SAUGUS Have a Safe and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! DCATECATE AD Vol. 26, No.10 -FREEwww.advocatenews.net adv net CT Published Every Friday A ‘LEPRECAT’ FOR ST. PATS T E 781-233-4446 Friday, March 15, 2024 Fallout from a bullying incident Student cell phone use in school detracts from learning environment and should end, town offi cials say By Mark E. Vogler he use of cell phones by Saugus Middle School students to videotape a 13-year-old student getting bullied and beaten up in gym class last week has caused some town and school officials to question whether they should be allowed. “Cell phones, in my opinion, should be banned in Saugus Public Schools,” former longtime School Committee Member Arthur Grabowski told The Saugus Advocate. “They serve no educational purposes. Many school districts are now in the process of banning cell phones,” said Grabowski, who is four months into his fi rst term as a Precinct 8 Town Meeting member. “The fact that students recorded this incident on their cell phones and disseminated the video on social media only shows the detrimental eff ect of cell phones in the schools,” he said in an interview this week in response to the beating incident. Former School CommitCAT IN THE GREEN HAT: Tonya Chadwick has a new infl atable St. Patrick’s Day cat in the front yard of her Appleton Street home to celebrate the religious and cultural holiday that will be observed on Sunday, March 17. The lawn ‘Leprecat’ replaces the one that got destroyed last year from a windstorm. Please see inside for more St. Patrick’s Day coverage, including Laura Eisener’s “Saugus Gardens in the Winter.” (Courtesy photo of Laura Eisener) tee Member Peter Manoogian, who once served on the committee with Grabowski, also questioned the use of cell phones by students during class, calling it “a distraction.” “The School Department should re-examine existing cell phone policies and enforcement procedures for their use to prevent cell phone use in the classroom, including the gymnasium,” Manoogian told the newspaper. “It is very diffi cult for a teacher to compete with a cell phone for the attention of students,” he said. Grabowski said he recalled during his time on the committee several years ago when the district had a policy of “no cell phones,” but decided to change it at the request of school administrators who were getting pressure from parents who didn’t like the policy. “It was never enforced and teachers got in trouble for taking the cell phones away from the kids,” Grabowski said. “But it shouldn’t have been changed because it doesn’t add anything to the learning environment.” There have been other developments in the aftermath of the student bullying and beating incident: • School Superintendent Michael Hashem said his administration recognizes the problems created by students using cell phones in school and is responding to the situation. • School and town offi cials maintain that School Department staff responded properly to the March 4 incident in which a 13-year-old student was beaten by another 13-year-old student. Offi cials say the incident was investigated properly. • The mother of the beating victim, who had previously criticized school staff and administration for not doing anything, has since said her INCIDENT| SEE PAGE 17 Mid-grade Regular $3.88 98 64 87 Over 45 Years of Excellence! Full Service $3.45 Order online at angelosoil.com
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