As more than 900,000 New York City students returned to class Thursday, hundreds of schools began restricting cellphone use among students, a trend that is gaining traction across all five boroughs.
While a system-wide ban remains pending, about 350 schools already have restrictions on phones and other devices, according to a Department of Education survey of principals — and another 500 plan to do so in the coming months.
Cayla Bamberger
Mayor Adams and Chancellor David Banks welcome students to school on the first day of classes at PS 257 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Cayla Bamberger)
“So we’re going to have more than half the school system back anyway, even without an official ban from me,” Chancellor David Banks told reporters at John F. Hylan Public School 257 in Williamsburg, where he greeted students on the first day of school.
“We are already doing this and we are going to study these schools.”
Cayla Bamberger
Students are welcomed to school on the first day of classes at PS 257 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Cayla Bamberger)
The plan to confiscate cell phones during school hours has sparked heated debate, even though numerous studies have shown how harmful the influence of social media and other mobile apps can be to young people. Banks said the measure was necessary to protect children’s mental health and avoid distractions.
But parents opposed a system-wide, universal ban.
Deborah Alexander said her children’s school, Bronx Science, issued a new policy this week.
Cell phones have long been banned from classrooms, but students can no longer keep them in their pockets. They must be turned off and left in their backpacks. Teens who break these rules will have their devices confiscated, and for repeat offenses, they will have to turn their phones in for a week or face detention.
Alexander praised the school’s flexibility this year regarding cell phones: “We want them to teach students how to use them responsibly.” She said the phone came in handy last year when her daughter was sick with a 101-degree fever but the nurse sent her back to class.
“She went to the bathroom and texted me,” Alexander said. “If she hadn’t been able to reach me, she would have been there sick. That’s the kind of thing that happened to her, the ability to reach me in an emergency situation — not necessarily the horror of a school shooting — but in an emergency situation.”
Other schools take different approaches.
At Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, students will store their phones in storage pouches hanging at the front of the classroom this year. One of the city’s largest high schools, Francis Lewis HS in Fresh Meadows, banned cell phones after leaving it to teachers to enforce in recent years, they said.
Kevin Lopez, principal of Motion Picture Technical High School in Woodside, a 192-student vocational and technical school that opened for the first time Thursday, said he supports schools having the discretion to develop cellphone policies, calling it “the wisest decision at this time.”
“We’re a film and media arts school and we want to build on our tools,” Lopez said. “But this first year, as a preparatory year, we really want to make sure that students are on a level playing field before they decide what major they’re going to pursue in 10th grade. So for ninth grade, we implemented a no-cell phone policy.”
The city’s teachers union is also conducting a survey of its members. From that data, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew estimated that only a fraction, or 150 public schools, have “successfully” implemented cellphone restrictions, while others rely on teachers to eliminate distractions in the classroom.
“Some schools have realized that this is a real barrier to teaching and learning for students, and they’re frustrated,” Mulgrew said. “We thought the city was going to do something for us, and now they’re letting us down.”
At graduation Thursday morning, Banks sent an email to all principals who had not yet given their consent, but asked them to take action. Regarding the delay, he conceded to reporters that a blanket ban on cell phones would take longer than expected.
“It was mostly a question of logistics and timing, because we started looking at it very late in the school year. And you realize that a system of this magnitude doesn’t come together overnight. So you have to take your time,” the chancellor said.
“But after talking to most of the city’s school principals, most of them were supportive of some form of ban or restriction,” he added. “But they also talked about some of the logistical challenges that come with it, including the cost.”
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