Protest over cell phone ban continues
Author: Tanangachi Mfuni
Mfuni, Tanangachi. “Protest over Cell Phone Ban Continues.” New York Amsterdam News, vol. 97, no. 19, 4 May 2006, p. 3. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20832487&site=ehost-live.
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As high school students took to the streets of Brooklyn on Tuesday for the second time in less than a month to protest a citywide rule banning cell phones in public schools, they got seeming support from an unlikely source.
Looks like New York City wrestled with this over ten years ago, but maybe the times and circumstances were different.
The city's teachers' union passed a resolution this week, stating each school should be allowed to create and enforce their individual cell phone policy, rather than be subject to the Department of Education's blanket policy.
I think the fact that teachers are having input on this is extremely significant. It’s easy to dismiss either side as being biased towards one side of the argument, so seeing that both sides can see both perspectives interchangeably had made strides to getting to the root of the issue.
"Whereas, this Administration pays lip service to empowering administration and staff to maintain orderly schools, but does not trust them to deal with incidents of cell phone abuse; be it resolved, that in lieu of banning the possession of student cell phones outright, each school develop and enforce a policy prohibiting cell phone use by students in the school building," reads the resolution adopted unanimously by the approximately 90 members of the United Federation of Teachers' (UFT) executive board May 1.
Krystle Guejuste, the junior at the Secondary School for Law, Journalism and Research arrested with four students in the April 12 walkout she helped organize, received the union's show of support warily.
"I believe that there's a negative and positive to that," said Guejuste, who led students from her secondary school to the Department of Education's regional superintendent offices on Livingston Street last Tuesday.
"Putting the power into the schools' hands is a good thing, but it's also a negative thing because the schools won't be getting the same treatment all around the board," said Guejuste, joined by dozens of protesters from her Trust Us student coalition as well as members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, who have stood in support of the students.
There are persistent differences in schools across America, from access to funding to diversity. Each demographic will be different, so it will be hard to regulate across the board. However, schools are also the closest to the problem, so it makes sense to give them hands on control.
I agree with this perspective. This is why I think a wholesale ban would be ineffective.
I also think that the problem would be lessened if each school holds the same level of determination towards cell phone policy and have a consist objective across the nation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference hours before Tuesday's demonstration, "I don't think that any responsible person can make the case that iPods and Blackberrys and cell phones and other electronic devices should be in the classroom when our teachers are working as hard as they possibly can to teach our children what they're supposed to know."
I disagree because I believe educators should be helping students develop healthy relationships with their devices. Smartphones are a reality students face outside of school and one they will continue to face in college and beyond. If we just take phones away and do not teach kids how to use them responsibly, I believe it will be extremely detrimental for students once they go to college and join the workforce as they will have never learned how to utilize their phone responsibly and independently.
This is a very strong argument. Teachers do work very hard, and on not a lot of pay, so if students are on their phones, all the hard work the teachers put out is put to waste and it is not fair to the teachers. However, a lot of teachers have their own individual ways to deal with this problem, like having phone pockets in their classroom for their students to put in.
I believe that phones can be used as an important learning tool in the classrooms. Technology is constantly advancing, so when you replace the cell phone there will be something new for teens to be distracted with eventually. I do believe that cell phones should only be used with teacher consent
While teachers' union president Randi Weingarten agrees cell phones are a distraction and should be banned from school buildings, she also argues they are a vital means of communication between students and their guardians.
There is no doubt that phones are a distraction. While it is a means of communication for being picked up after school, communication during the day about later events, and other things, school is meant to learn and phones steer people away from that.
"Cell phones are a lifeline for many parents and students. We agree with the prohibition of cell phone use in buildings, but we need to have a balance."
The phone policies being up to individual schools allows for rules and regulations prescribed for an individual school. I don’t know if it would help if a school board had universal regulations.
The Department of Education has shown little leniency on the matter.
"We're sympathetic to the concerns of parents," said DOE spokesperson Alicia Maxey, "But our experience is that if cell phones are allowed into schools, they will be used. And when they are, whether for talking or messaging or taking photos, they inevitably interrupt the school's learning environment."
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By Tanangachi Mfuni, Amsterdam News Staff
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