NYC School Cell Phone Ban Causes Uproar
By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A ban on cell phones in the nation's biggest school system is creating an uproar among parents and students alike, with teenagers smuggling their phones inside their lunches and under their clothes, and grown-ups insisting they need to stay in touch with their children in case of another crisis like Sept. 11.

Parents have written angry letters and e-mails, staged rallies and news conferences, and threatened to sue. Some City Council members are introducing legislation on their behalf.

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein have staunchly refused to drop the ban. They insist cell phones are a distraction and are used to cheat, take inappropriate photos in bathrooms, and organize gang rendezvous. They are also a top stolen item.

Students have refused to give up their phones, saying the devices have become too vital to their daily existence and to their parents' peace of mind.

"My mother, she needs me to have the cell to call me and check up on me," said Steven Cao, 16, a sophomore who lives in Staten Island and attends Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. He called the ban stupid.

Some parents would prefer a policy that lets students have cell phones but prohibits their use in classes.

New York's 1.1-million-student school system has banned beepers and other communication devices since the late 1980s. But schools have long used an "out-of-sight, out-of-trouble" approach. Then, late last month, city officials began sending portable metal detectors every day to a random but small set of schools to keep out weapons. And the detectors have led to the confiscation of hundreds of cell phones.

New York has one of the country's toughest policies on student cell phones, and also bans other electronic devices such as iPods.

Detroit bans cell phones, and a two-time violator will not get the phone back. Boston relied on a school-by-school approach until recently, when it changed the policy to let students have a phone, but only if it is turned off and out of sight. Los Angeles lets kids have cell phones, but they can use them only during lunch and breaks.

Kenneth Trump, president of Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services, said his research indicates most schools ban the phones. Others require students to turn off the devices during school hours.

New York principals said the ban is tough to enforce, especially in large schools without metal detectors.

"Every kid today does carry a cell phone," said Howard Lucks, principal of New Utrecht High in Brooklyn. "The kids keep them in their backpacks, their pockets. As soon as they see an administrator or teacher, they put it away very quickly."

Elizabeth Casanola sneaks her cell phone past the metal detectors at her high school by slipping it down her pants, just below the waistband, where she knows she won't be patted down.

Even at schools with permanent metal detectors, students find ways to sneak the phones inside. Casanola sometimes smuggles her phone in in pieces, with the battery separate from the main body.

Once inside the school, another tactic is to hide the phone in a sandwich roll, according to one principal. Some students leave phones at nearby stores that charge small holding fees.

Yen Ramirez, a junior at Manhattan's Washington Irving High, said students need their phones for emergencies. The ban is a problem "because you never know what could happen."

Students insist that most classmates use their cell phones responsibly, and they brush off criticism that previous generations got along fine without them.

"It's kind of ridiculous that we think we can't survive without a cell phone when people did it for thousands of years," said Elisa Muyl, 14, a freshman at Stuyvesant High. "But now that they have this invention, we should use it."

AP- 2006

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Personally, considering the kind of world we now live in, I do NOT agree that students should not be allowed to bring their cell phones to school. These days there are many families with two working parents, many students now travel to high schools way outside their district/neighborhoods since the zoning rules for high schools were changed, and there are many students who travel to other boroughs to attend special high schools, etc.

I think that those in charge need to take all of these factors into consideration before making blanket decisions like this one.

Now I don't advocate the use of cell phones while students are in class, or even in school for that matter. There is absolutely no reason ( barring a life and death emergency ) for a student to be using their cell phone while they are in school.

My thinking here is that the public schools should follow the path that the private schools have taken in my area. In the private schools, a student is allowed to carry their cell phone in the backpack, shut off. They are forbidden to even take them out of thier backpacks while they are in school, period. If a student is caught even just taking thier cell phone out of their backpack, without the permission of a teacher or anyone from the faculty, the cell phone is taken, the parent must come up to school, and they recieve a two week suspension, case closed.

My son tells me that while all the students that he knows, in his school, all carry their cell phones in their backpacks, there is never any problems. They know what the rule is and that's it.

The Mayor and the schools chancellor, Klien, are making way too much of this. They are the ones creating the controversy. All they need to do is implement a rule like the private schools have done, and that's it. No appeals, nothing. If you are caught with your cell phone on, or even if it's off but outside your bag while you are on school property, you are suspended. That's it.

I don't understand why it's so hard for the Chancellor and the Mayor to look over and see how effectively the private schools have enforced their cell phone rule without creating a total ban on bringing them to school.


Don Cardi

my daughter isnt allowed to bring her phone to school with her. wen shes 11 and goes to secondary school she will be able too though,this will make me feel a lot happier because i feel she will be safer with it on her, alot of kids get their phones stolen from them i know, but the way round that is not to get them the top of the range,thus stopping temptation from the other kids.,its the way of the world but i dont let her play out unless she takes her phone with her.if she strays out of sight for a second im on it going"why cant i see you?".
i think the idea of leaving them in backpacks is a good one i dont see a problem with them having them in school just as long as thet arent distracting the class with them

Cell phones aren't supposed to be used in my school. People still find a way to use them whether it be using a sweater or some other method.

I never needed to use one that often.

Were aloud them in britain but in my school we cant have them on in classes.

Wow that is strict.

My school banned cell phones too......being a private school they did allow you to pay a fee of I believe $200 for the right to keep your cell phone turned off in your locker.

For some STRANGE reason, no matter how hot it was outside I would always wear my jacket, with the cell phone in the "secret pocket" always on vibrate. If I got a call, I'd ask to go to the bathroom and see what was going on, never got caught

What a terrible rule... in a society where you need metal detectors at a school, then by default I think you need cell phones too. Schools are just as dangerous as anywhere else you could send your kid these days-- there are way too many horror stories. Besides, like DC said, in the past 5 years where we as a nation are on alert every day, it's so important to be available to be reached by your family.

Besides, I don't feel safe driving without one, in case something happens and you need a tow truck or you get a flat tire and you don't know how to change it, etc. It doesn't have to be life-threatening, just little common things that go wrong. And in a high school, where usually half the students drive to school, that's terrible to not have a phone on you during that commute.

If they want to integrate cell phone issues into school policy, just to be current and "with it," I have a better way to do so than a ban. You know how freshmen have to take a mandatory typing class? Well that's not necessary anymore because with the amount of time they spend instant messaging, they type faster than any class could teach them.

Instead of that, they should have a cell phone etiquette class!! Whaddya say? Teach these idiots how to take a phone call outside when you're at a restaurant, or not answer at all... teach them how to speak in a quiet, indoor voice, because the person on the other end can hear you just fine, and no one around you cares what you're talking about... teach them to hang up before getting in an elevator... wouldn't that all be fantastic?! Probably too much to expect out of some people, though.

Or how to put the thing on vibrate when you are at the movies.

Cell phones are banned at my high school. If they're discovered by a teacher, they're taken away and returned at the end of class. I think it's a reasonable rule. So many of these yuppy electronic-gadget junkies feel the need to use their cell phones, but why at school? Wouldn't the school have some type of emergency system set up in case of another tradegy like 9/11? (which I think they're shaming the magnitude of the event by using it so openly)

The cell phone rule can be manipulated so easily: well, if you let me talk to my parents, why can't I talk to other close family members? well if I can talk to family members, what about friends? Next thing you know, that's all students have time to do. Cell phone's aren't necessary as long as schools have an effective emergency system. You won't die if you don't have it. None of Little Chicago's students have died from such an epidemic, so I think they'll be OK.

In the event of a national emergency, do you want to trust the public school system to oversee the well being of your child? For pete's sake, in a lot of these overcrowded inner city schools they cannot even control the crime that goes on there on a daily basis. And that probably only involves a hand full of students. So can you imagine, in a national emergency, (one that affects hundreds of students in a school) the same public school system making sure that each and every kid is able to contact a parent or a guardian? Just the thought make me laugh.

What is so bad about implementing a rule, (which I mentioned above is working perfectly in the private schools in our area) where students MUST keep their cell phones off and hidden away in their backpacks? And if they are caught with the cell phone on or out IN school, then they are automatically suspended? What's wrong with a rule like that? Cut and dry. End of story.

DMC's school obviously doesn't really care that much about their students having cell phones in the school. They saw it as a money making opportunity and "waived" the no cell phone rule as long as the student paid $200 to the school! That's a joke.

"School policy is that we will not even allow you to bring your cell phones in school!" **

** footnote : but we will waive school policy and rules as long as you give us $200. :rolleyes:


Don Cardi

Makes sense to me. They could interfere with the learning of spelling.

At the middle school I work, Per the district, rules are very similar to what DC described. Bottom line is, you can have a cell phone, but we can't see it. You can keep it in your bookbag or purse, and you can use it before/after school. However you have to use it off campus (which is just across the grass on the sidewalk). Sounds fair right?????

Many students don't turn the sound off and the teacher hears it ring in class; and some in defiance will use them in class; They are taken away from the student and a parent has to pick them up. I admit to being somewhat of a softie, if I know the student to be one that never gets in trouble, I'll warn him/her and then tell them to come to me at the end of the day and I'll give it to them. :p

The pain in the ass for me anyway, is I am the person the teachers/staff give the phones to. I have a cupboard I lock them in. One time I was very busy and put one in my desk drawer, til I had a chance to get to the cupboard, and the phone was stolen later that day (never found out who). Parent came in very angry of course. I felt bad, because I WAS the one who received it. I told my boss (on the side) that I felt bad, and if necessary I'd pay for it. She insisted "No, it's not up to me to pay for it, because it's in the student handbook that cellphones/cd's etc. are the sudents'resonsibility". So now I lock them up as soon as they are given to me, dropping whatever I'm doing. I'll bet I get one or more a day. I don't want to be responsible for them if they get lost/stolen. The mother came to get the phone and was shown the pictures. She was shocked....her little wouldn't do something like that. She was very cooperative though, so that's a good thing.


TIS

Makes sense to me. They could interfere with the learning of spelling. [/b][/quote] that's great!

---

And DC. I can understand your argument. I don't mean get after people for having them, I mean for having them on. It shouldn't matter if students have them, just as long as they're no hassle for the school. We are from different environments too: you being from New York where there are tons of people, and a higher crime rate, where I'm from a smaller industrial town in Iowa where not much happens.

Bingo! You hit it right on the head TIS. The parents must be the ones to encourage their children to follow the rules. And the parents must side with the school when a child is caught, red handed, breaking the rules. Unfortunately, as you already know, first hand, there are too many parents that do NOT encourage their kids to follow rules, and so not take the time to discipline their kids if they are caught breaking the rules.

Too many parents have this "not my child" attitude and that kind of attitude flows right down to the kids and that is why some of these kids act the way that they do towards any kind of rules or authority.

Damn, when I was a kid and did something wrong and a neighbor scolded me, I would show respect because I didn't want them to go home and tell my parents! I was afraid of what my parents may do to me if that neighbor, or any adult for that matter, told them that I was doing something wrong.

Today, you catch a kid doing something wrong and tell them that you are going to tell thier parents, they laugh at you and say "go ahead" because they know that if you do attempt to tell their parents, the parents will fight with you and defend them right off the bat.


Don Cardi

They are more of a nuisance than anything else...some of my more stern professors have thrown kids out of a class if their phone happens to go off during a lecture.

I barely use my phone as it is, and have it shut off or silent for most of the day (since I spend the vast majority of it in a library or lecture hall). I guess since I'm not into the text messaging thing (why send someone a message in coded/broken English when you could just call and talk to them instead :p ) I really don't use it, and if I'd just prefer to use my home phone.

As far as the "ban" goes, with all the activity related to gangs and theft, I can see why they would try to keep them out of the schools. When I was in high school, though the cell-phone craze hadn't caught on quite yet (where only a few people had them), they were enough of a pain so that teachers put explicit instructions into the syllabi that they'd be confiscated if the phone went off in class. Personally, since I don't use it, I don't understand the umbilical-type attachment some people have to the damn things, and unless you're a lawyer, doctor, or day-trader, I don't think you really need to have your 50 Cent ringtone blasting during lecture.

I can see banning them from the classroom environment, and confiscating them if they are being used during lecture or when classes are in session, but I don't think necessarily they should be taken away if someone has it in their locker and they use it to call home at the end of the school day or something.

Bloody hell, since I've graduated from my high school, we've had kids caught with heroin and other designer drugs in the bathroom, tampons laced with cocaine, and girls having sex in the bathroom (all of which have been documented either in the local news or in the school safety report). Crazy shit goes on in these schools nowadays.

In my daughter's school, cellphones are allowed on campus, but are not allowed to be used during class hours. They can use them during lunch and recess, however. A teacher can examine a phone on demand. If it's on, then it's confiscated until the end of the day. End of story.

I have to agree with DC that these days life can be confusing and/or dangerous. I want my daughter to have her cellphone on her at all times.

When someone's cell phone rings during a class, everyone tends to look towards that direction, causing some embarassment to the owner of the phone. As far as I have observed, it is usually an oversight, they would have forgotten to put the phone into vibration mode. And I have never seen anyone answering the call. After the embarassing turn of attention towards them, people usually reach for their mobiles as soon as they can and mute it. But I have sometimes seen people having mobile phones inside their backpack, but the ringtone would be really loud. It would take considerable amount of time before it can muted off. Usually the professor would make a joke about it, mentioning that was a welcome entertainment in an otherwise dry lecture. I don't see so much of a nuisance.

The problem is that many in my lectures do talk on the phone during lectures (even my smaller discussion seminars of 10 people or less) or the text message during class as if they have nothing else better to do.

I don't see what the fuss is all about I really don't. If there is an emergency and a parent needs to talk to their son/daughter, they can always call the school, it worked when I was going through school and surprise surprise it still does.

Cell phones are a distraction during hours such as school or work.

Hell there is talk of my place of employment banning cell phones. As they're becoming a major nuasance(sp?)

I know many places ban the cameraphones (especially government/national security/technology related occupations) so that technology or national secrets aren't stolen (then again, you could just do that the old fashioned way and read the NY Times :p )

[/qb][/QUOTE]The problem is that many in my lectures do talk on the phone during lectures (even my smaller discussion seminars of 10 people or less) or the text message during class as if they have nothing else better to do. [/QB][/QUOTE]

It was the same for me, but people were politer and went outside to answer the phone, so the lecturers didn't mind. And back in high school, this was 4 years ago so phones weren't as 'popular' then, they weren't allowed in the school at all.

Not only don't I see the necessity for banning cell phones in school, I don't have a problem with students using them in school as long as they are not in a class.

When I go to a movie or a show or a quiet restaurant, I always turn my phone off or put it on vibrate.

Students should do the same when in class.

Outside of class, what's the problem?

I don't see what the big deal is. You don't need a cell phone while you're in school. You're there to learn. Cell phones are a distraction in school.

If a parent needs to get a hold of their child...call the damn school. There were no cell phones when I was in school (at least they weren't as popular).

If you drive to school, I feel you should be able to bring a cell phone...as long as you keep it in your car.

The "school/cell phone" isn't even my BIG problem with cell phones. Parents buying their 7, 8 year old children a cell phone is absolutely ridiculous, IMO, but that's for another discussion.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU xXx_DC_xXx !!! I was wondering when somebody was going to get around to this point.

I always find it interesting how people rush to reference 9/11 when it's convenient for them. If only parents keeping in touch with their children were the only factor here. From the article posted above by Don Cardi:

"...Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein have staunchly refused to drop the ban. They insist cell phones are a distraction and are used to cheat, take inappropriate photos in bathrooms, and organize gang rendezvous. They are also a top stolen item..."

With all the functions available on cellphones these days...I think the ban is justified and I hope Bloomberg and Klein do not buckle on this.

Apple

XDCX you got that exactly right. My 9 year old son wants me to buy him a cell phone. So I did I bought him a toy one. Kids his age don't need a cell phone.

Hmmmm. Let me know if you feel the same way when your child starts going to middle school in a few more years and becomes a little less dependant on mom.

And let me add that I don't believe that the majorty of parents are using 9/11 as a convenient excuse. Don't you agree that the way you know look at certain situtations in your life has changed since 9/11?

Don't you agree that there are also situations, that have absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, where a student needs to carry call phone with them because of the traveling that they may have to do to get to their high school? If your child decided to go to a school in Manhatten, and had to travel from another borough or state, by public transportation, wouldn't you feel more comfortable knowing that he or she had a cell phone on them in case something went wrong and they needed to contact you, or you contact them?


Let's be real here. School is not like when you or I went years ago. Today there is a wider variety for students to choose from and there is more traveling longer distances involved than there was years ago. Add in the fact that many schools are overcrowded these days, and it's almost impossible for many of these schools to handle the students on a daily basis, never mind in the event of a real and serious emergency that would affect everyone.


It's not rocket science. All that needs to be done is to make a blanket rule that if you are caught using your phone of even having it out, while in the school, you will be expelled. It's been working just fine in many private schools and would work just as well in the public schools also.

Klein and Bloomberg are making such a huge issue out of something that can be easily and amicably resolved.


Don Cardi

Don Cardi...after the Sept. 11 attacks the schools in our neighborhood went into immediate lockdown. I don't know how NYC schools work, but I would imagine (and hope) some similar plan would be in place. While I'd be unable to reach my shool-aged child directly via cellphone, I'd know where she was in case of God forbid a similar situation.

This ban is in schools and during school hours. Hopefully, every parent KNOWS where their child is during the normal school day. It's not like kids are being forbidden to carry a cell anytime, anyplace.

I'm betting that even if there had NEVER been a 9/11, parents would still be fighting this.

Apple

Well in my school we arent allowed to have cell phones. If they search our Cars and we have them they will suspend you for 3 says it is horrible.

You miss the point. Yes, the ban is in the schools, during school hours. And I don't disagree with that one bit. But what about while they are coming home from school? If they can't take their phones to school under any circumstance, then they obviously cannot even put them in thier backpacks while traveling to and from school.

And you conveniently avoided addressing some other points that I brought out. Like this one :

Don Cardi