There’s no more ringing during the bell.
A controversial bell-to-bell cellphone ban greeted the Big Apple’s nearly 1 million students for the first time as they headed back to school Thursday – to mixed feelings from kids and parents.
Ne’er-do-wells already devised shifty ways around the ban and shared hacks on TikTok by the school day’s end, students told The Post.
NYC students will be barred from using their phones in school, with some exceptions. WABC
Nearly 1 million students will be under the ban as they went back to school on Thursday. Robert MillerAnd some schools struggled with the logistical nightmare of prying phones from kids’ hands or stowing them in magnet-locked pouches, as one 11-year-old student at JHS 217 in Queens discovered.
“They said they didn’t have the pouch or the magnet,” she said. “They said they’ll be getting them next Monday.
“I was so happy,” she said smiling. “I have my phone for another week. I don’t like them taking it away.”
“There’s pros and there’s cons,” said mother Rene Burrell about the ban, who hopes it will make kids more focused on school, but that parents not being in “full contact” with their children could cause stress. Robert Miller
The phone ban was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul and approved by the city’s Panel for Education Policy this summer amid growing concerns that distraction-causing smartphones can harm students’ mental health and stall academic performances.
Hochul touted the ban in Brooklyn at The Magnet School for Multimedia Technology and Urban Planning, where her bizarre warmup act was “Frankie Focus” – a bespectacled green monster that’s the state’s “mascot for focus and education by minimizing distractions.”
“You’re going to be smarter because you’ll be paying attention more in school,” Hochul told students, after falling flat at getting them excited about the first day of school.
Hundreds of thousands of students returned to New York City’s schools on Thursday. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post
Father Juan Cotto takes a 1st day photo of his son Joel, age 4. Robert Miller“Your teachers will have a better experience teaching you and making connections with you, and ultimately, you’re going to be better than anybody else.”
Parents largely seemed to support the phone ban, although many worried about emergencies.
“There’s pros and there’s cons,” said Rene Burrell, who dropped off her 13-year-old daughter at PS 7 in Harlem.
Burrell saw the upside of keeping kids focused and off social media during the school day, but said parents and children not being in “full contact” could cause stress.
“But again, it’s the first day of school, so we just kind of have to see how it goes.”
Students are allowed to use devices on the way to school, but must put them away once the bell rings. However, phones can be used at a teacher’s direction for “specific educational purposes.” Robert MillerHer fellow parent Ebony Holmes – who had to wait 30 minutes after school to get her 12-year-old daughter’s confiscated iPad – called the ban “terrible.”
“If somebody’s coming here and they shoot up the school, how is my kid gonna call me?” she said.
Students are allowed to use devices on the way to school, but the ban requires them to fork them over or store them away once the bell rings – with some medical-related exceptions and under a teacher’s direction for “specific educational purposes,” according to the policy.
Each of New York City’s roughly 1,600 public schools was tasked with coming up with its own plan for snatching and stowing phones from students – and will receive a slice of a $25 million allocation for putting it into practice.
Pouches such as the magnet-sealed cloth cases made by Yondr are being used by 820 schools, city Department of Education officials said.
Students will be banned from using their cellphones bell-to-bell for the first time ever. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York PostAnother 600 schools are using a dropoff box or storage rooms, while 550 mostly elementary schools will collect phones in class and put them in a classroom locker or storage, officials said.
The moratorium extends to smartwatches, which PS 7 parent Maria Martinez said she had bought for her 11-year-old and 8-year-old kids so they could keep in touch with her during the school day.
“I went to school. I was perfectly fine without a phone,” Jessica Sanchez, who has a 13-year-old daughter, said, supporting the decision. Robert Miller“Kids need to be in contact with their parents, so I think it’s a bad idea,” she said.
Her fellow parent Jessica Sanchez, who has a 13-year-old daughter in the school, said she’s “perfectly fine” with the ban.
“It’s definitely something they need, but it’s also a distraction in school,” she said about phones. ”You know, things have changed. I went to school. I was perfectly fine without a phone.”
But some kids quickly found ways to work around the ban – and shared their discoveries on TikTok, where videos show methods of cutting into Yondr pouches or breaking the magnet lock with pencils.
One student dismissively showed off his phone pouch.
“NYC got these new phone pouches, you telling me this is gonna lock my phone?” he posted in the video. “I can open it bro.
“Still using my phone in class.”
Yet another TikTok video showed students using Google Docs to chat with each other without phones.
“Already got in trouble for it too,” the video is captioned.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
