Add Davis County classrooms to venues where electronic pagers are no longer welcome.
Davis School District area director Garvin Carlile said the beepers, already banned in courtrooms and frowned upon in theaters, will be confiscated by his principals if students bring them to school.Under a policy that took effect this month, the devices will be returned to students at the end of the day - along with a warning that they be left at home.
Under school policy, anything that distracts from education in the classroom can be banned, Carlile said.
Almost every high school in the district has reported students bringing beepers to class, and few of them have good reasons for doing so, he said.
Layton Principal Paul Smith said he confiscated three beepers within a week. One student said he needed the beeper for his job at a local fast-food restaurant. When Smith contacted the employer, however, she denied the student needed a pager for work.
In other states, law enforcement officials have come across cases where beepers were used by students to conduct drug trafficking.
Pagers also have been used by busy parents to stay in touch with their children.
But Carlile insists that parents needing to reach their students during school call the school and leave a message. Students will be pulled from a class for a phone call only if there is an emergency, he said.