Cell phone ban drains dollars from students

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A change in the Department of Education’s cell phone policy could mean financial troubles for businesses that store phones during the school day.  

But for many of their young customers, it would come as a relief. 

“It’s a dollar every day, and we have 100-something school days. We’re going to be here for four years, so that’s a waste,” said New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities freshman Jaileen Ozoria. 

Jaileen is one of hundreds of students who deposit their cell phones at the Little Kitchen, a food stand down the street from the John F. Kennedy Educational Campus, each day. 

Along with a few bodegas and an “Electronic Valet” truck that parks near the school, the Little Kitchen is one of several locations where students can pay $1 to deposit their phones, which are banned in public schools throughout New York City. 

The ban could be lifted soon, according to the New York City Department of Education. At the end of September, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that he is looking into lifting the ban on cell phones in the city’s public schools, acknowledging that his own son, Dante, carries a phone with him to school. 

Critics have argued that the ban is often only enforced at some schools — often, schools with high security like the seven located at the Kennedy Campus, where students and visitors must pass through metal detectors before entering. 

Others have cited security concerns as an impetus for the change. 

“Let’s say you have a problem in school. How are you going to call your parents?” asked New Visions freshman A.J., 14. Like Jaileen, A.J. checks his phone in at the Little Kitchen on a daily basis, to avoid getting in trouble at school. 

Bronx School of Law and Finance student Justin Ortiz said he knows students who have been robbed of their coats on the way home from school in the winter months. Having a phone would be useful in that scenario. 

“In case there’s an emergency. You never know the occasion, what might happen,” he said. 

Department of Education, cell phones, John F. Kennedy Educational Campus, JFK, Kennedy, Charles Gallo, Bill de Blasio, Maya Rajamani
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