A ring resembling a Beatles tune emits from Meighan Byron's cell phone.

Austin High School Principal Joe Brown is impressed and asks her to play other rings on her phone and quiz him.

AHS has allowed students to use cell phones for the past two years, and on Thursday afternoon it gave a principal and student something to talk about.

Students at AHS are allowed to used their phones before and after school, at lunch and between classes, but use in class is prohibited. Both students and administrators say the policy has worked well.

"I've never been in class when a phone rang," said AHS student Margaret Wagner.

Brown could think of one time a cell phone use during class had been reported.

"With a very responsible student body, we trust them to use it judicially and they do," Brown said.

Cell phone policies at schools in the area vary. Some allow it during the day, as AHS does, others only before and after school and some not at all.

LeRoy-Ostrander High School has never banned students from bringing cell phones, and lets students use them before and after school, said principal Steve Bongers. If they need to call their parents during the day, they can use their cell phone in the office.

Blooming Prairie High School does not allow students to use cell phones; neither does Lyle Public Schools.

The student council at Lyle, however, is planning to ask the school board to be able to use them at school. Principal Royce Helmbrecht suggested the idea to them earlier this year.

"That technology is not going to go away," Helmbrecht said. "We're kind of slow to change in the school system. But it's a way to keep in contact."

Area principals said, initially, cell phones and pagers were associated with drug dealing. But as they became more mainstream, families used them to keep track of each other and their activities.

Lyle student council members Laura Wiechmann and Alex Halbach said most students have cell phones with them during the day, even though they are banned. Both think allowing them would be good for the students.

Wiechmann has her own phone, but has yet to activate it. She plans to pay $35 to $40 a month for service with money she earned while working this summer at the A&W and another job during the school year.

Keeping it contact with family and friends is why Wiechmann said she needs it.

"I use my phone just in case my parents need to get a hold of me. They work a lot," she said. "And so my friends can get a hold of me."

Halbach does not have a phone, but wants one. He lives in the country between Lyle and Austin and said as winter approaches, it would be good for safety reasons. It would also help in arranging rides for himself after sporting events and to know when his younger sister needs to be picked up after an activity, he said.

But his parents already pay for their own and his older brother's phone.

"I'd have to pay for it myself," Halbach said.

At AHS, Byron admits her parents pay for her cell phone. Wagner shares a phone with her mother. Their friend Molly Thatcher shares minutes with her mother, but they each have separate phones.

"I think it's just something else they can hang over your head," Byron said, jokingly.

The girls said most kids at AHS own phones that are personalized with unique rings they can download off the Internet or colored and patterned panels.

Most use them to keep in touch with friends and family.

"Even though we're in a small town, it's very useful to find your friends," Wagner said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at cari.quam@austindailyherald.com