North Texas school cell phone ban policies: How are districts enforcing it?

DALLAS — Starting Sept. 1, cell phones are officially banned in Texas public schools. Sound simple enough?

Well, the implementation of that law -- which was passed by the Texas Legislature this year -- might vary from district to district, even if the intended effect is still the same: Students won't be able to use their phones in school.

What the law did was require districts to pass a policy by Sept. 1 that complies with the law, which prohibits the use of personal wireless communication devices (including but not limited to cell phones). The state law also requires districts to have disciplinary steps in place if students violate the policy.

How students can store their phones, and how the discipline will escalate for each violation, was left to the districts.

While the state law go