Cell-Phone Communication Crucial for Schools
• But Nutley Woman Suggests Widespread Abuse
Jun 15, 2010 – Responding to nasty innuendos by a Nutley woman, the teaching staff at the Washington Elementary School stood in support of principal Douglas Jones as the Board of Education expressed its regret over suggestions that abuse of district-provided cellphone was rampant at the school.
The Nutley woman obtained telephone records reflecting a long list of cell-phone calls made during and after school hours by the principal. She also distributed the list to other persons and posted the numbers on the Hometown message board.
While some casual readers might have concluded that phone abuse had occurred, Superintendent of Schools and Board of Education trustees said the use of cell-phones has become a critical component to the operation of the school system.
"I still have a land-line on my desk," Superintendent Joseph Zara said, "but every time a board member, a teacher or a staff member calls me, it's on my cell-phone."
Cell-phones now provide the primary means of coordinating activities with schools – including athletic events, custodial services and administrative alerts.
So important has the use of the portable devises become that the Board of Education now issues cell-phones to many of its staff members. Several teachers also share their cell numbers to encourage dialogue with parents of their pupils.
Staff members at the Washington School were so upset with the Nutley woman who posted the record of calls made by their principal that several dozen teachers, and others on the professional staff, in protest turned in their telephones this past week to the superintendent's office.
As a result, the Board of Education last night formalized in writing a policy of cell-phone use by staff members. Records of phone use were reviewed by officials during the past few weeks with no instances of abuse found.
Zara said he hoped staff members who had turned in their cell phones would reconsider their protest.
Trustee Charles Kucinski, among others, suggested that possession of cell phone by staff members be made mandatory. Board of Education President Ken Reilly, however, said trustees earlier had discussed the possibility of mandatory phones but dismissed the idea.
The written policy governing cell phone use that was adopted by the Board of Education last night reads as follows:
"Be IT RESOLVED that the Board of Education adopts the following policy on the use of district cell phones.
USE OF DISTRICT CELL PHONES:
"The Nutley Board of Education appreciates certain school district officials and staff members travel between school buildings within the school district, travel to meetings outside the school district, and/or to be "on call" or available for emergency situations within the school district. Therefore, the Board of Education authorizes the issuance of a school district provided communication device to those positions in the school district that need to be immediately available and/or their job responsibilities require them to be away from an office and/or area where the person would have immediate access to a conventional communication device.
"For the purposes of this Policy, "communication device" means any communication device provided to the school district official or staff member by the Nutley Board of Education including, but not limited to, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), beepers, and/or walkie-talkie. For the purposes of this Policy, "communication" means any communication method that may be used by the school district provided communication device including, but not limited to, audio telephone calls, e-mails, text messaging, video telephone calls, and/or instant messaging.
"A communication device shall be provided to those school district officials and staff recommended by the Superintendent of Schools. The communication device shall be the property of the Nutley Board of Education and the person assigned the device shall be responsible for all communications made from the device.
The Superintendent of Schools may remove the district provided communication device from the school official or staff member if it is determined by the Superintendent the non-school related use of the communication is excessive."
