Electronic-device policy assessed

High schooler Brooke Decker plays a game on her phone while listening to her iPod. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Photo

In what a school official described as "teenage drama," a 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl got into a scuttle that escalated quickly from a food fight into punches last Wednesday.

Nobody was injured, and cafeteria staff and students broke up the fight within seconds.

But it caused a commotion at Perrysburg High School.

Before school was over that day, messages popped up on Facebook and Twitter, social-networking sites that allow gossip to be broadcast in real time. Perrysburg school officials created a policy this year to manage the devices that transmit those sites.

The board of education decided in March to allow all students to bring their own gadgets such as iPads, Kindles, iPods, and smart phones from home.

But use of the devices is limited to before and after school and during lunch as well as in the classroom at the teacher's discretion. Only high school students are permitted to use the devices between classes.

Superintendent Thomas Hosler reported on results of the policy at a recent meeting.

David Boyce, assistant principal at the high school, said the policy hasn't had much impact there. He said no significant increases in cheating, such as students texting answers or using use cameras to capture test questions, have occurred, nor has cyber-bullying increased.

Mr. Hosler said most of the problems occurred at the junior high and elementary schools.

At the junior high, students have contacted parents on their own, without going to the nurse's office or notifying school staff, and have asked to be picked up if they feel sick.

In other cases, students upset about being called a name or being bullied have contacted their parents without alerting a teacher.

At the elementary schools, the district plans to tweak the policy and allow students to use devices only before and after school.

The idea was for elementary school students to read online books during lunch, which hasn't happened, Mr. Hosler said.

Contact Gabrielle Russon at: grusson@theblade.com or 419-724-6026.