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The news this week that Toronto's public school board is considering banning cellphones from classrooms and hallways has a ring of inevitability to it.

On the one hand, they are must-have accessories for teenagers, who use them to chat, text, take pictures and even listen to their favourite tunes. Parents rely on them to keep track of their teens as they become increasingly mobile.

On the other hand, cellphones are disruptive in class and can even be used to cheat on tests. Kids have experimented with ring tones that can't be heard by aging ears, and they have also been known to deliberately vex teachers and then record their angry reactions and post them on the Internet.

This was a clash that has long been coming.

And while the public board grapples with how to proceed, many of the city's elite private schools have moved to action. Much to the dismay of tech-savvy teens, they have set policies to silence the ringers and punish those who defy the rules.

Branksome Hall has a formal policy that forbids the use of cellphones in the classroom. Those who disobey face detentions. At Havergal College and Greenwood College School, students have to keep their phones off during class and in school hallways. And the senior boys at Upper Canada College have to step outside if they want to use their cellphones.

"It has just become necessary to make sure that kids . . . focus on what they're doing and leave the cellphone for their transit to and from school," Branksome Hall spokeswoman Janet Sailian says, adding that she hasn't heard of an uproar from parents or students.

Still, there have been rumblings in some quarters as to whether schools are going too far.

The Toronto District School Board is mulling a board-wide ban on cellphones that could be approved as early as April. Trustee Josh Matlow, who asked board staff to examine how it might work, called it a "no-brainer." Other places have taken the step. Milwaukee schools, for example, are banning cellphones after an incident in which students used them to call in reinforcements in brawls.

A cellphone ban would probably score the trustee some popularity points among teachers and principals, but not all parents and teens are fans of the idea.

"I think individual schools have policies about them and teachers have policies about them, and we really don't need to bring down an edict from on high," says Annie Kidder, a spokeswoman for parent group People for Education.

Toronto parent Mollie O'Neill doesn't believe that her 13-year-old daughter should have to store her cellphone in her locker, as her public school currently requires (she didn't want her daughter's school named for fear of repercussion).

"I want my daughter to be able to carry her cellphone on her person at all times, because I want to be able to reach her and I want her to be able to reach out," Ms. O'Neill says.

Mr. Matlow argues that students should learn in school, not text each other and listen to music. And if there's an emergency, the main office is there to receive calls.

"On their own time, it's not my business to tell them what to do," Mr. Matlow says. "But when students are in school, it's time to focus on their learning, respect their teacher and principal and participate in their education."

Ms. Sailian says her school is not blocking technology from entering the education realm; there's just no use for cellphones in the classroom. The school recently added the iPod to its list of items not permitted in the classroom.

"As technology evolves, we try to evolve our code of conduct and our rules," she says.

However, everyone seems to agree that it is a mistake to ban cellphones, or even other new technology, completely from school grounds, as is the case in New York.

"There will always be a new technology. It's about teaching kids to live with technology in a way that makes them good citizens," says Kim Gordon, head of Bishop Strachan School.

Jan Campbell, vice-president of school life at Greenwood College School, echoes the sentiment: "The bottom line is you have to teach [students] and communicate with them and try to make them understand what is appropriate and inappropriate."