County students will be suspended for repeated violations of new rules on using cell phones, iPods and other electronic gadgets in schools.

Students have been allowed to bring their cell phones to school since 2005 but were required to keep the phones deactivated inside school buildings. The district's old policy only allowed schools to take the cell phones away and confiscate them from students until the end of the year.

School trustees approved a new policy last Monday allowing school principals to suspend students from school.

The new policy states first-time violators will have the phones taken away and returned to the parents upon request. A second violation will now result in students being suspended for a day for using cell phones during school hours.

"The cell phone is purely a convenience. It can't be a disruption in school," Cherokee County School District Superintendent Dr. Bill James said. "The rationale for allowing kids to bring them to school is so they can contact their parents after school."

The stricter policy was developed by school principals in recent weeks after several school board members expressed concern about increased cell phone use in schools. Newer cell phones can be used to take photographs, access Internet, send and receive text messages and e-mail.

"We found that for some students, the cell phone was the only telephone the family has in the house," said Herman Thompson, the district's director of policy, attendance and transportation. "The big thing is enforcing this across the district, instead of some principals taking the device."

The school district's new policy addresses iPods and audio/visual electronic devices for the first time.

"Students are encouraged not to bring iPods to school, but they still bring them anyway. It is nothing to have 40 or 60 of the more expensive iPods collected during a day at a school," Thompson said. "Some of these iPods can cost $300. This creates a liability issue for school offices to keep track of iPods and other electronic devices confiscated during the school year. We hope the stricter policy will act as a deterrent for students."