School News 3

THE COURANT FEBRUARY 2010

Calling out the cell policy

By Neela, Chief News Reporter
Havoc in the hallways
By Rachel, Staff Writer themselves trapped behind slow walk-
Since the new cell phone policy was established in November 2009 on According to sophomore Timothy, ers, and the entire width of the hall is
a trial basis, students have taken advantage of the policy by using their WKHUH LV PXFK GLVWUHVV UHJDUGLQJ WUDIÀF blocked. Cumbersome backpacks and
phones in the hallways. The question still stands though as to whether or in the hallways. pocketbooks contribute to the crowds.
not the policy will be permanent. This problem has spread to the popu- “The hallway is designed to get from
“The goals of the policy are to give as much freedom as possible to lar website, Facebook. Timothy has ven- and to class, of course you want to say
students, without corrupting the classroom,” said senior class president tured out in search of a resolution and hello to friends, but I believe traveling stu-
Suraj. “I think the policy is working in the sense that students have been created a group called “Commack High dents should be more aware of their sur-
given more freedom, that I don’t think they are abusing. Is it keeping Schools Needs an Assembly on How to roundings,” said senior Carly.
students from texting [in] the classroom? Well, the part of policy that Function in a Hallway” to voice his con- Texting and walking simultaneously
allows teachers to take the phone and refer it to the deans straight away is cern over this issue. in the hallways can also be dangerous.
EHQHÀFLDOEHFDXVHQRZWKHWHDFKHUVFDQDFWRQGLVUXSWLYHEHKDYLRUµ The online “It is just
Throughout the years, teachers have had the challenge of deciding group recog- ridiculous how
what to do with cell phone usage in classrooms. Due to an excessive usage nizes the injus- hard it is to
of cell phones, administration and class representatives decided on this tices that occur walk from class
trial solution, to help both the students and teachers without disrupting on a daily basis to class on daily
instructional time. in the hallways. basis,” said se-
“I feel in order for the policy to work and for us to kind of enforce the By pointing out nior Brendan.
policy, if I do see it [in class], I will take it from them [students],” said the obvious, Senior Dan-
social studies teacher Carrie Lipenholtz. Timothy hopes ielle adds some
The administrators have yet to determine if the policy will stay in effect students will re- practical humor
permanently. form their walk- to the issue at

Photo by Max
“I am gathering information from all the departments in regards ing patterns. hand.
to their perspectives on how the trial procedure is going. So, now I am “Ever since I “I hate
starting to get feedback and I am closely watching dean referrals of cell use was a freshman when people
in classrooms,” said principal Russell Stewart. last year, it just Students try to beat the hallway rush just stop in
If the trial is permanently kept, many of the new cell phone rules will DOZD\V EDIÁHG the hallway to
EH VWULFWO\ HQIRUFHG ,I WKH SKRQH LV WDNHQ DZD\ WKH ÀUVW WLPH DQG JLYHQ me how inconsiderate some people were socialize. Move to the side or just keep
to the administrator, a letter will be sent home with a warning and the to the fact that they were in the way of walking people! And stop hitting me with
student must meet with an administrator to pick up the phone. But if the WUDIÀFHYHU\FKDQJLQJSHULRGRIHYHU\GD\ that bulky ‘Jansport’ backpack,” said
phone is taken away more than three times, a student may get internal I know personally that this problem has Danielle.
suspension. left me practically running just to get to “If I could tell the student body one
“Even today, I collected a cell phone and brought it down to FODVVRQWLPHZKHQ,·PÀQDOO\LQDFOHDU thing about proper hallway etiquette, it
DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ , DP GHÀQLWHO\ IROORZLQJ WKH QHZ SROLF\ EHFDXVH , NQRZ hallway,” said Timothy. would be just to be considerate of the
it is a new policy. So as long as we support it [the policy], it will work. It Much frustration occurs due to over- fact that there are over two thousand
doesn’t seem unfair, so I fully support it and fully follow it and I will take crowding, abrupt stop-and-go motions people trying to get from place to place
them [cell phones] away and bring it to a administrator,” said English contributing to lateness class and in in a timely manner and in one piece. If
teacher Kim Cisek. some cases, injury. a person really stops and thinks about
This trial period may not stop texting in class completely but it may “It’s really annoying when you’re try- this, I think they would make an effort to
lessen cell use in classrooms. Students may think twice before using cell ing to get to the other side of the school VWRSVORZLQJGRZQWUDIÀFDQGDFWLQJLP-
phones during instructional time, which is the desired outcome. and people are standing in the middle of mature, if they are one of the offenders,”
´, WKLQN WKDW WKH VWXGHQWV DUH GHÀQLWHO\ XVLQJ WKLV SROLF\ WR WKHLU the hallway not moving. It’s especially said Timothy.
advantage and using their phones whenever they can. Although texting bad in the back lab hallway,” said senior In hopes of change, Timothy suggests
during class will never be completely stopped, I believe this policy will allow Brittany. educating the masses about this behavior.
kids to text a lot less during class time,” said sophomore class secretary Senior Emma agrees with Brittany. “I also think some form of assembly
Arielle. “People on break in the back hall- would help where it’s clearly demonstrated
7KHFHOOSKRQHSROLF\FDQEHQHÀWWKHVWXGHQWVEHFDXVHWKH\FDQXVH ZD\FDXVHDORWRIWUDIÀF+DOIWKHFODVV how poor hallway etiquette is adversely
WKHLUFHOOSKRQHVGXULQJSDVVLQJWLPHVLQWKHKDOOZD\V,WFDQEHQHÀWWKH stands in the middle of the hall and no impacting people. I think if people saw how
teachers as well because they can be stricter in class about cell phones. one can get through. People need to learn disruptive their behavior is in the hallway,
The cell phone policy’s permanence is still undecided and is in the trial how to walk,” said Emma. they’d realize how disruptive it is and try to
period. If the trial basis results in less usage of the cell phones during class These problems are very familiar to turn themselves around,” says Timothy.
time, the cell phone policy might become permanent in the near future. WKH VWXGHQWV 2IWHQ VWXGHQWV ZLOO ÀQG

Continued from Cover

“I would be other and teachers. Yet, e-mail access is blocked Other students argue that the decision to use
surprised from student computers. their time for educational purposes should be their
if there “It is an astonishing conclusion to declare responsibility.
something not educational, the idea that e-mail
Computer Illustration by Max Greenberg

weren’t “If we decide to not use our time productively,

Blocked
m o r e
examples of
pedophiles
is not educational,” said Goldstein. “How do they
know? How do they know I am not a man of letters
engaging in discourse with the great philosophers of
the world? They don’t.”
that is up to us,” said Kevin.
It is because of teachers’ inability to constantly
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websites
taking jobs
in schools
than there
are of
pedophiles
trying to
contact
Sites such as YouTube are blocked. p e o p l e
through Facebook. Yet, they still hire teachers. It is
not that fear [of pedophilia through Facebook] is not
existent; it is that in schools it is such a hypothetical
situation.”
Schools can block websites though that they feel
interfere with the educational process if they have a
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“They can block Facebook in a classroom during
class time if they say students were not paying
attention,” said Goldstein. “That would be a legitimate
educational reason. But it is another thing to say we
are going to block Facebook in the libraries, or all
classrooms. There is no legitimate educational reason
to block Facebook at 6 p.m. in the library.”
Weiss cites lack of educational value as the
reason why they limit access to most of their sites.
The idea that something may not have an educational
value is unfounded in many cases. Students use sites
like Facebook for collaboration. There is also a lot of
educational content on YouTube.
“Sometimes I have students show me something
on YouTube that students in the class should watch,”
said technology lead teacher Frank Musto.
Many students use e-mail for contact with one
When a student is denied access to a website
in the school, it cites the category under which is
blocked. Categories include adult materials, games
and social networking among others.
“They ban a lot of weird topics. There was
one website that was banned under the category
‘homosexuality’ and I thought that was strange,” said
junior Kevin.
According to Goldstein, the district only has as
much power as the state gives them.
“We can block whatever we want to block,” said
Weiss.
Weiss adds that the potential of student
harassment is a factor behind the decision to limit
access on the school’s about 600 student-use
computers.
“We can’t control those sites, so if someone was
being harassed on Facebook during the day from a
school terminal we would not be in the position to
shut the site down or remove the offensive material,”
said Weiss, “That would require us to be in contact
with the management of Facebook to remove the
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wall we would send the custodial staff in to clean it
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Some students agree, saying that they realize
that social networking sites do not have a place in
the schools.
“I think sites like Facebook have no educational
value,” said junior Ashley. “You do not need them
during class.”
“Filters are a technological solution to a
supervision issue,” said Weiss.
Filtering programs block topics without evaluating
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submit sites to be reevaluated and unblocked.
Weiss held an open forum this year to discuss the
Internet policy with about 25 students who debated
the extent of Internet access students should be
given.
“At the forum, every single student was not 100
percent for open internet access,” said Musto. “They
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This matter was discussed along with the
proposal of new plans for technology in the school.
“In terms of access for the next year, we will have
wireless throughout the building,” said Musto, “We
are looking into students having an e-mail account
and unblocking certain websites.”
The library currently has wireless access.
According to Weiss, there are plans to allow guests to
sign in to the network.
According to Musto less strict censorship will be
the decision of next year’s superintendent.
This policy is comparable to the new cell phone
policy where a certain level of self-responsibility will
come with new privileges.
“[The students] want it to be open to them and
have it up to them to do the right thing,” said Musto,
“I believe you should give kids what they need and
teach them to use it correctly.”