Proposed cellphone ban in New York schools gets backing of prominent teachers' union
New York State United Teachers is strongly backing a proposal to ban cellphone use in schools.
On Wednesday, the union asked educators, parents and students to weigh in.
Here's what's on the table in New York state
At issue is whether locking up the phone should be the first assignment every day in school.
If approved by the Legislature, the ban would go into effect at the start of next school year.
- Read more: New York schools could ban cellphones soon. Here's why Gov. Kathy Hochul changed her mind.
NYSUT said it wants a uniform policy.
"We are at a crisis point. Students are definitely showing signs of addiction to their devices and teachers are dealing with policing the cellphones from them during what is valuable class time," board member Cordelia Anthony said.
"These products are designed to addict"
Educators gathered in the Long Island town of Melville on Wednesday for "Disconnected," a series of conferences designed to plug in colleagues and parents about the impact of cellphones and social media on learning.
"This is not something that we as individuals can manage. These products are designed to addict. They're designed to amplify the most extreme content, the most violent images," said Julie Scelfo a parent turned advocate and member of Mothers Against Media Addiction.
Scelfo is applauding New York's effort to join nine other states banning phones in school because of impacts on mental health and learning.
"Anxiety disorders among children, depressive episodes and severe issues such as suicidality so it has been clear for a really long time that we have a national emergency," Scelfo said.
"I found my school day has improved drastically because when we disconnect from our phones we connect with each other," high school senior Jax Scherer said.
Some students, however, say hold the phone
"The governor maybe doesn't understand that we already have policies that are going pretty well in schools. We put them away in class and that's it," said Michael Demasi, a ninth grader in the Patchogue-Medford School District.
"It's not the phones. It's the apps. It's social media. I feel that limits and restrictions need to be placed on the apps, not the phones," 10th grader Nazih Dandrich said.
Some parents have concerns about reaching students in an emergency. Advocates say they have this answer.
"Law enforcement uniformly says in an emergency the last thing you want is your kid staring at a screen, trying to take video, communicating with other people," said Raj Goyle, founder of the group Phone Free New York.
