FILE: GAMI
Cf: GAMIA
USE OF TELECOMMUNICATION
AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES
TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICES
Monroe City School Board employees may possess an electronic telecommunications device in any elementary or secondary school buildings, or on the grounds thereof, or on or in any school bus used to transport students, but shall only be allowed to use them during a specific period of the day as allowed by the principal. Teachers shall only be allowed to use such devices during their planning period or non-duty time.
Notwithstanding the above provisions, this policy shall not affect the conduct of law enforcement activities including the use of electronic detection devices, dogs or other means of conducting searches for weapons, drugs, or other contraband in whatever manner is otherwise permitted by law and consistent with School Board policy.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use and operation by any person, including students, of any electronic telecommunications device in the event of an emergency. Emergency means an actual or imminent threat to public health or safety which may result in the loss of life, injury, or property damage.
Exceptions
School administrators and supervisors may be permitted to carry cell phones in sight due to administrative and safety responsibilities. The phone is required to be in the vibrate mode and used out of the sight of students whenever possible. No personal use of the cell phone is allowed except as provided above for the teachers and staff.
EMPLOYER PROVIDED CELLULAR PHONES
The Monroe City School Board may provide cell phones to selected employees to ensure the safety of the educational community and school clientele, as well as to enhance all facets of school operations and procedures to improve the efficiency of the school district. The Superintendent shall designate those employees who may be issued cell phones, based on the employees’ duties and responsibilities.
Cell phones are not a personal benefit, nor a primary mode of personal communication. Cell phones shall be used for school-related business only. While Board-owned cell phones are not to be used for personal calls, should such calls occur, the School Board shall be reimbursed for all personal calls as well as a pro rata share of assessed fees and charges. Employees shall reimburse the School Board within ten (10) days of the billing notice by the School Board.
School Board administrative personnel shall monitor use of the Board-owned cell phones on a monthly basis for propriety and reasonableness of phone use.
ELECTRONIC RECORDING DEVICES
No employee of the Monroe City School Board shall utilize an electronic recording device to surreptitiously record a telephone or face-to-face conversation with any other person while the employee is on duty or where the communication concerns school matters. To ensure compliance with this policy, to protect the privacy rights of the individual who is subject to the use of a recording device, a school employee shall, prior to the initiation or use of any recording device to monitor a conversation with a third party, advise the third party that the conversation is being recorded and shall request the permission of the third party to record the conversation, which advice and consent for the recordation shall be documented at the beginning of the recordation of any such conversation. If permission to record is denied by the third party, no employee shall surreptitiously record a conversation with any third party.
This policy shall have no application to the following:
A recording made at the direct request and in conjunction with a member of a law enforcement agency pursuant to the investigation of criminal conduct by that agency;
A recording made to preserve a criminal threat of personal injury or property damage by a third party, i.e. a bomb threat or threat to physically harm a teacher, student or other person;
Due process hearings for employees or students where recordation of the proceedings is required by state law or Board policy, such as student suspension or expulsion hearings at the Superintendent level, or teacher tenure hearings before the Board.
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§14:40.3, 17:81, 17:239
Board minutes, 9-18-07
Monroe City School Board