New York City’s schools chancellor complained that $13.5 million earmarked in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal to help ban cellphones is “inadequate” — even though roughly half of Big Apple schools already have bans in place.
Hochul’s proposal in her $252 billion spending plan leaves it up to individual school districts to come up with plans to restrict phone use by kids from “bell to bell.”
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos says she views fancy magnetic locking bags like those peddled by Yondr as the best option, but one she said would cost three times more than the $10 per student that Hochul’s budget would fund.
“We want to make sure that we offer the option of those pouches, those magnetic bags. Those are roughly $30 a child and that’s an annual fee,” Aviles-Ramos told state lawmakers during her state budget hearing Wednesday.
“Those bags … you can’t use them for more than one year. And we’re not even talking, you know, like the Gucci Prada version. We’re talking about just the standard bag,” the chancellor said.
Aviles-Ramos testified that 800 of New York City’s 1,596 public schools and 274 charter schools already have phone restrictions in place.
Asked later about implementing the phone ban, the union head for city teachers balked at the idea of shelling out for ritzy pouches.
“We’re not paying $38 for a pouch. All the school districts should say no,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said.
The union head suggested that school districts instead “band together” and demand a better deal from the phone pouch peddlers if they decide to go to that route.
He also noted that different methods may work better for different grade levels. For instance, elementary school students could store their phones in an organizer maintained by the teachers while older students could store them in lockers.
