Camera phones banned

The King Philip Regional School Committee has decided to ban cellphones with cameras after the high school principal voiced concerns about the possibility of cheating or students taking inappropriate photos.

"The picture phones are a growing concern," high school principal Michael Levine said after a meeting on the issue last week. "There's a whole variety of inappropriate uses for those things that could crop up, and we don't want that opportunity to happen."

He told the committee that about 75 percent of his students have cellphones.

While King Philip technically doesn't permit cellphones of any kind, that policy has not routinely been enforced. But starting in the fall, administrators say they will confiscate camera phones and detain students who carry them.

Levine voiced concern that they could be used to share answers or for "inappropriate picture-taking in locker rooms and things like that."

The King Philip district, which includes Norfolk, Wrentham, and Plainville, is not alone in worrying.

Boston bans all types of cellphones from the classroom, and the state Department of Education is considering an amendment to MCAS test regulations that would prohibit cellphones during testing.

In Framingham, students are supposed to turn cellphones off while in class, but at the high school, they are allowed to use them during lunch, according to Framingham Superintendent Chris Martes. He said the district hasn't addressed the issue of camera phones yet.

"But I think it is a very good point, something we'll take up with the policy subcommittee of the School Committee," he said.

Newton doesn't have a formal districtwide policy, but some schools have their own regulations.

At Newton North High School, for example, the rule is that all electronic devices, including phones, have to be turned off and put away during class, said principal Jennifer Huntington.

"We all know kids can take photos of tests and relay them across class," said Huntington, adding that the current policy should prevent that, since phones are not allowed to be out.

Both Huntington and Martes said they have had no disciplinary problems related to cellphones.

But students all over the country use camera phones, and not always in a way educators would call appropriate.

The Albuquerque Journal reported last week that Santa Fe school officials were considering a total ban on cellphones after several troubling incidents, one involving a high school student who was disciplined for taking a photo under another student's skirt.

King Philip hasn't had any reports of similar incidents, according to officials, but they don't want to take a chance.

"In our case, we're just being proactive rather than reactive, before it becomes a problem," said middle school principal Bill Rice. "Modern technology, for as many good things as it provides, it also provides some bad situations, and this is a classic example."

He estimated that roughly a third of his students have cellphones.

"If Mom or Dad hasn't shown [up at school] to pick them up, they're right on their cellphone," Rice said.

Rice and Levine say parents have told them they want their children to have cellphones so they can keep better tabs on them.

But Gail O'Hara, president of the King Philip Parent Network, said she likes the new ban on camera phones and wouldn't mind if it were extended a step further.

"I don't think cellphones should be allowed in school -- period," she said. "I don't see why they need one. There's phones in the office that can be used for things. . . . I certainly arranged to get my ride home from school without a cellphone."

O'Hara said she still uses rotary dialing, but her daughter, who will be a senior at King Philip, does have a cellphone.

"She's not supposed to use it in school," O'Hara said. "I don't think she takes it to school a lot of days."

She predicted that parent response would probably be split over the new camera-phone ban.

George Cronin, chairman of the King Philip Regional School Committee, said he expects some dissent among parents.

"I would think most of them would be supportive, but there's probably going to be a few that will be unhappy," he said.

Letters will go out this summer to parents informing them of the new policy.

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.