NYCLU Calls On City To Reconsider School Cell Phone Ban

In light of a State Supreme Court justice’s ruling this week that New York City’s policy prohibiting cell phones in schools is “rational,” the New York Civil Liberties Union today renewed its call on Mayor Michel Bloomberg to reconsider the ban on the basis that it is bad policy that interrupts the education of the city’s students.

“The cell phone ban has caused enormous disruption in the education of New York City’s children — distracting them and their teachers from the business of learning, putting them in frequent confrontations with police personnel, and eating up class time,” said NYCLU Executive Director, Donna Lieberman. “It’s time for the mayor and the Department of Education to revisit this ill-advised, counterproductive, and inflexible rule.

“The mayor’s personal conviction that students should not carry cell phones is no basis for policymaking. What our schools need is a policy that accommodates the safety and educational needs of both educators and families.”

The NYCLU’s report on policing in schools, which addresses the cell phone policy among other approaches to school discipline, is available online at www.nyclu.org/policinginschools.