With a potential state ban on cell phones in schools looming, the Schenectady City School District Board of Education has approved a new policy governing the use of the electronic devices.
The new policy dictates students place their phones in “receptacles” while attending classes. It passed 4-to-3 Monday.
While officials say it stops short of an outright ban, board member Jamaica Miles expressed reservations over the new policy regulating the use of cell phones during school hours, citing concerns about companies peddling cellphone pouches.
Widely circulated data reportedly compiled by public database Govspend shows school districts in 41 states have spent more than $2.5 million to buy the leading brand of pouches.
"But we don't have peer reviewed research about cell phones," Miles said. "We do have a lot of lived experiences, thoughts, ideas and concerns, and they are valid ones. I am concerned that we, many of us, have taken the word of people trying to sell us their product as that that's not critical thinking. When we buy new curriculum, we use a rubic and specify the goals and choose what the best option is. We don't simply accept the seller's point of view. Just because another district is doing something doesn't mean that we should."
Miles pointed out that the banning of cell phones began before the 1999 Columbine shooting and then was rolled back after that incident.
Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to weigh in on the issue soon. The Democrat has spoken in favor of banning smartphones in schools while on a statewide tour of districts discussing the issue.
Kristin Munrett is Principal of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School on Stanley Street. She tells board members she favors current school policy that says students must have their phones off and not visible to everybody, which means it could be in their pocket, bookbag, or purse. She understands that some parents want a cell phone on their child.
"But if we see it are, we're going to ask them to put it away and to have it off so that it doesn't disrupt the educational process," said Munrett. "And we want to make sure they know there's no photographs, no videoing, no TikTok during recess and all of those things, because it's a privacy issue for everybody, for other students that are in the videos, for the teachers that are in the videos."
Munrett added that a lot of her elementary students carry cell phones, and it's never been " a major issue."
"You know, as a mother myself, I've also said I was against my children having phones. But the day that my daughter came home in fifth grade, and I didn't know she was coming home because her class got canceled, so that my husband said ‘she can’t phone?’, and so she has a phone, but she also knows, you know, school, that's not negotiable. You don't turn it on in school," Munrett said.
Miles noted that if the devices are locked away, students aren't being given a chance to learn how to be responsible with their phones.
Schenectady Board of Education President Bernice Rivera declared the vote is NOT a cell phone ban.
"This is a cell phone pause. The students can use their cell phones according to the policy with the receptacles, if it's directed by a teacher, if a teacher or the educator wants them to use the cell phone. So I want to really stress that this is not a cell phone ban. We're not saying that the students cannot use their cell phones at all in the school day. It's just not for non-recreational purposes," said Rivera.
Under the policy, students may still use their phones for instructional practices; otherwise they must be placed in designated receptacles. The board has yet to determine what those receptacles will be.
