School Cheating Goes Hi-tech?

By Mary Niederberger
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There was a time when students who wanted to cheat on tests wrote answers on the palms of their hands or created a tiny cheat sheet to slip into their sleeves. And when messages were exchanged, the modes were whispers or notes passed surreptitiously, moves fairly easy for a teacher to spot. But now, school officials say, handheld electronic devices make it possible for students to pass information silently via cell phone text-messaging or faxing, or by using the radio wave or infrared technology in personal digital assistants such as Palm Pilots. This burst of technological development has school officials busy devising policy to regulate gadgets. But as school directors in the Peters Township School District are finding, it's hard to come up with the right wording to restrict, but not stifle, technology that seems to change daily. A policy that bans specific devices could be outdated as soon as it is printed. In addition, some school officials argue, there can be legitimate classroom uses for some technology. While most districts don't allow students to have their cell phones on during classroom hours to prevent disruptions, some cell phones have the same capabilities as electronic organizers. And while handheld computers may have legitimate use for such tasks as scheduling and research, some can make and receive phone calls, take digital photos and record sound. That creates opportunity for questionable use.

"There used to be a distinction between cell phones and PDAs," said Peters school Director Mark Buzzatto, during a recent board discussion. "Cell phones are to be turned off. But cell phones are turning into PDAs. I can schedule on mine."

Banning all handheld electronic devices during the school day is one way to deal with the problem. That's what some districts such as McKeesport and South Fayette have done. Shelly Belcher, South Fayette spokeswoman, said the district policy attempts to be all-inclusive. Cell phones and all other handheld devices are not allowed to be used in the building. Period. First-time offenders get their devices back when a parent comes in and signs for it; repeat violators, however, can expect not to get the phone back until the end of the year. While some might consider such a policy too strict -- what if a student needs to use the phone in an emergency -- Belcher said there was access to phones in every classroom. But for school officials in Peters, the issue isn't that simple because they don't want to discourage students' use of cutting-edge technology.

"It definitely has potential for abuses in and around the school," said John Hoover, assistant superintendent of Peters schools, who is in charge of drafting policy with board members. "But it's a whole new era that we live in and we know that there are wonderful uses for this technology and we know that our students live very much in a digital world. We want them to be prepared and facile with all of the technology that would be helpful to them," Hoover said.

The fear that "a small number" would use the devices inappropriately creates the need for the policy, Hoover said. In Peters, the proposed policy twice has been sent back to the drawing board. Following the most recent discussion, school directors decided to use wording that would ban certain activities and uses of the devices, but not outlaw specific devices. Sharon Fissel, director of policy services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said the biggest concerns of school boards have been cheating, the use of inappropriate photographs and the invasion of students' privacy by other students with devices that can photograph and record. Hoover also warned that camera phones could be used for inappropriate picture-taking in such places as locker rooms. That's what happened earlier this year when a Moon Area wrestler took an obscene photo on a West Allegheny High School student's camera phone before a wrestling match in January. According to court records and police reports filed at the time, the wrestler took a picture of another wrestler's penis on the camera cell phone of a female student trainer. The cell phone had been taken out of her purse while she was in the West Allegheny trainers' room. When the purse was returned, the photo was found on the phone. Moon Area coaches cooperated with police to find out who took the picture.

"Schools have run into problems when these things are used in a malicious way. The possibilities are endless and we are trying to prevent those kinds of things," Hoover said.

Bans on the use of electronic equipment date to 1989 when the state Legislature passed a law barring pagers from school property, school-sponsored functions and buses except for special circumstances. They included students with a sick family member or those who were members of volunteer fire departments. At the time, school officials complained about pagers interrupting classes and said they suspected the devices were being used to set up drug deals. After that legislation, a number of districts created policies that banned the possession of cell phones on school property. But most of those districts have eased those policies since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when students found cells phones to be a comfort. Now most districts allow students to carry cell phones, but they must be turned off during school hours. In Peters, the board is considering banning use of cell phones on school buses and during organized after-school activities, although some board members said this may be difficult because many working parents use cell phones to reach their children after school. Peters Board President Denise Abraham said at a recent board meeting that the task of devising an effective policy governing cell phones and similar electronic devices was frustrating.

"This is sort of like herding cats," she said.