ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester City School District (RCSD) is moving forward with plans to ban cell phones in schools, following a new law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The law requires school districts to implement the ban ahead of the 2025-2026 school year.
On Wednesday night, RCSD held a public hearing to discuss the new policy.
A poll conducted by RCSD since June 23 showed that about 55% of respondents support the ban. The primary concern among respondents was maintaining emergency communication between parents and students.
The district’s current policy proposal allows parents to contact their children by calling or emailing the school. Students are required to leave their devices at home or store them in designated containers at school.
“So most of our middle and high schools already have a cell phone policy,” said Marisol Ramos-Lopez, RCSD’s chief of communications. “Governor Hochul’s policy extends that to include any smart device tablets, watches, glasses. And so this requires the district to adopt a policy and then for schools to implement that policy.”
The public hearing was sparsely attended, with only three people present in the audience. Among them was Anthony Cowart, a math teacher at Northwest Middle School, who expressed support for the policy.
“We’ve been doing [it for] I think three years now,” said Cowart. “I’ve noticed there’s some things that have calmed down. You know, kids are always anxious. They’re like their umbilical cords to their phones. So regardless of what it is, they’re always going to be arguing about phones, phones, phones.”
The survey has received about 470 responses and remains open until Friday on the RCSD website.
For reference, the district currently has just over 22,000 students enrolled as of Fall 2024.
The district must approve the policy by July 31, as the state requires it to be adopted by Aug. 1, ahead of the school year.
Exceptions to the ban include devices used for educational purposes, a student’s health/medication, translation needs, and those responsible for the care of a family member.
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