Schools get ready for return of phones

Like she does on most school days, Bronx Theater High School freshman Brianna Vaughan checked her cell phone in  at a food stand on the way to class on the morning of Jan. 8 and picked it up in the afternoon.

But as the city’s Department of Education (DOE) prepares to lift the ban on cell phones in schools, it will be one of the last times the 16-year-old pays $1 to avoid getting caught with the device at school. 

“I actually feel better. That same dollar, I could go out and buy a whole bunch of other stuff with it,” she said. 

Each day, hundreds of students who attend one of the seven schools on the John F. Kennedy Educational Campus deposit their phones at the food stand near their campus, called the Little Kitchen, at one of the nearby delis or at an “electronic valet” truck down the street. 

Metal detectors at the school’s entrance prevent them from entering with the devices. As the ban was enforced primarily at schools like those on the Kennedy campus, located in low-income communities and equipped with the detectors, many saw the policy as promoting inequity in the school system.

The ban also raised safety concerns for parents who wanted their children to be able to contact them during the day in case of an emergency. The Kennedy campus has seen its share, including a gun scare that locked down the site in October 2013.

In September of last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plan to lift the ban, stating that even his son Dante brought a phone to school with him. 

As long as the city’s Panel for Educational Policy approves the reform, the DOE plans to lift the ban in all city schools on Monday, March 2. During his announcement on Jan. 7, Mr. de Blasio said the need for parent-child communication spurred him to action. 

“Parents should be able to call or text their kids. That’s something Chirlane and I felt ourselves when [daughter] Chiara took the subway to high school in another borough each day.” he said. “Lifting the ban respects families, and it will end the unequal enforcement that has penalized students at so many high-needs schools.”