Better turn off that cell phone.

That’s the message from new Superintendent Dr. Beverley Geltner, who says she wants to improve the image of all Southfield Public Schools.

Her new cell phone policy took effect in January. If a cell phone rings in class or the student makes a call in class, the first offense will result in the student getting suspended for 10 days, and the parent will have to pick up the cell phone.

If the phone goes off a second time or the student makes a second call, the student will have the phone confiscated, the parent will have to pick up the phone, and there will be a referral to the Board of Education for long-term suspension.

So far four students have received 10-day suspensions for cell phone violations since the policy took effect Jan. 18.

The new policy is an extension of the one that is already in place. Dr. Geltner says, “I don’t have a problem with the phones used outside of school, but I don’t want to see them or hear them inside of the school.”

As for the phone being visible, the first time it’s a warning. The second time there will be a three- day suspension; the third time earns a 10-day suspension and by the fourth time there will be a 10-day suspension and a referral to the Board of Education for long term suspension or expulsion.

Dr. Geltner is also adamant about students and teachers getting to class on time. New school policy says that students lose credit in a class if they are tardy to that class 10 or more times. Ten absences will also result in loss of credit.

Dr. Geltner says, “I’m tired of the laziness and the sloppiness, and I’m not going to tolerate a pattern of disruptive tardies.” Dr. Geltner wants a professional school where the students are serious about education.

So what’s in store for the future of SHS? Dr. Geltner says that there is going to be a dress code implemented next year.

The parents have not yet decided what the dress code will entail, but it will be similar to the middle schools’ dress code, says Geltner. “This way students will be prepared for adulthood.”