Parents are calling on Mayor Bloomberg to lift a ban on cell phones in city schools after he said Friday that mobile devices are the best tool for keeping tabs on kids.
On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg said, “If you want to have something that a parent can know where their child is – cell phones. A lot of the smartphones have that technology.”
In the wake of the killing of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, parents want the DOE to lift the ban. The Department of Education has enforced the ban since 2006.
“The mayor has no authority to ban cell phones – it’s a safety issue,” said Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union.
Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said the mayor won’t reverse the rule despite parents’ concerns.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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5 Responses
“The DOE has enforced the ban since ’06.” Which Gedolim thoughtlessly prohibited the cell phone in our city schools? Why don’t I hear protests being raised by members of our community about the Mayor’s right to ban cell phones? Why haven’t we heard from the NYC Parents Union before this past week’s tragic event? Is the answer to all this questions possibly the fact that everyone understands the logic behind the school ban?
As a teacher I agree with the mayor.
Mechilas kevoidcha, but I agree with reb michael on this. There r enough people who have cell phones who will be happy to lend a phone in a time of need. What happened last week was totally out of the ordinary and Freakish
We need to do what is better for the children of the school system. The statistics show that cell phones are bad in school. What happened this past week, although it was horrible, it is not something that happens and for the rare times that it could happen, we can’t use it as an excuse to have the cell phone in the schools. If we do have to reckon for the rare, then we can never drive a car becasue we might get into an accident. We cannot cross the street because we might get hit by a car.
It seems everyone is agreement here that cell phones are bad for school-age children. So why do we still find so many Yeshiva bochrim, Bais Yaakov girls, and even cheder yingelach and meidlach with cell phones. I see them not only talking, but texting during their breaks. There is at least one Brooklyn Bais Yaakov HS that fills four large plastic bins with cell phones (one for each grade) when the students enter each day. They may take them during their breaks when you can see them begin texting away. R”L. How is it the Mayor knows/cares more than some of our mechanchim, mechanchos, and parents?