Frustration prompts schools to ban cell phones

HOBART, Ind. -- In the ongoing battle for students' attention, some Indiana schools are fighting the rise of text messaging and endless cell phone chatting by banning the phones.\nThe phones disrupt classes and valuable instruction time, said Tony Lux, superintendent of Merrillville Community School Corp., which has banned cell phones.\n"I understand everybody has them and they're so popular. You want to make sure you don't have distractions during the school day," Lux told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story published Sunday.\nThe Indiana General Assembly has seesawed back and forth on the electronic devices, banning them in 1994 and repealing the law a year later, leaving the policy up to local districts.\nDuring the 2003 session, state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, offered a bill reinstating the prohibition, but it failed to pass.\nSchool districts have mixed policies on the cell phones. Crown Point schools allow cell phones in school, but they must be turned off.\nGary school officials recently debated the issue and decided to keep a total ban in place.\n"The bottom line is they're too disruptive during the school day," said Gary Superintendent Mary Steele. "We have to protect the instructional day and make sure it doesn't have a lot of interruptions"