By Emily Soriano
Westbury High School
In a world where a single text can mean the difference between life and death, schools in New York are apparently ignoring this danger, say critics of a new statewide ban on phones in schools.
While the intention may be pure and created to improve focus, many students and parents argue that removing access to phones puts them in danger during emergencies. During a lockdown, students rely on their phones to alert family, contact authorities, and receive updates. Without these devices, students are left in the dark and unaware of what may be going on.
“The NYC Public Schools plan follows the State’s new Distraction-Free Schools law signed by Governor Hochul this year, which requires bell-to-bell smartphone restrictions in K-12 school districts statewide, starting this fall for the 2025-2026 school year,” reads the New York State governor’s website. This has sparked controversy.
The Pew Research Center recently did a study on how parents feel about this phone ban. The majority of parents agree that they should be able to reach their child at any moment of the day. In the graph below three of the four categories demonstrate that phones are important in their students’ day-to-day lives at school.
“They should limit the usage of phones but it shouldn’t be that strict to ban it throughout the school day,” Jake Taduran of Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington said. Although Taduran agrees with the limit of phone usage, he also disagrees with the complete ban on the device.
“I have asthma,” he said. “My priority is to call my family and not wait for the office to call my mom.”
Besides medical emergencies like Taduran notes, Ray Weber, community affairs liaison for state Senator Anthony Palumbo, mentions “the ability to contact emergency services, parents, in the case of an emergency. So, the idea that you need to ban phones from school is somewhat of a nuance issue that needs to be discussed a little further before we start banning cellphones altogether.”
What could be the most heartbreaking emergency to hear about from your child over the phone? School shootings have been on the rise year after year, raising public concern.
A student from Division Avenue High School in Levittown, Caleb Cheng, expressed his concerns: “I can’t make that split-second decision of letting someone know that could either save my life or kill me, it doesn’t sit right in my head.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), an independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, demonstrates how shootings have grown to be a great danger.
The importance of having cellphones for security needs to be taken into account. Although security is a top priority, so is education. The distraction it has on students is undeniable. Students tend to depend on these cellular devices throughout the day, whether by just looking at them for the time, to shoot a quick text, or to play a game in between classes. “Though school cell phone policies can vary significantly, 97% of 11- to 17-year-olds used their phones during the school day,” according to K-12 Drive , an educational media outlet.
Banning cellphones may increase productivity in the classroom for students but could be putting them at risk during an unfortunate predicament. It’s necessary to consider the bigger picture. Cutting off a student’s quickest way to reach for help can have deadly consequences. The goal is to create progress, not punishment.