The series of roundtables, which kicked off Monday in the Albany region, will help inform a statewide policy proposal the governor’s office said will be announced this year. Hochul last spring indicated students could still use phones with texting capabilities under her plan.
“It seems to me that the district-by-district approach does not work,” Hochul said at a news conference after the discussion at Guilderland High School. “And I said, sometimes it’s just easier to blame the governor of the State of New York when you want something done.
“So I don’t anticipate a piecemeal approach will be my approach; I’ll just put that out there,” she added.
That hasn’t stopped some New York districts from trying. New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks has suggested a cell phone ban during the school day is imminent.
Hochul said Monday she met with the superintendent of Schoharie Central School District, which two years ago banned “any distractions in schools” — including both smartphones and flip phones, as well as earbuds and smartwatches. The district faced opposition from parents who had concerns about losing connection to their children throughout the school day.
“They brought in law enforcement,” Hochul said, “and let the parents hear from law enforcement that if the parent’s worst nightmare actually occurs that there’s an active shooter onsite and their children are in harm’s way — something that every parent since Columbine has had in the back of their mind when they send their children off to school — that actually children are less safe in that environment when they’re distracted with a cell phone.”
Since then, the district has reported a reduction in fights online that have spilled over into physical violence outside school, and improved academic results, Hochul said.
If implemented, New York would join five states — Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Virginia — that have already passed laws that ban or restrict students’ use of cell phones statewide or direct local districts to form their own policies, according to an Education Week analysis. Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district behind New York City, is also phasing out the devices.
Chancellor Banks has indicated an announcement on a new districtwide cell phone policy could come as soon as this month, as officials continue to collect feedback and weigh key details about implementation.
The plan under consideration would require that schools collect the devices, which may be stored in individual pouches or shared drop boxes, or other ways they see fit, education officials told the city Panel for Educational Policy as heard in a recording obtained by the Daily News.
At the meeting, first reported by Politico last week, Mark Rampersant, the top Education Department official for school safety, revealed the city would still permit phones for academic purposes if schools have a “full, laid-out plan.” Internal department data showed 46 percent of the city’s 400 high schools already collect cell phones in some way.
“If you talk to any individual teachers, they will say get rid of cell phones in the classroom,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. “We need to workshop the issue this summer to get a broader take from our membership, about what works and doesn’t from schools that already collect cell phones.”
The city’s proposal would need approval from the Panel for Educational Policy, most of whose members are appointed by the mayor. Hochul said Monday she could introduce her statewide plan as legislation or executive action.
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