Most of us know that it is illegal to have a firearm on a school campus, but most don’t know that student use of a cell phone on a school campus is also unlawful. It’s even illegal to print a student’s name on the honor roll without written parental consent.
Louisiana has strict laws to protect students. There are laws against bullying and laws that require teachers to report suspected brutality. It’s against the law for a school to post a student’s name or photo on a school yearbook, honors program, or football schedule without written parental consent.
Despite the presence of many of these laws, many public schools look the other way, and they are rarely enforced.
This week Bastrop High School announced that students who bring cell phones to school would be expelled. That announcement made many angry, but R.S. 239 passed in 2003, making it a criminal offense for a student to use a cell phone, pager, fax machine, or similar devices on a school campus without the principal’s permission. The law list disciplinary actions for students who violate the law, with the maximum penalty being suspension.
In 2014 Excellence Academy was the only school in the city system that prohibited students from using cell phones on campus. The school confiscated the phones and required parents to pick them up after the first offense; after subsequent violations, the school kept the phones until the end of the school year. When the school closed in 2017, there were over 50 cell phones unclaimed by parents.
Very few schools follow state law regarding the use of student information and photos. In 2014 the legislature passed Act 837, co-sponsored by Rep. Katrina Jackson, that makes it illegal for schools to publish any two pieces of information about a student without written parental consent. For a school to post a name or photo on a student honor roll, football roster, or in a student yearbook requires written parental consent. Some schools now require parents of athletes to sign permission forms to participate. Most schools ignore the law and routinely publish quarterly honor rolls, video proms, and school events without written parental consent.
All school teachers and administrators can face criminal penalties if they fail to report suspected child abuse of students. Students who arrive at school with injuries that appear suspicious or if teachers learn of abuse, they are required by law to report their suspicions to law enforcement. This law prohibits teachers and administrators from investigating their suspicions; they are required to “report” their suspicions or be charged with a crime. The Louisiana Children’s Code Article 609 makes them “Mandatory reporters.”
A law passed in 2014 makes it illegal for an adult driving through a school zone to be talking on a cell phone, texting, or social networking. It’s never been enforced locally.
State law holds teachers criminally liable for allowing students to use their personal cell phones and exposing them to explicit photos or videos in the process. A few years ago, a local teacher allowed a student to access a personal phone which contained a video of two adult teachers privately having sex. The student quickly forwarded the video to other students, which went viral. School officials took no action against the offending teachers; school and district officials chose to look the other way.
There are many laws on the books to protect student privacy in public schools.
A few of them are enforced sometimes, but some are not enforced at any time.
In 2017, a choir teacher at a local high school pled guilty to participating in pot parties with students and giving them drugs from the school office.
The teacher claimed that school and district officials knew about his actions but did not report them as the law required and agreed to testify against the superintendent and officials as part of his plea deal. The local DA recused himself because he once represented the superintendent. The case went to the State Attorney General’s office and disappeared. Law enforcement officials looked the other way.
It appears that state laws concerning schools are enforced on a “pick and choose” basis, which doesn’t do much to ensure confidence that those prosecuted are not simply being persecuted.
If everyone looks the other way, what’s the use of having the law in the first place?
