But how will the state’s new ban on phones, smart watches, ear buds and other Internet-connected devices in schools work in real life?
Syracuse.com spoke to two dozen Central New York high school students about how hooked they are to their phones, even while in classrooms.
They listen to music while studying and doing homework. They share social media videos in study hall. They text with their besties, even while sitting right next to them at lunch. They also text often with parents for updates on after-school rides or for help getting through a stressful moment in the day.
Now they are supposed to quit, at least from the first morning bell to the school day’s end. In their last few days of summer freedom, the teens talked to us about how the policies schools are putting in place might not go as smoothly as planned.
Consider lockers. Several Central New York districts, including Jamesville-DeWitt, West Genesee and Fayetteville-Manlius, say students must keep their devices in their school lockers all day.
The challenge? Few students at those three schools have used their lockers since before Covid, high schoolers and parents told syracuse.com.
Some districts, including the three biggest in Onondaga County, are buying thousands of $30 Yondr bags for high school students.
Those teens must lock their devices inside the pouch at the beginning of the day. The school controls the unlocking mechanism, though as of last week some districts were still figuring out how that would work at the end of the day — and how long the unlocking would take.
The Syracuse City School District has ordered more than 8,100 of the pouches. They were being delivered this week, said Amanda Malinowski, a spokesperson.
While the adults plan, students are thinking about how to bend the rules.
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After all, much of the success of the new ban relies on the honor system, one superintendent told syracuse.com.
No matter the rules, back-to-school is going to be weird, several students told syracuse.com.
“Now we have to sit there staring at other people when we have free time or study hall, when we can be looking at our phones,” said Maniya McKoy, a 16-year-old Henninger junior.
But that is the point, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other advocates of the phone ban argue. The ban is meant to cut down on social media scrolling and bullying. It’s meant to encourage more in-person communication, fewer distractions in class and better concentration during the school day.
Anesty Wright, another junior at Henninger High School in Syracuse, says she gets it.
“I see the benefit of no phones,” she said, though she’ll miss listening to music and making selfies during school.
Then she added, “I think it’s going to backfire. It’s going to be a mess.”
Syracuse.com heard from more than 50 students, parents and teachers this month about the change. Here’s what they say.
THE NEW RULES
The goal is the same for all schools, K-12: No Internet-connected devices for students while school is in session. Only school-issued Chromebooks are allowed. Each district can impose its own rules to accomplish that.
School districts had to submit their policies to the state by Aug. 1, and there is a database where parents and students can look up each district’s plan.
For the younger grades, that often means putting a phone in a cubbyhole or cabinet. In reality, most of the changes — and stricter storage rules — are at the middle and high schools.
Some high schools, such as Syracuse, North Syracuse and Liverpool, bought Yondr lockable bags, which cost about $30 each.
Jamesville-DeWitt is going more old-school. The district is requiring students to keep their phones in their lockers. Yes, those are the same lockers they haven’t used since before Covid-19, students told syracuse.com.
At the same time, J-D is banning bookbags, too. Students can carry a small purse or messenger bag, which coincidently can hold phones, but nothing much bigger. To ease in the changes, the high school is adding a minute in between classes to give students more time to pick up items from their lockers that they need for each class.
Generally, those caught breaking the rules risk the school holding their phones until the end of the school day. Repeat offenders may need a parent to collect the phone after school. The state law prohibits any suspensions or expulsions solely based on violating the cellphone ban.
Still, it’s possible that students will keep walking around campus with phones within their reach. That’s because most students can still carry backpacks all day, and school staff aren’t planning to search them, Baldwinsville Superintendent Joseph DeBarbieri said.
“Could somebody violate the policy and have it in a purse or backpack?” he added. “Yes. Students make choices all the time.”
DeBarbieri said he believes students will follow the rules. He also is asking his staff, who aren’t bound by the ban, to model the policy and put their phones away during class.
“They shouldn’t be out flaunting their phones,” he said.
That could leave teachers acting as phone police, a role they don’t want, says Jen Matott, a Liverpool High School art teacher.
“Personally, I hate being the bad guy,” she said. It disrupts the entire class when she has to tell one student to give their phone to an administrator.
Even she is curious about how a full ban is going to work. “I have a feeling they’re going to find a way to get around it,” Matott said. “Kids are smart.”
WORKING WITHOUT MUSIC
Teens rarely use phones to make phone calls. Instead, they often listen to music, especially when doing work in class, study hall or free time, almost every teen interviewed told syracuse.com. Music helps them focus, block out distractions and reduce anxiety, several said.
Bri Hall’s daughter Alexus will be a first-year student at J-D next month. Alexus said her middle school teachers let students listen to music to help them focus. It’s a habit that will be hard to break, she said.
Mason Dinneen, a senior at Liverpool, listens to rap metal like Limp Bizkit to relax and study. For Jackson Costello, a 16-year-old junior at J-D, it’s Bach and Beethoven.
“It really helps me focus on my art,” said Costello, who likes working with clay. “Music is big for me, so I’m worried about what I will do.”
Another student, Brian Juston, who will be a senior at Liverpool High School, says he has a way around it. He plans to load his playlists onto a portable MP3 player. It’ll hold the audio files without needing an online connection.
THE EXCEPTIONS
There are official ways around the ban.
Technically, students can use phones, laptops or other Internet-enabled devices for educational reasons approved by teachers and principals, according to the new law.
But that isn’t likely to happen often, several school officials and the statewide teachers union told syracuse.com. That concession is really for special occasions, not everyday learning, they said.
Students can also apply for longer exceptions because of health or learning conditions. These approvals require signoffs from professionals and yearly renewals.
There’s also a big exception that anyone can exploit: Students can still bring a phone to school as long as it doesn’t connect to the Internet, such as an old-fashioned flip phone. That means the student could still call friends, or Mom and Dad, without technically breaking the rules.
THE CHANGE FOR FAMILIES
No matter how the bans play out in schools, the changes will affect how some families communicate with each other.
That’s true for Lily Pellegrino and her family. The West Genesee High School senior runs cross-country, has two siblings and a part-time job. She and her family share an Excel sheet on their phones as a live scheduling tool. They add appointments and commitments throughout the day to arrange rides.
“I’m not sure yet what I’ll do,” Pellegrino said. “It’s going to be really weird not to have my phone because I use it all the time for scheduling.”
Other students said they would simply miss the ability to check in with mom or dad, especially on a hard day.
“I will miss being able to text my mother when I am stressed or having bad days,” one high school student from Utica told syracuse.com. “The ability to text my parent to try to calm down a situation being taken away is fairly agitating.”
While some parents agree with the restrictions, others worry about how to keep in touch with their kids, particularly if there’s an emergency or a crisis at school. More than half of the parents who responded to syracuse.com’s survey said they wanted to be able to reach their children during the day, regardless of reason.
But other parents applauded the changes, while still acknowledging the headaches that students and school staffs could face at the beginning for this school year.
Heather Browning, whose children go to Fayetteville-Manlius, said her two oldest have cellphones, but she supports the new ban.
Kids today, she said, expect instant gratification. Phones provide that.
“Most kids at that age will not, and cannot, limit their cellphone usage on their own,” she said.
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