The partnership shall discuss with providers of telephone equipment and services, and shall acquire information regarding, the availability of no-cost or reduced-cost cellular telephones and services to be provided on a statewide basis to each public school teacher for use as a classroom safety device. Although the primary purpose of providing the cellular telephones is school safety, a teacher receiving a cellular telephone as a result of these discussions, shall be encouraged to use the cellular telephone for school related purposes other than school safety. These purposes would include purposes that further the smooth administration of general classroom and school functions, including, but not limited to, communicating with parents about a pupil’s education, communication with pupils about classwork and homework assignments, and communicating with other teachers and school administrators about school operations generally. Thus, the discussions between the partnership and the providers shall include the availability of no-cost or reduced-cost services in consideration of the complete usage contemplated pursuant to this section. The partnership shall ensure that each school district, county office of education, schoolsite council, and school safety planning committee developing a school safety plan pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 32280) is provided with information regarding the availability of the no-cost or reduced-cost cellular telephones and services for consideration in developing its plan.

(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 828, Sec. 22. Effective January 1, 2004.)