Leave the Cell Phone at Home

The student and rules governing cell phone usage will help determine if a child should leave the phone at home, or take it to school. My son will be a sophomore this coming school year, and was a freshmen at the time we became educated on the cell phone policy at Northmor Local School. If our son was a student who was able to strictly adhere to the rules, I would allow the phone to go to school. The student handbook clearly states the if a cell phone is either seen or heard if will be taken away. If the rules were followed this would not be such a big issue, as with many things. Having a clear understanding of the school's rules and your child's behavioral habits will help you arrive at an informed decision regarding taking the phone to school, or leaving it at home.

The trouble we endured stretched far beyond anything we imagined possible.Our son's cell phone was taken away two days prior to the end of the school year, because he had left it on, and a friend thought it would be humorous to text him during class. I expressed my discontent with the principal in person, concluding with my exit upon request of the kind officer who was called during our discussion. The principal's actions were questionable in my mind, but completely in line with school policy. During the time the phone was in the principal's possession a girl sent my son a picture exposing herself to him. The phone was then turned in to the local authorities for prosecution.

This could have tarnished my son's record and required him to register as a sex offender. It is against the law to send or receive these type of images of a minor, and a serious offense. This incident took over three months to conclude, and cost my wife and I over three thousand dollars in attorney and legal fees. He did not ask the girl for a picture of herself, yet it is still illegal to receive an image of this nature. Some things seem simple in my mind, but carry a heavy consequence in the eyes of the law. I am thankful our son has nothing on his record as a result of this incident. He may have been looked upon as a sex offender for this offense.

We consider ourselves lucky with the outcome of this event. The offense is called pandering obscenity involving a minor. We also know that not everyone is as fortunate as we were. Ultimately, it is the parents decision to send the child to school with a cell phone, or keep it at home. We have gained an education from our experience with cell phones in the school.Once again, we are grateful in regards to the outcome of the matter, and hope this has helped someone avoid the same horror we endured.