ARTICLE I

OFFICE TELEPHONES

Students shall not be permitted to use office telephones at Weir Middle School for the purpose of making telephone calls to individuals outside of school and are not permitted to receive telephone messages left for them by others at the office telephones. The parents and students are responsible for making sure that the students have all items necessary for the school day and will not be permitted to call home to ask their parents to bring to them such things as gym clothes, text books, instruments, field trip permission slips, or other items which the students are responsible for having at school. The administration at Weir Middle School will make exceptions to this rule in emergency circumstances and in other situations deemed appropriate by the Administration in their sole discretion.

ARTICLE II

CELL PHONES

Students may possess cell phones at Weir Middle School. Students shall place their phones on vibrate or silent so that they do not omit noises which interrupt or interfere with the orderly administration of the school. The administration of Weir Middle School requires that if a student brings a cell phone to school that upon entering the school at the beginning of the school day that the student secure the phone in his or her locker and keep it safe in the locker until the end of the school day.  Students may not use their cell phones during the school day. Students are prohibited from talking on their cell phones, texting on their cell phones, taking photographs or videos with their cell phones, e-mailing from their cell phones, playing games on their cell phones, or communicating on social media with their cell phones including but not limited to the social media known as facebook, instagram, vine, twitter, snapchat, myspace, or any other form of social media.

ARTICLE III

PROHIBITED AREAS FOR CELL PHONES EITHER DURING THE SCHOOL DAY OR FOLLOWING THE SCHOOL DAY

There are certain areas within the school which cell phones are not permitted whether being used by a student during the school day or after the school day has concluded. These areas include bathrooms, locker rooms, or any other area on school grounds where students will be changing clothes for any school related function. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the students are actually changing clothes or not and possession of a cell phone in these areas will result in immediate discipline as more fully set forth hereinafter.

ARTICLE IV

CELL PHONES SUBJECT TO SEIZURE BY ADMINISTRATORS

Students cell phones shall be subject to seizure by administrators in the event the cell phones are being possessed or used in a manner inconsistent with the policy set forth herein and will be confiscated by school administrators and kept by school administrators until such time as the phone can be returned to the parents of the student. It will be the parent’s responsibility to make arrangements with school administration for the safe return of the cell phone.

ARTICLE V

CELL PHONE POSSESSION AND USE ON BUSES TO AND FROM SCHOOL

Students are permitted to possess cell phones when being transported to or from school by school buses. Students will be permitted to use cell phones in any reasonable manner that they wish so long as their use does not distract the bus driver from operating the bus or performing bus driving duties. The bus driver has the authority and discretion to direct students in the manner in which they are using their cell phones and may prohibit any student from using a cell phone in the event the student fails to comply with a reasonable request of the bus driver or who repeatedly violates the reasonable rules created by the bus driver. The bus driver shall have the authority to prohibit the use of cell phones while students are being transported on the bus in the event he deems it necessary for the safe operation and transfer of students on the bus.

ARTICLE VI

BUS DRIVER AUTHORITY

Bus drivers shall also have the authority to seize and confiscate cell phones which are being used in violation of this policy and shall deliver those to the school principal or their designee for return to the parent as set forth hereinabove.

ARTICLE VII

CELL PHONE USE ON FIELD TRIPS

Students may possess cell phones on field trips but cell phones cannot be used in any fashion and their use is prohibited as described in Article II and Article III when students are going on a field trip to where the facility does not allow possession or use of a cell phone and on such other field trips determined by the administration not to be appropriate.

ARTICLE VIII

CELL PHONES AT DANCES

Students may possess cell phones at school dances but cell phones cannot be used in any fashion and their use is prohibited as described in Article II and Article III.

ARTICLE IX

CELL PHONES AT SPORTING EVENTS

A student who is a spectator at a sporting event being held following the school day as defined herein may possess and use a cell phone when attending sporting events so long as the use of the cell phone is reasonable and not in violation of other school rules or policies or any other provision of this policy. If a student is a member of a sports team then the school team coach will have the authority to establish rules for the use of cell phones by his players. Provided, however, that the coach does not have the authority to allow students to possess or use their cell phones in violation of Article III of this policy.

ARTICLE X

SCHOOL DAY DEFINED FOR CELL PHONE POLICY

The school day shall begin at 7:10 a.m. or at such earlier time as the student exits his or her transportation conveyance and is located on school property and continues until 3:00 p.m. or later when the student enters the transportation conveyance taking him or her from school to their after school destination. Upon the entry of the transportation conveying the student to or from school Articles V and VI apply. 

ARTICLE XI

PROHIBITION AGAINST POSSESSION, CREATING OR DISTRIBUTING A VISUAL PORTRAYAL OF A MINOR POSING IN AN INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL MANNER

No Student shall intentionally possess, create, produce, distribute, transmit, post, or otherwise disseminate a visual portrayal of the student or of another student posing in an inappropriate sexual manner. As used in this policy, “posing in an inappropriate sexual manner” means exhibition of a bare female breast, female or male genitalia, pubic or rectal area of a minor. As used in this policy, “visual portrayal” means a photograph, a motion picture, a digital image, a digital video recording, or any other mechanical or electronic recording process or device that can preserve, for later viewing, a visual image of a person that includes, but is not limited to, computers, cell phones, personal digital assistance and other digital storage or transmitting devices.  This prohibition shall apply to images possessed or distributed during school hours, at extracurricular actives, and even while the student is not in school in the event that the image is received in school or effects the orderly functioning of the school.

ARTICLE XII

DISCIPLINARY ACTION AS A RESULT OF A VIOLATION OF THIS POLICY

In the event that a student violates the policy set forth herein the student is subject to disciplinary action including a parent meeting, an intervention, internal school suspension, Saturday school, suspension from school for up to 10 days, and expulsion. The discipline which will be imposed will be consistent with the violation and the number of violations committed by the student. In the event a student violates the provision concerning the prohibition against possession, creating or distributing a visual portrayal of a minor posing in an inappropriate sexual manner he or she will be expelled and a report to law enforcement will be made so that a juvenile petition will be filed against the juvenile said actions being in violation of West Virginia Code 61-8C-3b.