TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: NYC Students and Parents Want Cell Phone Ban Lifted

Re: NYC Students and Parents Want Cell Phone Ban Lifted

DLR (news22@raleighthings.com)
Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:13:53 -0400

I live in Wake County, NC. They dropped the ban on cell phones a few
years back. Good thing. What they do have is a ban on use during
school unless specifically permitted. First offense you get it back at
the end period. After that your parents have to come get it. If that
happens a few times you might get suspended. The reason I mention
where I'm from is that after the big city districts we're one of the
faster growing ones. Adding about a next of 5000 to 7000 students a
year.

But since my kids go to schools nearly 10 miles from our house in
opposite directions and participate in after school activities, cells
phones are almost required.

When I grew up, most of us in my high school of nearly 1000 kids lived
within 2 miles. Hitching a ride or even walking in a pinch was no big
deal. If my kids need to get a hold of me, it is a really big deal.

Christine Kearney wrote:

> By Christine Kearney

> New York may be a city of incessant cell phone talkers, but students
> vowed on Wednesday they would hit the "off" button during classes as
> they battled a ban on cell phones in schools.

> Speaking at a city council hearing where lawmakers introduced a bill
> aimed at overriding a ban on cell phones enforced under Mayor Michael
> Bloomberg, high school students and their parents spoke out against
> the unusually stringent anti-cell phone policy.

> "I feel mature enough to be able to turn off my cell phone in class,"
> said LaGuardia high school student Jenna Gogan, 16. "This is about
> students' safety, because, especially in New York City, many parents
> need to feel reassured they can contact their kids going to and from
> school."

> Dissent over the ban in New York escalated recently when Bloomberg
> introduced metal scanners and random checks at some of the city's
> 1,408 public high schools. The new scanners used to protect the city's
> 1.1 million students had led to the confiscation of more than 3,000
> cell phones and 36 weapons, mostly knives and razor blades.

> Detroit and Philadelphia also bar cell phones from schools while Los
> Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas allow them in the schools but
> prohibit their use during classes.

> During the hearing, Bloomberg's representatives said the policy dated
> back to a 1988 ban on pagers and was needed to prevent students from
> using phones to send and receive text messages, taking photographs,
> surfing the Web and playing video games.

> "Cell phones, with their multiple capabilities, are not just phones,"
> deputy mayor Dennis Walcott told the hearing. "Students have used cell
> phones to summon friends for fights, to cheat on exams and to take
> illicit photographs."

> But city council members said crime and disruptive behavior would
> occur regardless of the ban and any new law passed would allow
> students only to use phones before or after school and not during
> class.

> "Kids pass notes back and forth but that doesn't mean we take away
> pens," said council member Belinda Katz.

> Carmen Colon, a mother of three, said her kids needed phones so she
> could "juggle their lives" and keep track of them.

> "This is a big city, it's tough and a whole lot of things go on," said
> her son Andre Green, 13. Asked if he had heard phones ring during
> class, he answered: "Yes, but sometimes it's just their mother
> calling."

> Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.

> NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
> daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
> http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
> articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
> http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or)
> http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

> For more news headlines and stories, please go to:
> http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Reuters News Wire: "Appeals Court Backs FCC on Bell Network Access"
Go to Previous message: DLR: "Re: Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power"
May be in reply to: Christine Kearney: "NYC Students and Parents Want Cell Phone Ban Lifted"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page