School security sweep nets cell phones, iPods

BY JAMSHID MOUSAVINEZHAD | amNY.COM

April 26, 2006

A new program to search school students didn't turn up many weapons Wednesday, but a lot of kids had to do without their cell phones and music.

Students at a Brooklyn high school gave up 129 cell phones and 19 audio devices -- including 2 iPods -- Wednesday morning as the Department of Education launched the first in a series of random searches.

ACORN High School for Social Justice in Bushwick was the first school to experience the sweeps, where cops with portable metal detectors show up unannounced to search arriving students.

The searches, which will continue at up to ten schools at day, are aimed at finding weapons. Police issued a summons to one ACORN student after he was found with a boxcutter. They also found a knife that had been dumped in the garbage.

Cell phones and iPods are included on the list of items the DOE bans students from bringing to school. For the most part, schools without permanent metal detectors have not enforced the ban, leading many students and parents to believe they're allowed.

Keith Kalb, DOE spokesperson, said that the students at ACORN will get back their confiscated devices at the discretion of the principal, most likely at the end of the school day.