Rye City school leaders have been mulling since last summer whether to strengthen the high school’s cell phone policy. That decision is now likely out of their hands.
Indicators coming out of Albany point to the passing of a full “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban in all public and charter schools – one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top priorities. The proposed ban is expected to be negotiated into the New York State budget, which has yet to be approved.
At least eight states have already enacted bans over the past two years, and several more are considering proposals this year.
State Sen. Shelley Mayer, a Democrat whose legislative district includes Rye, said she supports a cell phone ban in the state budget.
“I’m very supportive of limiting all internet capacity within the instruction day,” she told The Record.
If the policy Hochul wants passes as is, the senator’s office confirmed that all K-12 public and charter schools will prohibit students from using cell phones all day.
When asked what the Rye City School District’s position is on the seemingly imminent ban, district spokesperson Sarah Derman said: “Our stance is that we follow the law.”
Mayer, who also chairs the Senate Education Committee, said she favored giving some latitude to public and charter schools that have already imposed their own cell phone bans, but admitted that “desire for flexibility did not prevail among the majority” of her colleagues.
The development of a statewide ban is likely welcomed news to many Rye youth and education advocates who have taken up the issue over the last year.
Lisa Dominici, the executive director of the nonprofit Rye Youth Council (RYC), said she supports the governor’s cell phone ban, which, she added, takes the onus off individual school districts to make their own policies.
“It’s not really their responsibility to police this,” Dominici told The Record.
Many of the local teenagers the nonprofit surveys, Dominici said, agree that cell phone and especially social media use should be delayed and/or limited.
“Most teens feel that it’s good and bad,” she said, emphasizing the nature of the double-edged sword between connection and anxiety.
“It brings them some immediate gratification, but they know it’s not good for them in the long run,” Dominici said.
To that end, then-Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress in 2024 to require warning labels on social media platforms due to their effects on kids. He also said schools need to provide periods of time where students are phone-free.
The RYC does “feel strongly that it’s best to delay social media use for as long as possible,” Dominici added.
In a similar vein, four Rye moms launched, last June, a the IRL (in real life) nonprofit – which is dedicated to encouraging kids to develop healthy relationships with technology and delaying social media use until age 16.
“We are supportive of measures to keep phones out of kids’ hands during the school day, to protect their attention and their social development,” said Liza Forbes, who works with the Rye IRL founders. “As an organization we hope to work with school administration (and parents) to support whatever system they think will best ease the administrative burden of a new phone policy.”
The RYC has conducted multiple surveys with area teens on the topic of internet and social media use. In one survey, 18 teens were asked which three things they’d eliminate to simplify their lives: 12 said social media, or Instagram in particular.
In another survey, Dominici said they asked teens what they’d tell their parents as eighth graders; the majority said they’d encourage their own parents to put more boundaries on their internet and smart phone use.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 77 percent of U.S. schools say they prohibit cell phones for non-academic use. But that number can be misleading, since it doesn’t necessarily mean those bans are actually being enforced.
Last summer, the Rye City Board of Education announced it would be examining the current Rye High School phone policy amid reports that students’ cell phones were often in use during the school day – even though the policy prohibits students from cell phone use in the classroom unless permitted by a teacher.
Some area private schools, which wouldn’t be subjected to any state policy, have already begun imposing stricter cell phone bans.
Rye Country Day School announced at the beginning of this academic year that it would be updating its policy to strictly prohibit cell phone use during school hours except for academic purposes. Sacred Heart in Greenwich went as far as to say cell phones in lockers worked against the community’s goals. Sacred Heart’s policy requires both middle schoolers and high schoolers to hand in their phones at the beginning of the school day.
Mayer spoke with The Record last week on her way back from Albany, noting that the language in the state budget hasn’t been finalized yet.
But she’s hopeful, she said, that some of the major issues lawmakers are disagreeing on can be resolved so the budget can be approved this week.
