Florida Teacher Busted for Silencing Student Cellphones with Signal Jammer

Teaching is a thankless job. And the proliferation of smartphones into classrooms has only made a difficult job harder.

So to silence the cacophony of text notifications and Snapchats and YikYaks and what have you, WTSP-TV reports that Florida science teacher Dean Liptak decided to shut down all of the phones in his class by setting up a cellphone jammer.

A cellphone jammer is a digital tool that prevents all surrounding phones from getting any signal, effectively rendering them useless as communication devices. As it turns out, the jammer worked, quieting the class’s cellphones and restoring a sense of decorum to the room.

It also turns out that setting up a cellphone jammer for any reason is SUPER illegal. We’re talking so illegal that the Federal Communications Commissions can fine someone thousands of dollars just for using a jammer.

Liptak’s jammer was discovered when Verizon noticed that service was being interrupted in the area. Reps from the carrier eventually traced the issue to Pasco County School District’s Fivay High School and found the jammer.

As a result, Liptak has been suspended for five days. No word on whether the jammer increased test scores or the number of students paying attention in the classroom.

In his defense, Liptak wrote to the district that he found the jammer online, and that he was told that they were only illegal if you used them for malicious purposes. (Incorrect, it turns out.)

Pasco County School District spokesperson Linda Cobbe said Liptak’s actions could have prevented a student from called 9-1-1 if there had been a serious emergency.

Verizon, luckily for Liptak, has decided not to press charges.

Florida seems to be the it place for people using cellphone jammers illegally. In May 2014, another Florida resident was arrested driving around with a cellphone jammer in his car, because he didn’t want people around him talking on the phone and driving.

The jammer, Jason R. Humphreys, had been using the jammer for two years, but was eventually caught when MetroPCS noticed a strange outage along a stretch of highway. That outage was eventually traced to Humphreys.

Unlike Liptak, though, Humphreys was smacked with $48,000 in fines. It turns out that, in some cases, silence really is golden.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.