| Here are some quotes from better experts than myself backing up the same line of thinking: "School leaders at Ashland Middle School in southern Oregon—which has a no cellphones during the school day policy—have worked with local law enforcement on an emergency plan. "Police officers 'really encourage us to make sure that our students know that if there was some sort of catastrophic event, we would need people to stay off their cellphones,' said Katherine Holden, the associate principal. 'They don’t want us thinking that our students should be calling or trying to communicate with their parents at that moment. They really want students to be listening to adults and following directions, and to be very present.' "Ashland Middle’s approach generally seems to be right one, said Shawna White, the senior lead for school safety at WestEd, a nonprofit research and consulting organization that works on education and other issues. “'The use of cellphones on the part of students has more potential to be disruptive to the crisis-response team than it does to benefit' them, she said. Sending text messages can be a big distraction when students need to be paying close attention to adults and following a safety plan. "And if students are hiding from an active shooter, the dinging of a text message or ringing of a phone might give away their location, she added. "While kids may want to use their phones to reassure parents that they are OK, their calls may spur their families to clog up law enforcement phone lines, or drive to the school to pick up their child, potentially putting themselves in harm’s way or creating a traffic jam that could interfere with police efforts." "Ken Trump, the security expert, says phones can actually make us less safe in a crisis such as the one in Parkland. He ticks off several reasons: "1. Using phones can distract people from the actions they need to be taking in the moment, such as running, hiding and listening to directions from first responders. "2. The sound of the phone, whether ringing or on vibrate, could alert an assailant to a hiding place. "3. The shooter could be monitoring the event themselves on social media and find more victims or elude capture that way. "4. Victims and worried family members trying to get through can jam communications, interfering with first responders. "'Without a doubt, the cellphones provide an emotional security blanket for parents and kids,' Trump says. As a father himself, 'I get that, my heart is there.' "And he acknowledges that in some cases, in the hands of responsible parties, phones might help keep people safe. That same Education Week story found that while in lockdown, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Jim Gard, coordinated with other teachers over email and asked his students to text classmates to make sure people were accounted for. "Nevertheless, says Trump, the weight of the evidence is against having free access to phones in a crisis. 'I'm in a rare position professionally where I understand the downsides of it.'" "'We had active shooter training at the end of this last school year and we had that in place, and that was the number one thing that we saw, was students pulling out cellphones and videoing the situation,' Culver said. "Culver said the students are not going to be engaged with what is going on if they are wrapped up in their phones." "Former Tulsa Police SWAT Team member Greg Douglass warns they can be detrimental in active shooter situations. "'Someone is standing right there and could be giving aid,' Douglass said. "It's like, 'Why don't you put down your phone and help?' Or you are literally in the middle of this and you are being victimized. You need to put down your phone to save yourself." "Douglass said even if the students are not recording, it is absolutely necessary to pay attention. He said calling 911 is not always the best option when there is someone with a gun at your school. "'Stop relying on police to save you when your life is on the line,' Douglass said. 'You have to do it yourself. You have to take those immediate steps in those first few seconds to save your own life.' "He said it can take the police several minutes to arrive and most criminal acts happen in seconds. "Culver agreed that the students need to put down the phones and pay attention to their teacher's plan." "As far as videoing what is going on, Taylor wonders why that is people's first instinct. "'You could be stopping the situation, but people just pull out their phones,' Taylor said. 'I'm like, 'this could have been stopped a long time ago.' "Taylor said the videos usually make it on the internet and make things worse. "Douglass cautions against posting online or streaming when something like this is happening. The suspect could be watching and getting clues. "'It literally could give away our positions and actions and things we were doing on the outside,' Douglass warned. So many arguments against every child having a cell phone in an emergency, many more than I thought of. |