If your job was to teach a class and all of your students spent the entire time playing with their smartphones, you’d probably be pretty fed up as well. This is why we have some sympathy for Dean Liptak, a Florida science teacher who recently got in trouble for jamming his students’ smartphones in class after Verizon complained that someone at his school was interfering with its network.
FROM EARLIER: The FBI is making it too easy for us to track down its spy planes
Local news station WTSP reports that Liptak was suspended for five days for bringing a cell phone jamming device into class, which not only jammed phones in his classroom but others as well. This particular action also happens to be illegal, although thankfully no legal charges are being brought against him since he wasn’t doing it for a malicious purpose. All the same, any signal jammer could potentially hinder the school’s ability to call 911 in case of an emergency.
“The consequences could have been dire, if he was jamming the signal so 911 calls can be made,” explained school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. “God forbid if a child is under a desk, because there’s a gunman in there. I would want him to reach into his pocket for his cell phone.”
