We Did It!
On Wednesday July 25th, the City Council passed a bill saying that students must be allowed to have their cell phones on their way to and from school. This is a great victory for students all around the city. As you all know, the cell phone was a key issue in the creation of the union.
The first NYCSU action was when several students testified against the ban at a City Council hearing. Later in that day NYCSU members from schools around Manhattan came together to protest the ban by performing street theater with cups and string (as phones) on the steps of Tweed Courthouse, where the DoE is located. In September, NYCSU members Laura Johnson and Seth Pearce had a letter to the editor published in the New York Times against the ban.
In response to yesterday’s ruling, Edwize- the UFT blog and the Inside Schools Blog both referenced the NYC Student Union’s actions against the ban.
If you are a student who wants to join the union, email union@nycstudents.org
3 Comments so far
Leave a reply
[…]Unfortunately, students can’t have the phones inside schools. Are you confused? Me too. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, “We recognize that those cell phones should not be on in school or during the school day.”
Are there any educators help making these decisions? Yes, I understand there are times when phones need to be off but there are times when you can integrate cell phones into a lesson. Why not turn the cell phone into a teaching tool? […]
I think that’s an interesting point. I also think there are times in school when a student needs to make a phone call on a free period or between classes, and by mandating that teachers confiscate any phones they see, regardless of the context in which they’re being used, the DOE tempts students to cut or arrive late to class to use phones in the bathrooms or stairwells.
However, the case in most schools without metal detectors thus far has been that teachers follow a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy concerning cell phones, and I think this bill further encourages that, and that in most cases, a teacher who wanted to use cell phones productively in class would be able to.
To be entirely blunt, this proposition is facile. Coming out of a metal detector-less school, i may not understand the nuances of the process of regulating cellphone possession and the current procedure for re-distribution but it seems almost farcical. While I applaud the City Council’s resolution, i fear for the chaos that will surely ensue these next few weeks as buoyed by this recent decision multitudes of students will show up at school with phones. It is to say the least entirely impractical, leaving aside for a moment Mr. Pearce’s truthful arguement about safety risks, to be daily confiscating phones and then being forced to implement distribution systems, a situation that the conflict between this new legislation and the current regulation issued to Safety Officers will surely cause.