(October 22, 2002) — Next month the Glendale Unified School District will consider letting students carry cell phones on campus. Gov. Gray Davis signed into law a bill allowing students to carry signaling devices, such as cell phones, on school campuses. High schools such as Monroe in North Hills, Logan High in Union City and La Cañada High School have already put this bill into effect. This bill does not give the school’s administration the right to make the decision of whether or not students will be permitted to carry cell phones on campus, however. Instead, the bill lets each district’s school board grant schools the right to permit cell phones on school grounds. However, the passing of this bill would not only apply to cell phones on campus during school hours. If the school board approves this bill, students would also be able to carry cell phones during school-sponsored events and while under the supervision of school or district employees without the approval of the principal or other administrator. “I don’t necessarily like it [the bill] because I think it’d cause too much of a problem,” said Assistant Principal Joan Shoff. “Students would forget to turn them off and they’d ring in class.” Shoff said that a cell phone rang during an AP test last year, which affected students’ concentration and maybe even their college plans. ASB Advisor Kristina Provost said that she has no problem with cell phones on campus, as long as they don’t disrupt the learning process. She also said that when she was in high school, pagers were used in drug deals and that’s why they have been banned from school campuses since. Principal Doug Dall agreed that cell phones and pagers were used for negative purposes at school, such as fights and drug deals. Dall said that as long as cell phones don’t disrupt the learning process, he doesn’t have a very big problem with students carrying them on campus. “A lot of my schoolmates bring their cell phones to school regularly,” said junior Armen Manasserian. “Most of them don’t care that they are not allowed to carry them on campus. Some even play games on their cells during class.” Vic Pallos, GUSD’s Public Information & Partnerships Coordinator, said that the new law will be put on the school board’s November agenda to be taken into consideration. Pallos said that if the board creates a cell phone policy, the new policy would take effect in Jan. 2003.