The students in Melissa Boehmer's freshman English language arts class at Lancaster High School last week had to define "susurrus," "juddered" and seven other words used in a book the class is reading.

Boehmer handed out pocket dictionaries to her students, but she also let them do something that is verboten in many area classrooms: use their cellphones to look up the words.

After they finished the vocabulary assignment, Boehmer told the students to put away their phones as she moved into a discussion of the latest chapter in Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book."

"What is the rule? Gadgetry for good, not evil," Boehmer said.

That's the idea behind the cellphone policy put in place this fall at Lancaster High School. As long as they're not disruptive, students can use their phones to text, check Facebook or listen to music during lunch or the break between classes.

Further, Boehmer and other teachers are bringing this technology into the classroom, taking advantage of the countless applications and tools loaded onto these hand-held computers.

"The upper-level students have come to me and said, 'Thank you,'" Principal Cesar Marchioli said. "I want to educate them on proper use of technology. The positives outweigh the negatives."

Some other area schools have relaxed their policies, though not to the degree at Lancaster High School. And a number are exploring academic uses of tablets and other mobile devices.

But most districts still require students to leave their cellphones at home, or in their locker, because officials believe the devices distract and raise personal-safety concerns.

"It's a battle that I know isn't going away," said Jon Cervoni, principal of West Seneca East High School.

Cellphones pervasive

Cellphones are nearly ubiquitous among high schoolers. Seventy-five percent of those ages 12 to 17 owned a cellphone in 2009, up from 45 percent in 2004, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In addition to phone calls and texting, smartphones are used to play video games and music, record video, take photos and provide access to the Internet and social media. But allowing them into school raises many issues, from privacy to exam security.

For this reason, most area school districts don't allow students to use their phones during the school day.

A survey conducted on behalf of The Buffalo News by Erie 1 BOCES found none of the 18 responding school districts bar cellphones from school grounds, but most require students to keep them in their lockers or otherwise out of sight while classes are in session.

"I always tell them, 'If your parent needs to reach you, have them call the school,'" said Tina Neureuter, the principal at Williamsville North High School, where school staff members confiscate any cellphones on sight. The assistant principals end up with an average of five phones a week that are kept until parents arrive to retrieve them.

At West Seneca East, though unsanctioned cellphone use is banned, teachers and other staff have discretion in deciding whether to take away a phone or ask a student to put it away, said Cervoni, the principal.

Among large districts that aren't part of Erie 1 BOCES, Niagara Falls High School students must keep their phones in their lockers, while Orchard Park High School students are barred from using their phones during the school day.

The Buffalo schools have a "zero tolerance" policy for phones, meaning a student found with a phone will have the device confiscated and taken to the school office, said Elena Cala, a district spokeswoman. The student can't get the phone back unless a parent comes at the end of the day to retrieve it.

Lancaster High School also used to have a strict policy.

Any staff person who saw a student with a phone, even if the device wasn't in use, was required to direct the student to hand over the phone and to write up the student for an infraction, Marchioli said.

Some teachers and workers in the office complained that this tied up too much of their time to deal with a minor offense.

After discussion with staff and faculty at the high school, Marchioli decided to relax the cellphone policy and to see how students responded.

"I don't want to legislate based on the minority that were misusing it," Marchioli said.

The high school's 1,979 students can use their phones during the five-minute break between periods and the 40-minute lunch period and when allowed by teachers in class or study hall.

Students must not cause a disruption while using their phones, and viewing inappropriate content on the devices also would be cause for discipline, school officials said.

"So far, honestly, I think it's been very positive. I've had no complaints," said Lancaster Police Officer Patrick O'Brien, the school resource officer.

The other side of the new policy is the expanded use of the phones for academic purposes, Marchioli and others said.

For example, teachers can use the Quizlet program to create digital flash cards, such as a list of Spanish words, for their students, said Heidi Chaves, technology curriculum mentor for the Lancaster Central School District. The students use an app to download them onto their phones.

And one teacher let students use the camera function on their phones to take pictures on a class field trip, images that were transmitted to a site that turned them into a slide show.

"I think the potential is limitless," Chaves said.

Also, students have to juggle a busy schedule of homework, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs, so the calendar or reminder function on a smartphone can help with that, Marchioli said.

"We're trying to teach kids to be college- and career-ready," he said.

Phones in perspective

In Boehmer's freshman English language arts class, she divided the students into groups and had each group look up a word trying both methods: the trusty old dictionary and the newfangled smartphone.

"To show them that both can be useful. With technology, just because it exists doesn't mean it's better or correct," Boehmer said after class.

Not all of her students have an Internet-enabled smartphone. A poll of the class found 22 of 23 had a cellphone, but only 10 had a smartphone.

Boehmer pointed out to her class that she can't surf the Internet or use apps on her low-cost, prepaid TracPhone.

"I'm going to buy you a real phone for Christmas," one student joked in response.

How is the new cellphone policy going over with students at Lancaster High School?

Students said in interviews that some of their peers who once were obsessed with the idea of sneaking phone time during the school day are now more blase about using their phones.

"I think the freedom almost gives less of a wanting to do it," said freshman Briona Luthart.

Devin Knoop, a Lancaster junior, said he noticed that the cafeteria seems quieter this fall during his lunch period because more students are silently listening to music or playing games on their phones.

"Everybody texted in the cafeteria last year; now it's allowed," added Megan Genovese, a sophomore who has an iPhone 4 and said she used its calculator function in her science class.

Freshman Kevin Almasi, who has a basic cellphone, said it's nice to be able to more easily connect with his parents during the school day, but a cellphone can be a distraction.

"I think [the new policy]'s got its pros and cons," said Kevin.

Justin Watt, a senior who is the drum major for the school marching band, said the new policy seems to be working well.

"It just seems to be part of our school now," he said.

We're likely to see more mobile devices of every kind, not just cellphones, in the classroom of the near future, officials said.

Erie 1 BOCES, for example, provides local districts the chance to use iPod Touches, iPads and electronic readers in pilot projects that test their academic value, said Michelle Okal-Frink, manager of instructional technology for BOCES.

Okal-Frink said case studies show students who use mobile devices in the classroom report feeling a greater sense of engagement with the material. "There's definitely a value for technology in the classroom," she said.

However, area districts have been more interested in providing students school-owned devices instead of encouraging the students to use their own gadgets, Okal-Frink said. Officials from other area school districts say they'll watch to see how the liberal cellphone policy works in Lancaster.

High schools are the cellphone battleground today, Cervoni said, but when The News reports on this topic a few years from now "you'll be calling elementary school principals," he said.

swatson@buffnews.comnull