An Acceptable Use Policy at most schools that have a BYOD initiative may include any or all of the following rules.
Students will:
· Only use devices for educational purposes
· Respect the privacy of others
· Comply with copyright laws and user licensing agreements
· Connect to district Wi-Fi
· Not password protect their devices
Students will not:
· Use devices for any illegal purposes
· Search for inappropriate or obscene content
· Use devices to discriminate or cyber-bully others
· Engage in hacking of any kind
· Repost or forward any personal communications without prior approval from educator
· Plagiarize others’ work
· Use their devices for cheating
Even with an Acceptable User Agreement in place at your school, there will still be students who believe they can do what they want on their device, simply because it is their personal property. Failure to follow the rules in the AUP can have some negative outcomes for the student who breaks said rules.
Students expect to have some privacy expectations with their cell phones at school. There are several factors that can cause the students to relinquish their cell phone privacy at school, allowing educators to seize and search their phones for evidence. All of these factors should be included in the school’s AUP.
It is imperative to include a policy that states that a violation of the AUP will result in the confiscation and searching of personal devices by the administration. Without this policy in place, as Justin W. Patchin mentions in his article, because of New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985), the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution protects students against search and seizures of their personal property.
Other cases focusing on the issue of whether or not search and seizure of students’ cell phones is justified include the following:
· Klump v. Nazareth Area School District (2006)
· J.W. v. Desoto County School District (2010)
In each of these cases, the school was being examined to see whether or not they had “reasonable cause” to lawfully search through the students’ phones. So when you and your parents sign your school's AUP, remember what could happen if you violate any portion of it.
Rick, great response to your article and I definitely learned a lot through this. This article is more important now than ever before because we are allowing them to have their phones in class for educational purposes. However, sometimes they don't always use it for educational purposes and that's when as the teacher we might confiscate their phones to find proof. This has happened to me, and I have seen it before when I was in high school. The student will put the phone in their pocket and say they have no right to search it. Then they get sent to the principals office, which gives him time to delete or turn off and lock his phone.
ReplyDeleteIf you tell the students and parents to sign an agreement stating consequences then the problem of when we can and can't search the phone goes away. Then, if the student breaks the agreement, it is within the teacher's rights to search that phone in event of cheating or other noneducational purposes. Situations like this are going to come up and understanding when we can look through their device and when we can't will be beneficial to us!
Ryan,
DeleteI totally agree. The AUP allows this to happen, but I wouldn't search it without an administrator present. However, I would imagine that this would only have to be done a few times before students realized that this is a serious issue and the procedure at your school.
Searching a student's phone is a sticky situation for sure. Ryan, your post reminded me of students I had last year that had some inappropriate pictures on their phones and they were all called down to the principal's office. There is no doubt in my mind that these students had those pictures in hidden apps or put them there before walking into the principal's office. It makes me wonder how far is too far? Could a teacher or administrator have searched every inch of those students' phones? Probably, but would that have been the best choice considering the backlash that could've come from the situation? I don't know, and that's why things like these are such sticky situations.
DeleteLocking/wiping of a phone before discipline is also a problem in our high school! I think that making a policy of - yes we can take your phone in some cases- needs to be explicitly taught either through an assembly or some kind of school-wide lesson. Making kids aware before they're asked to hand over their phones can often make them understand the limits at school and their rights as students.
DeleteRyan, if it happens where the student puts their phone in their pocket, don't send them to the principal's office. Instead, stay with the student and send someone else to get the principal. I believe that if a student doesn't comply to remove there phone at that point, the principal can get the SRO to search the student's pockets.
DeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteGreat job, this is very informative. I really appreciate how you sight the precedent. Students need to know that devices used at school are for educational purposes. Acts done in defiance of school rules and policies are punishable.
While I thought this would be the case, I would still a little leary about searching a student's phone. That is definitely the role of the administration. But, when it comes down to it, phones should be treated the same as purses, trunks and book bags, which are all subject to search with due cause.
On another note, does anyone know if there is a lab manager that can bring up (on the smart board) what is on the devices of all students logged into to the network. This would awesome service. I know that they have these for PCs and laptops, but I am not sure about other devices. Also, is peardeck available on cell phones, this too could help monitor student activity?
ReplyDeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! And I appreciate the insight you were able to provide for when it is acceptable to search a student's device. I often have struggled with this because I personally do not use a AUP, but our school might. That is definitely something that I will be checking into before next school year begins.
Also, many teachers have to realize that parents will fight tooth and nail for their child. Before someone goes looking through a student's phone, a school better be sure that something is in writing to cover their own behinds. As Nick stated above, it might be best to simply take a student's device and then let administration deal with the searching aspect of things.
It is so true that parents will fight blindly for their child and blame so much on the adults at school! We had a student get his phone taken away recently. The policy of that teacher was to hold their phone until the next day. I'm not sure how I personally feel about this rule... It kinda crosses a line for me where I wouldn't go. But as far as punishments go, this seems pretty standard. Well, this student texted his mom during school from a friend's phone and told her what happened to his phone. That mom flew up through the parking lot not 10 minutes later and made a HUGE scene in the front office. She even called the police, so they showed up! She wanted charges pressed on the school and the teacher for theft. What she didn't take into consideration was the fact that the student was asked many times to put his device away. He was also taking pictures of the teacher and posting them to his Snapchat with derogatory and "rated R" content.
DeleteTaking and searching phones seems like such a grey area and I hope that we can keep getting better at writing those policies with education of the student but also their personal privacy considered.
Lynn, I agree. Maybe bring up to your principal that when a phone is confiscated, it should be given to the office. Make it a requirement for the parent to come to retrieve it at the end of the day. That was the policy in one of the public schools I worked at before. It was fully understood by each parent and student as well because it was in the school's AUP. There were very few times when I had to confiscate the students' phones because they were aware of the consequences.
DeleteBradley, good point that the parents will not be on our side and is something to consider before taking a phone and looking through it. 20 years ago the parents were on the teachers side always. Nowadays it seems like the parents blame us for everything and we have to be cautious. I also will look into AUP because it could save teachers a lot of trouble in the long run.
DeleteI was just wondering what the rules were for students and their phones with regards to searching a phone, so thanks for posting! I would never feel comfortable searching a student's phone myself so I'm glad that this is a task that typically falls on the administration. A female student accused my male student of keeping topless pictures of her this year, and that was a total mess! I notified my administration and the Assistant Principal came down to handle the searching of this student's phone. It turned out that time that the female student made it up (she admitted it). For my male student, I did think that it was a breach of privacy. The AP went through all his texts to the female and his pictures. I hope that districts have a better system for student privacy but also take all cases seriously. Kids can get into a lot of trouble on their phones these days!
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteI know that this may seem like a breach of his privacy but I feel that if you are going to take your phone to school and have it out, that with probable cause it can be searched. If something comes up, students should be corrected. Even if it is not what they were originally looking for. If you search a car trunk on school property for a gun but end up finding illegal drugs, it still has to be dealt with. Most of our students are under 18, if looking for something due to probable cause and find something else, they are still guilty. As long as they are doing the right thing with the phone, they have nothing to worry about. I definitely agree with you that the new phones/smartphones in particular pose a lot of opportunity for kids to get in more trouble than ever.