. While they aren’t allowed at school, students and teachers both seem to struggle to keep them out of sight.

Some teachers love to snatch them up like kids in a candy store. As much as I would love to argue that this is wrong, I would be wrong. A rule is a rule. When a rule is broken, there should be punishment. The real problem here is the extent to which school officials take the punishment.

People, parents and kids alike, depend on phones today. Kids need that quick access to their parents and parents need that reassurance of knowing their child is only a text message away. When school officials keep a confiscated cell phone overnight on school grounds it is not only annoying, but entirely unsafe. The minute a student walks off school grounds, anything could happen to them.

It is pretty safe to say that most students who are eligible to drive themselves at our school do so. The only thing worse than a teen driver, is a teen driver aggravated because they got their phone taken away. Add that to the other hundreds of reckless drivers leaving the parking lot and the chances of a wreck increase. Without a cell phone, a distraught teenager would have no way to contact their parents or police quickly.

Less dramatic than a wreck, but just as devastating to a teen, is the angry parent. When the parent tries over and over again to get in contact with their child, but no one is there to receive those calls in a desk drawer in the office, sparks are going to fly. The idea of being ignored kills the insides of every guardian.  Not to mention if their kid has no way to get a hold of them about changed plans and current whereabouts.

What it comes down to is that when a student breaks the cell phone rule, they should be punished, there is no argument about that. What needs to be reconsidered is keeping a student’s personal property overnight. An item as crucial as a cell phone needs to be given back to the student at the end of the school day.  An administrator keeping a cell phone for 24 hours is not worth the risks a student faces without one for that time.