Nevada cell phone ban is debated

Students have urged Nevada lawmakers to scrap a 1993 law that banned cell phones and pagers on school campuses.

Legislators were told Monday the cell phones have become important connections for families, helping parents keep track of youngsters.

"We feel it is wrong for us to walk around school illegally with cell phones and with none of the teachers even caring if we have them," Las Vegas middle school student Haley Lucas told members of the Assembly Education Committee.

"We would rather have them be legal because everybody has them now," he added in seeking approval of AB138, lifting the cell phone and pager ban that was part of an effort to stop drug deals.

Some school administrators and teachers supported the bill, but at least one educator said cell phones are unnecessary in classrooms.

"There is no justification of kids having a cell phone on their body," said Marty Cronin, president of the Douglas County Professional Education Association and a teacher at Douglas High in Minden.

Cronin said the phones interfere with the education process and are distracting to other classmates when they ring inadvertently.

Washoe and Clark County school officials agreed the prohibition should be eliminated. But they asked the committee to consider an amendment that would give local school districts jurisdiction over cell phone use.

Carson High School Principal Glen Adair said cell phone use is so widespread that it is impossible to enforce their current ban. If the ban was lifted, school officials still need to have the authority to control their use during class, Adair said.