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Hear, Hear: School Bans Cell Phones

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By JOE O'NEILL Tribune Correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

Well done, Learning Gate Community School. Adults acting like adults.

At LGCS, cell phones have been banned on campus. Students must either leave them at home or at the front office.

Appealing to reason or just rules - given the ubiquity of cell phones in the culture - hadn't worked. Text messaging and calls during class were incompatible with a serious learning environment. And it wasn't just adolescents being envelope-pushing adolescents. Too often it was their parents on the sending end of those less-than-emergency calls.

And, of course, the ban pre-empts "sexting" at school, which speaks volumes about the challenging times we live in - and a whole separate, disturbing topic.

LGCS did what every other county school should also do.
Florida law permits students to carry cell phones - with the proviso that local school boards can regulate their use. As a result, Hillsborough County schools have adopted a "see and hear no evil" policy: Students generally can carry them, but they must be turned off and out of sight. As if.

To no one's surprise, students see such a half measure - bring it, but resist the temptation to use it - for what it is. An obligatory, token attempt by out-of-touch adults to rain on their cell phone rite of passage. As a result, when they bring them - it's hardly for nonuse during school.

And, no, we don't need to keep overreacting to Columbine. We can all agree that cell phones during a lockdown with killers on the loose would be helpful. But let's not countenance the travesty of ongoing, academics-undermining intrusions premised on the unlikely possibility of a Columbine sequel.

(Meaningful, proactive measures - from bullying and dress-code guidelines to more responsible monitoring of at-risk adolescents with unconscionable access to weaponry - should be the focus on that issue.)

Frankly, it would also help if more parents would complement the efforts of schools by focusing more on cell phones - and their use and misuse - than cell towers.

Dangers When Driving

And while we're on the subject of cell phones and the role of parents and school administrators, let's not forget the Florida Legislature. As noted, this state doesn't ban cell phones in schools but leaves their regulation up to local districts.

What it needs to re-think is that Florida has no law that prohibits or even limits cell phone use while driving. That includes texting teenagers. That's obviously an increasingly scary scenario.

The National Safety Council now equates cell phoning while behind the wheel to drunken driving. It's that dangerous. The council estimates that cell phone use while driving increases the risk of an accident fourfold. The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis attributes more than 2,600 deaths and 12,000 serious injuries a year to cell phone use by motorists.

Chances are, this won't be the year that the Legislature finally gets revenue-raising religion or helps everyone's property taxes drop like a rock. We all know the politics of that.

But banning or at least restricting cell phone use while driving? What exactly is the constituency for enabling behavior that is the equivalent of drunk driving? Especially for novice drivers.

It seems fitting to accord the final word to Janet Froetscher, president of the NSC.

"When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away," she reasons. "It's time to take the cell phone away."

Cuban Opportunity

Granted, the Obama administration has a lot on its domestic-agenda plate right now. An unprecedented, historic amount.

So, it's understandable that, except for Iraq, Afghanistan/Pakistan and Secretary of State Clinton's sortie to the Orient and the president's Canadian cameo, foreign policy is a lesser priority than it would otherwise be.

Latin America, for one, largely remains ignored.

Cuba, specifically, is being addressed gingerly, even though that island represents the administration's best opportunity for early, high-upside success. As in economic and geopolitical benefits. As in humane considerations.

Legislation is now coursing through Congress that will essentially undo what President George W. Bush did to tighten travel restrictions to Cuba for those of Cuban descent. It's thought that the move likely presages others later in the year that would involve broader travel opportunities and some easing of the economic embargo.

Here's hoping Gov. Charlie Crist takes off his Cuba blinders and applies his well-honed opportunism skills and leverages his support for the administration's stimulus package.

Here's what he can do. Tell lame duck Sen. Mel Martinez to take an early hike. Then "the people's governor" needs to align himself with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican, Richard Lugar. The Indiana senator wants to rethink the Cuban embargo.

The timing would be propitious for Florida.

According to a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an end to the Cuban embargo would be worth at least $1.2 billion in U.S. exports, a sizable chunk of which would accrue to Florida. And not incidentally, to the Port of Tampa.

Among those who would really appreciate some leadership from Crist on Cuba: local Tampa officials. The Tampa Port Authority, which includes Mayor Pam Iorio, awaits a green light from Washington to get aggressive about trade possibilities with Havana.

It's going to happen sooner or later. And sooner makes much more sense during a brutalizing recession.

Locals need political cover, and Crist is in position to help make it happen. And it wouldn't hurt if some members (or at least one) of this state's Congressional delegation would finally show some guts and jump on board. Why should the Obama administration hurry to do the right thing and end the counterproductive Cold War relic that is the embargo when Florida's own politicians still act as if they're intimidated by the grievance-clinging, clout-diminished Cuban exile community? That's not even "smart," self-serving politics any more.

"Insane," is how Port Authority Commissioner Carl Lindell described U.S.-Cuba policy.

Indeed, now more than ever.

All that's at stake are jobs, Americans' right to travel freely and the opportunity for America's standing in the world to be immediately improved.

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www .opinionstogoonline.com.

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