Mobile mischief: Lawrence schools contend with widespread cell phone use

David Petr, 12, a student at Central Junior High School, makes a call home on his cell phone after school.

It’s an epic battle: Teens are almost constantly attached to their cell phones, and the schools they attend are trying to keep them off the line.

Though rules vary, Lawrence’s junior high schools prohibit the use of cell phones.

For instance, Central Junior High School doesn’t allow phones to be out during the school day. But that’s hard to keep track of.

“There are so many things that we can’t control,” says Principal Anna Stubblefield. “That’s when it becomes distracting.”

But students there keep trying to text their way through the day.

“I open my book and act like I’m reading,” says eighth-grader Marie Demby. “I’m just sitting there texting people I know.”

Lawrence High School sophomore Isis Franklin, who attended Central, says rules are stricter in junior high.

“If you have your cell phone out, they’ll take it away, and you can’t get it back for three days, even if it’s Friday,” she says. “You have to go the whole weekend without your cell phone, and that’s not cool.”

Her younger brother, Dejuan, is a ninth-grader at Central. Even though he’s been caught with a cell phone in class before, he still uses it to communicate to friends during the day.

“If you need to tell somebody something and they’re not in the same class, you just text it to them,” he said. “Sneakily.”

But it’s not just a social thing to school administrators. They see a very real possibility for cheating.

“They’ll text each other,” says Will Fernandez, principal at South Junior High School. “Maybe they even have their answers saved on their cell phone and they can just pull up a cheat sheet.”

Students at SJHS must keep phones in their lockers. According to school handbooks, West Junior High students need to keep their cell phones off and out of sight during school hours. Southwest Junior High wants phones in lockers during the day.

But Isis says it doesn’t always get better with age.

“We know not to have it out now,” she says. “Well, some of us do.”