Starting in the year of 2025-26, New York state is planning to enforce a “bell to bell” cell phone ban in k-12 schools. This ban is supported by Governor Kathy Hochul and the teachers union.

 The goal is to reduce students getting distracted in the classrooms and instead be focused and engaged in their learning. A $13.5 million funding will be available for schools that need help with purchasing storage solutions for devices. 

I went around the school asking staff and students their thoughts about the ban, there was a variety of opinions:

• Ms. Higgins, who is an assistant principal of the Early College High School program at Ceter City, says she is torn about the idea. She would rather see students be able to monitor and control their use of phones on their own. The choice of using phones should be up to the students, she said. 
• Ms. Cruz, who is a school counselor at Center City, believes that students should be allowed to use their phones during free periods and during lunch. 
• On the teacher’s side, Mr. Brode, a physics teacher at Schenectady High School, said he feels “ambivalent” about the idea. He believes phones are potentially useful for the students. 
• Ms. Shauer, a Global History and Government teacher at Center City, said she hates the idea of not allowing students to have their phones. She called the ban “terrible and tyrannical”. 

Some people might say cellphones restrain students from learning and being creative. Although many people believe this, cell phones allow students to expand their learning by broadening the viewpoint of things around the world. Phones can be used for useful things such as educational communication with peers outside of the classroom. Cell phones have built in features like calendars and reminders which benefit time management for assignments.  

There will be a lot of students who are affected by this in our district. Chromebooks that are school issued have blocked many sites like Youtube. When doing research projects, which  is a significant thing in high school, it will be difficult to find information without the use of a phone. 

Students will be overly limited to information. 

The entire banning of phones during school hours is harsh, there’s better ways to handle the situation. 

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