Hold the phone, schoolkids.
A cellphone ban for New York City public schools could be coming in the next two weeks, Chancellor David Banks told reporters Wednesday.
“We’re working out the kinks on this, and we want to make sure that we do it right,” he said in remarks first reported by Chalkbeat.
Banks’ tease came as chatter has been dialing up for weeks that New York City – the nation’s largest school district – would impose a phone ban as part of a growing movement to protect kids from the harms of technology.
“You’re going to hear, within the next two weeks, the big announcement, but I will tell you we are very much leaning towards banning cell phones,” he said.
Banks unveiled some details during a Wednesday appearance on NY1, hinting that kids will likely still be able to bring phones to school – just not be allowed to use them until classes are done for the day.
“We want you to be able to bring your phone to school because the minute that school is over you need to be in communication with your family, so you’ll be able to do that,” he told NY1.
“But we’re going to look to have a system where you can’t use it during the school day.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who last week signed legislation barring social media companies from bombarding kids with “addictive” social media feeds, has called for a ban on students using smartphones in school.
The governor’s call appeared to have been answered by Banks, who said last week that school officials were mulling a ban.
He said the consensus, even among students, has been that removing phones altogether is a possible solution to various problems in city schools.
“I’ve not heard from many schools that they’re using these phones for highly rigorous academic purposes in classroom activities,” he said.
“I’ve heard about safety issues around how kids are communicating with other kids through their phones to create confrontations after school.”