The Stafford Technical Center Public Safety Services class was asked to make a presentation to the entire school at the Student of the Marking Period Assembly. The students decided to accept the challenge and, under the direction of Erika Stocker, who was the Project Director, came up with the topic of improper cell phone usage. The group then worked to flesh out subtopics, and each student developed a subtopic that he or she would be responsible for. The subtopics were then amalgamated into a cohesive presentation.
The subtopics included all facets involving improperly using a cell phone and texting. Kayla Jones, a junior from Mill River, dealt with the issue of the rude and annoying behaviors that people by carrying on loud or disgusting cell phone conversations in public places. She found stories of how widespread the problem is- that stars of Broadway musicals have been known to stop in the middle of a song to tell a theatergoer to get off the phone. Justin Cram, a senior from Otter Valley, and Jon Schaff, a senior from Fair Haven dealt with the ringtone issue- all those weird and annoying ringtones that often drive people crazy. They also discovered that ringtones are a $500 million a year business, and that some of the 10 second ringtones that people download carry with them a contract of up to two years and a monthly rate of up to $15.99.
Using cell phones to cheat was covered by Dan Ball of Rutland High School. He found that cell phones offer many new technologies to facilitate cheating, including web browsing for answers, texting the answers to a friend, and a host of other methods. Dan did find, however, that while cell phones did make cheating easier, they don’t make honest students cheaters. Nate Hance, a junior from Mill River, addressed the issues of misdirecting your text messages or phone calls to other parties, and how embarrassing that can be. He found two really pertinent stories, one involving Lily Allen, who he describes as England’s Paris Hilton, who took topless photos of herself and sent them to a guy with the same name as her boyfriend. The other involves a hapless Syracuse, NY drug dealer whose text message with details of his upcoming large drug deal went accidentally to a police officer’s phone.
A very important cell phone issue to teens is something called sexting- the sending of sexually explicit text messages to others or sending naked or partially undressed photos of oneself to peers. This portion was written, researched and presented by Joanna Lilly of Poultney High School and Erika Stocker of Mill River; they discovered that as many as 40% of teen girls may be involved. They also found out that in about 1 out of 6 cases, after a breakup, usually one initiated by the girl, the former boyfriend widely distributes the photos. Cody Hesse of Otter Valley Union High School investigated the use of cell phones while driving, a topic which is being looked at by state legislatures everywhere in the country. Cody found research that stated that the practice of driving while texting is so dangerous that it is statistically more dangerous than driving while drunk.
Cantlin Eaton, a junior from Mill River, addressed the issues of using one’s cell phones in an emergency situation. While sometimes cell phones could be useful in avoiding a disaster, they can jam up the airwaves, so that emergency responders can not use theirs. Additionally, a new problem that is starting to become known is the use of cell phone cameras to take photos of accident victims or fire scenes, which are then bulk forwarded. Besides being a gross violation of the victim’s privacy, this sets in motion the possibility that someone will be notified of their loved one’s death by getting a grisly photo forwarded to them.
The last issue that was dealt with was that of bullying by cell phone, which was researched by Ashley Barnes, a junior from Rutland High School. This problem has many different aspects- from just sending hurtful messages, to starting rumors (in one case a middle school girl was rumored to be carrying SARS; the school population avoided her), to taking unflattering photos of other students without their knowledge in the bathroom or shower. This behavior not only is detrimental to the school, it is also illegal.
Following the Stafford Technical Center Student of the Marking Period Assembly, the group was asked to do a presentation to the West Rutland High School, which they did as members of Students Against Destructive Decisions. The SADD members also presented this program to about 350 7th and 8th graders and their teachers in two presentations at Rutland Middle School.