Lessons from a stolen cellphone

With technology moving so fast, the latest gadget is obso- lete in a few years — especially cellphones. Parents used to debate about whether kids should have cellphones. Then it was at what age should they have a phone. Now, it’s how to keep it in one piece and in your child’s possession.

Last week my son came home announcing his phone had been stolen at school. He was concerned he’d lost his lifeline to the world. I was worried about the loss of something so expensive. Although it’s considerably

smaller, it cost more than his older brother’s first car.

With a heavy sigh, I asked how it had happened. He was in gym class and since it was the last week of school, students weren’t allowed to use the lockers. So he put it in his lunch box behind the bleachers.

After class he noticed it was missing and asked his friends to call the phone. They got an “unavailable” response. The teacher asked why he was dawdling and he replied he couldn’t find his phone. The teacher told him to look around for it. He never said another word to any other adult at school the rest of the day — not an administrator, nor the school police officer. (He’d seen both of them before he left for the day and they both know him by sight.)

Once I’d heard what happened I called the school, explained the situation to the front desk attendant and was transferred to an assistant principal. I left a voice mail message and hoped to get a return call. I didn’t. I called twice the next day and once more the day after — which was the last day of school.

In the meantime, my husband used what I call the “lowjack” app and tried to locate

the phone. It’s an application that allows him to see where everyone in the family is by

locating their cellphone. My son’s avatar was nowhere to be found. He then called our carrier and canceled the ser- vice. We were assured that nobody — not even the FBI — could break into the phone and retrieve any sensitive information.

Although my 13-year-old doesn’t have any government secrets in his phone, the family iTunes account has my credit card information attached to it. I then canceled that credit card to be on the safe side.

After getting in touch with the DeKalb school district, I finally heard from his school. Although classes were done for the year, my son went back to the school to file an incident report. We sat with the school police officer and looked over video footage from the gym class.

You m ight think we’d found the culprit, but you’d be wrong.

I’m not holding out hope that we’ll get the phone back, but Officer J. Bryant offered tips to prevent this happening to others: Keep your phone on you at all times. Even though my son didn’t have a pocket, he could have used a passport holder. They sell for about $5 and have a string that goes around your neck.

If you can’t keep it with you, put it someplace secure. Most other days of the year, students are allowed to use lockers. He could have asked the teacher to put it in a locked desk. Make sure you have insurance. Even though most service providers offer discounts, cellphones these days cost upwards of a thousand dollars. The plans give protection if the phone is lost or damaged as well. Don’t loan your phone out. Peer pressure being what it is, kids are always letting someone borrow something — your phone shouldn’t be among those things. Tell someone right away.

If my son had alerted the teacher or an administra- tor, the situation could have been handled before he left school.

I talked to several metro school district officials and in all cases, school police fill out a report and investigate. However, school administra- tors are limited in what they can do in investigating/retriev- ing stolen property.