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In upholding the city's controversial ban on cell phones in public school, a Manhattan appeals court suggested adults are partially to blame. The opinion included, "If adults cannot be fully trusted to practice proper cell phone etiquette, then neither can children."
The city has been fighting with parents and students for about four years about the right to bear a cell phone. Parents says cell phones are critical for keeping in touch with kids (especially in this post-9/11 world), but school officials argue phones are disruptive (one students fesses to the Post that her phone was taken away twice for texting while in class)and have been used for cheating.
A cell phone ban was found to be constitutional last year, and yesterday the appellate court said, "Certainly, the Department [of Education] has a rational interest in having its teachers and staff devote their time to educating students and not waging 'war' against cellphones."
The court also said, "Nothing about the cell phone policy forbids or prevents parents and their children from communicating with each other before or after school." But where are the cell phones supposed to go during the school day? Norman Siegel, the lawyer representing parents and students, said, "We strongly believe the ban is unconstitutional and illegal, and we will not rest until the prohibition is reversed."
The cell phone ban has led to cell phone baby-sitters, cell phone-less horror stories, and students hiding phones in their clothes. The ban isn't universally enforced; on occasion, the police do haul in lots of contraband devices.
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good!
You should only bring a cellphone to school if you have enough handsets to give one to every person in the class.
what ban?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/nyregion/02cellphones.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Use a fucking payphone if you really need to stay in touch. It's not that complicated.
Heh.Most overused phrase of the past 7 years: "in this post-9/11 world"
Seriously, if a plane crashes into PS 122, what good is a cell phone going to do a kid?
Then again, if the plane crashes into the kid's home, it might be good to call them to tell them not to enter, but hopefully the giant flames will be enough of a warning.
That is.. assuming you can get a call through with all of the extra traffic...
I remember when beepers were in style. Boy im getting old
the lawyer representing parents and students, said, "We strongly believe the ban is unconstitutional and illegal,
Unconstitutional? Really?
It should be a capital crime for lawyers to talk outside the courtroom.
yo, where you at?
idk, my bff jill?
They make cellphone jammers, just put them in the classroom and the problem is solved. The kids can use their phones outside if they need to but not in school.
Snoopy the problem with that is using an active jammer is for one highly expensive, and secondly you will have to answer to the radio wave overlords known as the FCC as well as up to $11000 in fines and a year in jail.
Moving in the opposite direction are colleges and universities, which are implementing emergency text and IM notifications in the case of a campus wide emergency, a la Virginia Tech. These systems presuppose that everyone is carrying a cellphone, although I'm sure that professors still come down hard on those who let their phone ring in class.
Also, after hearing stories like that girl who had a stroke and had to wait a good amount of time b/f 911 was called as proper channels were navigated, I have little trust in leaving things up to school officials. If one of her friends had a cellphone, they could have called 911 then and there and possibly saved her from irrecoverable brain damage.
That being said; kids don't need cell phones in school. It will lead to cheating, distraction, and a ton of crap that has nothing to do with getting an education. Come on, a kid with a cameraphone would only need one second to pull it out and snap a pic of a quiz and then distribute it to everyone else in later classes.
it saddens me how much folks have to say about the "right to bear gadgets" versus how little they have to say about the sorry state of the doe. i wish cellphones were the biggest obstacle to learning in nyc public schools. i really do.
Now that cell phones are more than cell phones, what with gadgets like MP3 players, cameras etc., not to mention text messaging, there is more at stake. I can deal with a kid with a cell phone in class, but when I'm lecturing against communication central, teacher loses every time. And I don't feel comfortable confiscating the item either, if shit happens to daddy's iPhone, it's my fault.
it's crazy!!! people at my school, are not that important that they need to be texting every 2 min. and they wonder why their grades suck, compaired to the people who don't text, and pay attention!!!! nonsense!!!!!