Students who bring cell phones to school will soon run the risk of having them confiscated for the rest of the school year.

The Union County Board of School Trustees voted Monday to approve first reading of a new policy banning student use of “communications devices” in school. The policy defines the devices as “any telecommunication device that emits an audible signal, vibrates, displays a message or otherwise summons or delivers a communication” to the person possessing it. It states that students are not permitted to possess such devices while on school property and during normal school operating hours.

Students who violate the policy will have their cell phones confiscated by school staff and will not get them back until the end of the school year. While under the old policy confiscation until the end of school occurred only on the third offense, the new policy requires confiscation until the end of the year on the first offense.

Chairman Wanda All said that under the old policy students were allowed to keep their cell phones but had to turn them off and keep them out of sight. Mrs. All said the new policy is in response to “gross misuse” of cell phones by students including taking pictures of exams and tests and sending them to other students taking them at a later time; texting and “Facebooking” during class time; and helping spread rumors like the one that brought a large contingent of law enforcement personnel to the Union County High School campus on March 13.

The incident began earlier that week when a growing number of constantly changing rumors about gang activity at the school or elsewhere began circulating among students. This prompted an investigation by the Union Public Safety Department and the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

The rumors reached critical mass when a text message began making the rounds among students. The message, which kept changing throughout the day, claimed there would be a shooting or a fight, that it would happen at school or after school or somewhere else.

In response, a number of public safety officers and sheriff’s deputies were deployed to the school on March 13.

Stimulus funds

In other business, Superintendent Dr. David Eubanks said the district will share in $20.3 million in federal energy conservation grants and loans to be divided among South Carolina’s 85 school districts.

The State Budget and Control Board announced Thursday that the districts are getting nearly half of the $45.7 million in stimulus funds being distributed by the South Carolina Energy Office. The money, which includes $35.7 million in direct grants and $10 million in zero interest loans, will be used to help pay for energy conservation efforts by local schools, institutions of higher education, local government and state agencies.

Eubanks said the school district will receive a $104,307 grant and a $34,769 loan under the program. He said no decision has been made on what the money will be used for, but the district will have to develop a plan for their use and include in its application to the energy office.

Title I

The district will also $687,874 in Title I funds for the education of low-income students. Eubanks said the new allocation would be in addition to funding the district already receives.

Eubanks cautioned the board that while the stimulus money and additional Title I funds are welcome, they will not replace the $3 million in state revenue the district has lost over the past year. The ongoing downturn in the economy has forced reductions in state funding to local school districts and Eubanks said that even with the additional funds the district will have to continue watching its budget closely and make an additional adjustments as necessary.