Research says K-12 students perform better when cell phones aren’t in the classroom. So, what is keeping parents from supporting cell phone bans in schools? The elephant in the room for many parents is school safety. For example, a parent in Oregon was interviewed on why she sends her daughter to school with a phone and said, “We all know how well schools handle emergencies.” In other words, many parents don’t trust school communication and security. So, what’s the answer? Do we leave devices hindering learning in the classrooms as protection? Or do we consider other options that might hold schools accountable for safety?

ARE CELL PHONES SAFETY NETS?

When it comes to cell phones in school, there’s a range of ways parents imagine using cell phones as a safety precaution. For some parents, easy access to their children is the reason they want cell phones in schools. But for others, there’s a much darker reason for keeping cell phones in schools - video evidence. 

Cherelle McLaughlin is the mother of 14-year-old, Tyquan General Jr. who will be tried as an adult for assault with a deadly weapon and murder. Tyquan will plead not guilty, arguing he was acting in self-defense when Delvin Ferrell was stabbed at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School. And thanks to the numerous cell phone videos of the fight, there’s a chance that it will be cell phone video evidence that keeps him out of prison.

McLaughlin says she repeatedly told the school the fight was expected. Her son had been afraid to go to school that morning because he thought he might get jumped for defending his sister in a different altercation. McLaughlin says that she reported these concerns to the school and to her son’s school case worker.

The school issued a joint statement from the principal and the superintendent, but they have not acknowledged or confirmed McLaughlin’s claims. In the statement from the school, they listed two injured victims but did not discuss whether the person in custody was acting in defense. 

In fact, it would be to the school administration’s benefit to have a single “unsafe student” to blame rather than taking responsibility for an out-of-control multi-student conflict. Still, at a community forum at the school that Monday night, the grandmother of the 15-year-old deceased victim, Delvin Ferrell, also acknowledged that a phone call had been placed alerting the school administration that something could happen. 

She commented, “I’m so sad to know that nobody [the school staff] was aware of what was going on. From my inclination, there was a call to the school that something was going to happen, but there wasn’t any action put in place, and my grandson lost his life.”

Beyond whether this is a case of murder or self-defense, Tyquan’s situation is not the only situation where cell phone footage has highlighted the reality of what was happening in schools. In fact, while writing this piece, I went to look up an altercation where another North Carolina student had assaulted a teacher, and the incident didn’t get attention from the school until video evidence circulated on social media. Sadly, when I went to search online for the situation, I was bombarded by so many cell phone videos of students assaulting teachers that it was clear many students in America know the power of having a video camera in the classroom.

AN UNEDITED WINDOW TO THE CLASSROOM

For many parents, COVID-19 was the first video window parents had into the classroom, and for many, it was eye-opening. Researchers now believe parental access to video footage of the classroom was a key factor in the surge of homeschooling that followed 2020, increasing it by 30% across the country.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 91% of schools use security cameras. However, it is unclear where the cameras are located and how well they are monitored. Still, could schools better protect students by more actively using the security cameras in place? Would this give students and parents enough confidence to leave cell phones out of the classroom?

According to a study by the Urban Institute, in places where security cameras are concentrated and routinely monitored by trained staff, the impact on public crime is significant. Thinking back on the Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School fight,  the Wake County Superintendent is saying he doesn’t want to put metal detectors in the school as it might make his students feel like criminals. But what if, instead, his students saw a significant number of security cameras and evidence they were being monitored? Would the cameras hold students and teachers more accountable?

Comment and let us know your thoughts. Do cell phones belong in the classroom as a safety precaution? Would you be willing to ban cell phones in schools if security cameras were more ubiquitous? Let’s talk about how to make education more effective for tomorrow.