Public School Cell Phone Policy

As a matter of student safety, we the undersigned call on the NYC Department of Education and Chancellor Joel I. Klein to change the current policy of treating cell phones as contraband and permit students the ability to bring cell phones to school provided they are turned off and in no way disruptive to other students, faculty, or the educational system. We further believe that the current scanning policy, which was put into place to help keep our children safe, actually places them in risk by taking away an important and necessary safety device.

We would like to remind the NYC Department of Education that:

Academically engaged students participate in a number of extra curricular activities that requires our students to remain in the school past the normal release times. Some of these activities run very late into the evening and do not follow a scheduled pattern. These students need their cell phones to call for rides and the school office, where landlines are available, is normally closed.

During Daylight Savings Time many students leave the building when it is dark. Our students must walk to the nearest public transportation hub in the dark. They often find themselves walking alone or in small groups, waiting on open train station platforms, and then walking alone to their homes. Legitimate concern has been strongly expressed by parents and students (many of them just 13 and 14 years old) concerning fears for safety.

Many of our students travel to and from other parts of the City to attend Specialty Schools, participate in college AP courses, and travel to work or volunteer programs. There have been situations of harassment using public transportation and cell phones are the only means of communication and safety these motivated students have.

Public telephones are very limited in their availability and not always in working order.

We the undersigned fully appreciate and support the existing policies regarding the use of cell phones during normal school hours. We also fully support your right to confiscate the rule offenders cell phone and administer punishments as prescribed by current DOE guidelines but to extend that punishment to the rule abiding majority does not justify the removal of a strong safety net for which cell phones have become. NYC students are forced to use public transportation when traveling to and from school and they are exposed to risks that students provided yellow bus services are not.

Cell phones have become safety devices that we believe our students must have. Please give this matter further consideration and allow our students the right to carry cell phones.