Inside the halls of West Junior High School, hand-written notes delivered during passing periods are a thing of the past. Cell phones, smuggled into the bathroom or concealed in the pocket of a hooded sweatshirt, trade text messages instead.
Kate Welch, 42, teaches English to eighth- and ninth-graders. She says a student without a cell phone is a rarity.
“And if they don’t have texting, they have abusive parents,” Welch says.