Is it safe to allow cell phones in school? If you can't say no to cell phones, start beefing up your emergency crisis plans.

Is it safe to allow cell phones in school? If you can't say no to cell phones, start beefing up your emergency crisis plans. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CELL PHONES WERE banned from most schools years ago, but after theColumbine High School Columbine High School is a secondary school in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado. The school is located at 6201 South Pierce Street, one mile west of the Littleton city limits and half a mile south of the Denver city/county line. and 9/11 tragedies, parents started pressuringsome school boards and administrators to reverse the bans. On itssurface, allowing students to have cell phones under the guise of schoolsafety may seem like a "no-brainer." But an in-depth analysissuggests students having cell phones could create a less safe situationin a crisis. The Discipline Challenges On a daily basis, cell phones disrupt the educational environment.Students cannot benefit from classroom instruction if they aredistracted by incoming text messages or calls. Administrators also worryabout cell phone cameras being used to take and spread inappropriatephotographs of students in restrooms and locker rooms. And cyberbullyingpresents a similar new challenge. More cell phone videos of fights amongyouths, including those occurring on school grounds, are online. Schoolbus drivers tell of incidents of friends, family members and gangmembers awaiting the arrival of buses at drop-off sites in response totext messages sent by students during conflicts on the buses. And cellphones have been used to call in bomb threats. In one Virginiacommunity, the caller used discount store "throwaway" cellphones that could not be traced to make two bomb threat calls. Impeding First Responders Many parents and some school officials see no potential harm instudents having cell phones in a school crisis--at least until thecrisis occurs. During a crisis, such as a shooting, students need totake direction from adults. School leaders may need to lock down orevacuate the building. And students who are using cell phones during acrisis can easily miss life-saving directions. In addition, studentstexting and calling parents can encourage parents to flock to theschool. Increased vehicle traffic around campus can impedefirst-responder vehicles from entering and exiting the school. And aplethora of parents arriving on campus can overwhelm school crisis teamparent-student reunification re��u��ni��fy?tr.v. re��u��ni��fied, re��u��ni��fy��ing, re��u��ni��fiesTo cause (a group, party, state, or sect) to become unified again after being divided. processes and can hinder effectivelockdowns or evacuations in an emergency. It is also possible for cell phone systems to be overloaded and, inturn, for emergency officials and school resource officers (SROs) tohave difficulties in using their own cell phones to communicate. We advise school leaders to thoroughly analyze and discuss thedownside of cell phones related to school safety issues. We alsostrongly advise them to have exceptionally strong emergency response andcrisis communications Crisis communications are generally considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. plans to counter the negative impact cell phoneshave on real crises and rumors. "[he question is no longer whethercell phones will add challenges to school crisis management, but insteadhow strong their impact will be. www.DistrictAdministration.com Read more details on discipline challenges and the Columbine columbine, in botanycolumbine(kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. and9/11 backlash. Kenneth S. Trump is president of National School Safety andSecurity Services Security services are state institutions for the provision of intelligence, primarily of a strategic nature, but also including protective security intelligence. Examples include the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in the United Kingdom, and the , a Cleveland-based national school safety andcrisis-preparedness consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a feeconsulting companybusiness firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a .