Hochul aims to limit school cellphone use

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Gov. Kathy Hochul last week unveiled a plan to restrict smartphone use in schools statewide. Her proposal would ban the use of the devices in kindergarten through high school classrooms for the entire day, and would direct schools to develop systems for storing them.

“New Yorkers agree that our young people succeed when they’re learning and growing, not clicking and scrolling,” Hochul said in a statement on Jan. 22. “This comprehensive proposal to restrict smartphone use in schools will ensure that New York’s statewide standard for distraction-free learning delivers the best results for our kids and educators.”

The plan, part of Hochul’s 2026 Executive Budget proposal would make $13.5 million in funding available for schools that need to purchase phone storage systems. It would also require schools to make it possible for parents to contact their children during the day if needed.

Students would be allowed to use cellphones without internet capabilities, as well as any school-provided internet devices, in their classrooms. Exemptions would be allowed when required by an Individualized Education Program, when managing a medical condition or for other academic purposes, including translation.

If the proposal is adopted, the new phone requirements would be in place for the 2025-26 school year.

“We’ll have to look at exactly what we’re required to do and how it might differ from what we’re now doing,” Jeanne D’Esposito, president of the Malverne school district Board of Education, said.

Malverne’s current cellphone policy, D’Esposito explained, requires that cellphones be stored in lockers throughout the school day. Phone use is allowed in before- and after-school activities, and for high school juniors and seniors who have open-campus privileges while they are off campus. Students who need to contact a parent or guardian during school hours may do so by using a phone in the main office. Parents may communicate with their children by contacting the main office.

“There’s no way you can say it’s not a distraction, that kids sometimes aren’t listening in class because of whatever is coming through on their phone,” D’Esposito acknowledged. “It’s just much better for them to just not have the phone. Like, you can say ‘Don’t use it during the day,’ which was always the rule, but they need to just not have the phone.”

“We do use, in many of our classrooms at the secondary level, a phone caddy,” Daniel Rehman, West Hempstead Superintendent of Schools, said. “The kids will walk in the room and put their phone in the phone caddy. So when that is used in fidelity, it works very well.”

West Hempstead’s cellphone policy requires that the devices be turned off when students enter school buildings, and be secured by the students. Use of phones is limited to designated areas in the buildings, as established by building administration. Students may utilize their devices in the classrooms under the direction and supervision of faculty.

“Ultimately, it’s about educating the students and the adults in the buildings on expectations, and then being consistent (about those) expectations,” Rehman said.