First, sorry to kick up such an old thread. I see the last reply on it was 3 weeks ago...
Second, I have worked in hearing elementary, middle and high schools where kids have phones.
On one hand, I understand the students' opinion.
1. They want to be able to call mom or dad to pick them up from school.
2. They want some way to contact mom and dad at all times ("in case of an emergency" they say. To which I respond "But if there is an emergency at home, is there really anything helpful you can do?" which is followed by a "well.. no...not really.")
3. They also want to have their own private way to talk with friends that is safe from little siblings and even parents.
4. Some students also use their smartphones instead of wearing a wrist watch, instead of a calculator, and instead of a dictionary.
5. Some students are very interested in photography as a result of their phone (which I am all for, since my degree is in art education and photography is a kind of art, but it is against school policy for students to snap photos of peers without permission...)
However, there is downsides to having phones, especially expensive smart phone, in the classroom.
1. phones are stolen by other classmates. crying student has to be sent to resource officer to fill out a police report.
2. phones are damaged on purpose or by accident. (can the other student be held accountable for damaging the expensive phone, or is it the student's fault for bringing such an expensive phone to school and not being more careful? Am I responsible because it happened in my classroom?)
3. some students will use their phones to bully / abuse other students, even during school hours. Stolen phones are sometimes used to post hurtful messages on facebook or myspace
4. Some students will load school inappropriate material (weapons, hateful songs) using their 3G enabled smartphones.
5. Students causing a scene about having their phones confiscated cuts away at instruction time.
6. Some parents will side with their child student and proclaim their child has the "right" to talk on the phone whenever they want, especially if it is the parent calling the student. (Whatever happened to calling the school to page the student down? The PA system still works!)
so yeah... not sure.
I guess if the parent is responsible, and teaches the child to use the phone sparingly, then it is ok.
But when a parent is neglectful or overbearing, maybe a phone is not the best idea...