Cell phones in middle school are a minimum issue compared to when they start driving with them. Even adults have no business with them.

If I had my way cell phones would be illegal in any number of places like in public, while driving, and certainly no child should have one while in school.
Required: teachers would have cell phones in case there is a school emergency. Remember, teachers are adults students are children.

The next time there is a school violence issue in one of these local schools, it would be really nice if one of the "tweens" with a cell phone will let his/her classmates without one call thier parents to say they are safe.

My child is in middle school and participates in after school activities. I have lost track of how many times activities were cancelled or suddenly added. Having a cell phone to be used only BEFORE or AFTER school would have been helpful to accommodate the schedule changes and determine if a parent needed to get out of work early and pick my child up.

would anyone be "appalled" by a kid having a phone? Disagree with it I can see, but being appalled? That's a bit much... Let's not presume to know why these kids are using phones because that's up to the parents. It they want their child to have a phone, then that's their decision. And I doubt very seriously that middle schoolers are cutting anyone off in traffic while texting seeing as how they can't drive... Many of us didn't have phones in middle school and turned out fine but that was because the technology wasn't there, just like we didn't have access to the internet. Should we take away their laptops too? Books were just fine for us also so we should throw away all the Kindles and say to heck with the trees. I got it, let's get rid of all mp3 music players and dust off the old albums... technology is continuing to advance which makes the argument that "we didn't have that" totally absurd.

I see so many tweens with cell phones and am appalled. There is no reason for kids 12-13 or so to have a cell phone. I grew up without one, and didn't get one until I was nearly 18.(I'm in my 20's now). Cell phones aren't a necessity until kids are driving. Any emergency I had while in school was sent through the office. All tweens do with cell phone is socialize. When will parents get a clue and realize that middle-school age kids are just wasting time and money on the phone. Get a house phone! I see articles about 13-14 year olds sending 15,000 texts in a month- it's ridiculous!

There is no reason whatsoever to carry one in any grade, K - 12. Emergency calls are routed through the school office. Social calls can wait. Carrying cell phones increases the ease of cheating and distracting others from learning; not the likelihood, but the ease. And, in fact, those are the only two reasons to carry a cell phone during school hours.

It is understandable that parents want to be able to reach their children quickly. The proliferation of cell phones, however, has done little more than distract students from their classes and make "helicopter" parents more intrusive. As others have noted, there are already perfectly adequate and timely systems for reaching children with important news when they are in school.

In the event of a family emergency, it is better for the child to be notified and transferred from class by a trained professional (typically a counselor) than for the parent to call the child directly, creating possibly unnecessary hysteria and disruption to the class.

My wife teaches middle schoolers. She tells me that most "emergency" calls initiated by students have to do with spilled drinks on clothing, forgotten items of clothing and a variety of other circumstances that are anything but emergencies. She also reports that NONE of the calls her students have ever received from a parent in her class or during hall duty had to do with an actual emergency. In her opinion, the ability to reach someone quickly on the phone merely makes it possible for more frivolous issues to become "emergencies."

I do not permit cell phones in college classes. Be where you are. Also, not so much the phone but the texting of answers to test questions. Allow this freedom in school is a bad precedence. If there is some emergency and the student needs to be notified..I allow the phone at my desk and when it vibrates..I give it to the student. It is extremely disctracting..much more than a sneeze. Phones are a luxury, not a necessity. And I bet the ones that say yes, are the ones that cut me off in traffic and never see me because they are dialing or texting.

Cell phones should be banned from all classrooms until a student reaches college. Teens are very innovative in electronics and if allowed a cell phone in a classroom might ultimately succumb to the false advantages of cheating. Not all but likely a majority. So, NO to all.