NYC schools' tough phone rules

The controversy around New York public schools' strict cellphone policy is growing. "Although most school districts across the country ban the use of cellphones in the classroom, New York has for years been a notch stricter. It mandates that students not even have cellphones - or other electronic devices - in their pockets or backpacks," the Los Angeles Times reports. The ban was pretty much ignored until last month, when "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg endorsed bringing portable scanners randomly into city schools to find unauthorized objects." Los Angeles schools allows phones if they're turned off and kept in a pocket, purse, or backpack except before and after school and during breaks. Some New York parents "say that if the mayor and schools Chancellor Joel Klein don't budge, they will send their children to school with the phones anyway and risk occasional confiscation, trusting local school officials to continue the 'don't ask, don't tell' practice that seems to have been in place over the years."