Those of you not living in NYC may not know, but our mayor recently instituted mandatory random security scanning of middle school and high school students. In addition to confiscating weapons, they are also confiscating cell phones, because cell phones are banned in schools here.
I don’t have a problem at all with random security scanning to keep weapons out of the schools, or with banning the use of cell phones during school hours. But banning the carrying of cell phones is just ridiculous. Every kid in NYC, including mine, carries a cell, which my daughter uses almost exclusively to call me as she wanders the city throughout her day to and from school and to after school activities.
So unless they let her check the phone at the school door the way they do at the courthouse, she’s going to have her cell phone in her backpack or locker. Because there is no way that I am sending her out every day without some way of keeping touch with her. Call me crazy, neurotic or overbearing, but that’s just the way it is. I know kids survived without cell phones in the past, but the past became officially over on 9-11-02.
I wrote to the chancellor’s office opposing the cell phone ban, and here was the reply I received today via email:
Thank you for writing to Chancellor Klein regarding the Department of Education’s policy on cell phones. The Chancellor received your correspondence and he has asked me to follow up with you on this matter. I am responding on the Chancellor’s behalf.
While we sympathize with your concerns, it is the experience of many of our principals and teachers that if phones are allowed into school buildings, they will be used inappropriately….whether it takes the form of talking, e-mailing, messaging, taking photos or playing video games.. cell phones inevitably disrupt the school’s learning environment.
Students use cell phones during the school day in cafeterias, hallways, and even classrooms for reasons other than crucial communications with parents and guardians. Aside from simple disruption, students have used cell phones for far more serious offenses. In the past, for example, students have use cell phones to rally support during fights, to cheat on exams, and to take illicit photos of schoolwork or people.
In addition, students are not the only ones who are complicit: non-essential calls from parents regarding chores or reminders, for instance, are among the leading disruptions caused by cell phones in schools.
All of these situations negatively impact the learning environment and cannot be tolerated, which is why nearly all school leaders in our community agree with our policy banning cell phones from schools.
Parents should remember that they can reach their children when necessary at any time during the school day through the principal’s office or the school’s parent coordinator. We do not pretend this policy substitutes for the convenience offered by cell phones, but it does help ensure a far more stable, serious, and focused atmosphere for learning.
We are sorry for any inconvenience or hardship this policy causes you and your family. Please know that it exists solely for the purpose of maintaining safety and order in the school building. If there is a medical or other compelling reason that you feel requires you or your child to have a cell phone, please speak to the principal about it so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Thank you again for writing the Chancellor.
When I was in high school. some kids used to pass notes to cheat and stir up trouble, but we didn’t ban the use of paper and pencil in response.
There is a rally at City Hall on May 11 at 4:30 pm for parents and students opposing the ban. Trust me, it will be well attended by parents and students. In the meantime, if my kid gets ger cell taken away during a random security screen, we’ll deal with it.
And I’m curious – for those of you with kids in schools outside of NYC, – what’s your district policy on cell phones?
Category: Considerations
While I emphathize with your desire to keep in touch with your daughter, I can also see the school teachers and administrators’ position. It’s disruptive to have cell phones going off in classes (and when it’s a parent calling a child IN CLASS, when they have to KNOW there’s a class, it’s also irritating), and worse when they’re used to cheat.
What’s the solution? I don’t know. I don’t think confiscation’s a good idea, to be honest, because I think having access to cell phones in an emergency is a great idea.
But I’d like some way to enforce a rule that all phones be turned off to incoming calls during class times and in study areas (libraries, for example), and that no phones be used during classes at all (except for emergencies). That would reduce the potential for cheating and disrupting classes.
But even when I’m at a concert or play where the powers that be have specifically requested that phones be turned off, someone’s phone inevitably disrupts the performance. If adults can’t remember or bother to turn theirs off, then students probably won’t either.
(Many parents of kids from toddlers to college students seem really fearful these days, and thus protective. Sometimes it seems like kids are missing out on living experience as a result. The perception of danger seems out of balance with the reality or probability of danger.)
Seems that if they didn’t want the phones to go off during class, the schools could do a cell blocker, just like they’ve talked about doing to theaters and concert halls. That away the kids could still have their cells for when they need them–travelling to and from school.
I recognize the school’s issue, but I think the children’s safety is an even higher priority.
I don’t think that children who don’t have cell phones are unsafe, nor do I think that kids with cell phones are safer. It may be more convenient though…
I think your orignal idea in the post is your best argument. Find a way to drop off a phone at the office or a designated area at the begining of the day, and pick it up at the end of the day. Having a cell phone in the school itself is entirely unnecessary, and you won’t win the argument with the school system. Keep in mind, the same set of parents arguing that children should have their phones for emergency purposes would likely protest if it were ever discovered that cell phones were used in school inappropriately, and, as a consequence, put your child in danger.
OK, so that was unclear…let me give an example. A student, who is allowed to have a phone in school, arranges by phone to deal drugs in school. This enables the dealer to put your child’s safety at risk. I would imagine that the school system will use this argument more effectively than you wanting to reach your child in the event of an emergency or vice versa.
Better to offer a compromise. Really, don’t you want her to have the phone for those times when she is NOT on school property anyway?
And if all else fails, if the searches are in lockers and backpacks, get her a really small/thin phone, and have her keep it on her person instead! Maybe you will have to make special shoes with a hidden compartment. You know, like Get Smart!
OR!
She can hide it in a hollowed out BC pill box! The person doing the inspection would be too flustered to continue!
There is a marketing idea that I should pitch to Nokia – the pill phone! You can develop a whole line of them – the maxi-pad phone, the condom box phone…all as a roose to hide phones from administrators.
“So many teens are schruggling, just to keep cell phones from the teachers…”
BARDIAC:
Great points, as usual. I totally agree that cell phones not be used during school hours. Just turn the damned thing off! My daughter already got detention once for taking out her cell during a fire drill to check the time (her watch had broken). And that’s fine with me. She learned her lesson, got a little face time with the dean at detention, and we had to go in and get the cell from the school. No problem – those are the rules.
I wish the DOE would leave it up to the principals to regulate in their school as they see fit. my daughter’s school has little to no violence, kids are not disruptive, and they regulate the cell phones just fine. Bloomberg is just grandstanding on this one, and it annoys me.
I also agree that we parents are more fearful than my parents generation were. When I was a kid, we just left the house in the morning, and as long as we showed up for dinner, no one was worried. It amazes me to think about the freedom I had as a kid that my kids have never known. It may be the media that reports every lost child and every crime, or that our families are smaller so we have the time and attention ot be over-protective. (When you have more than 1 or 2 kids, they have to be mroe independent, and help take care of each other.) Or because we are older when we have our kids.
Whatever. The cell Phone is part of our lives now, I can’t see not having my kids in touch with me throughout the day.
Thiere’s a great business opportunity here for some enterprising person to set up cell phone lockers near schools, charging a monthly fee to drop off the cell before school. Trust me, it’s in the works somehere in this fair city.
ANONYMOUS: Love the cell blocker idea. Again, another great business idea….
Schtrugglin:
SO many parents are schtruggling just to stay in touch with their children…
I don’t need to reach my kid during school. But she goes from school onto the subway, not infrequently alone, to places like Roosevelt Island or the Upper West Side for classes after school, sometimes not coming back home till after dinner time. Or she heads with her friends home through Central Park. Sometimes she changes plans midstream. That’s when I need her to have that cell. But if the school bans her from carrying it at any time, even if it is turned off, then it’s impossible for her to have one at all.
I don’t know – part of me is thinking that if the ban stays on, we could all just get rid of our cells and go back to the old days. Sure would be a lot cheaper..
OK, I meant ruse, not roose. Public spelling – not my thing!
There is no way in today’s world that your kids can be outside of school in NYC without a cell phone. Not to mention the fact that they are just plain fun to have. Although it is important to monitor the cameras…my nephews were recently caught sending pictures of themselves (yes, it is exacly what you are thinking…) to girls. They don’t have phones anymore.
I personally am tired of business development in the pharma world. Maybe I will set up monthly rental space for kids much like parking in NYC. That’ll really stick it to the man! Can I be featured in your series of street vendors if I do?
I have not given up on the embarrassing phones idea yet either. Can you picture a school VP opening up a BC pill case to see whether or not it is a phone? What a riot!!
Except, Shruggling, with the no tolerance for drugs rules, I bet a student would get in bigger trouble for having birth control pills at school.
(Because we all know that they’re dangerous drugs which do horrible things like… prevent unwanted pregnancy and regulate menstruation and such!)(Gosh, did that come through as sarcastic enough?)
Hmmm….hadn’t thought of the uptight/judgemental administrator!
Back to the drawing board!
I rarely have much to add, except for nitpicks, so I’ll just point out that 9-11 was in 2001. And, of course, in 2002, but the one that changed things was in ’01.
I like the cell blocker idea, or a cell locker to drop it off in each morning, pick it up at the end of the day, and maybe check for messages around lunch…
Nick – of course, you are right. 2001 it was. Was it really that long ago? Still seems like yesterday…