Gotbaum, Parents Tell Mayor: Dump School Cellphone Ban

"...Cellphones are for getting to and from school, not for use during school hours. Please be reasonable. I am shocked that our attempts to communicate the importance of this issue [have] fallen on deaf ears."

Armed with e-mails from parents and students fed up with the Department of Education's cellphone ban, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum called upon Mayor Michael Bloomberg to allow students to take cellphones to school.

Gotbaum released copies of the e-mails at a news conference last Tuesday, November 14, on the steps of City Hall and delivered copies to the mayor following the news conference.

"I've heard from countless parents who rely on cellphones to stay in touch with their children," Gotbaum said. "I've received emails from parents whose children were lost, mugged, or injured, and were only able to receive assistance by using their cellphones to call for help.

"For far too long, the mayor and the [city Department of Education] have refused to listen to address parents' concerns," Gotbaum continued. "It's wrong that this administration would continue to brush off these serious concerns, especially when our children's safety is at stake. The mayor must rescind this archaic cellphone policy immediately."

The Public Advocate established an e-mail address hotline earlier this month specifically for parents to send in their complaints

to the mayor regarding the school cellphone ban. The e-mail hotline has received more than100 messages from parents and students who want the DOE to revise its cellphone policy. Among the cases cited:

+ One mother makes her 14- year-old son carry a cellphone because "he has some slight neurological difficulties that have the dual effect of making him unaware of his surroundings and unable to speak with strangers. When he finds himself lost, he will not ask an unknown adult for help. The cellphone is his lifeline. I want to let [him] have a 'normal' life and travel around the city (with some limitations) like his peers. The only way to do that is with a cellphone."

+ After receiving a call from her daughter, who had a piece of glass lodged in her eye, one mother was able to get medical attention that saved her child's vision. "She called me from her cellphone to let me know that she couldn't see. I tried in vain to phone the school nurse, the principal, the two assistant principals or the guidance counselor, but they were all in an assembly. The receptionist was out to lunch and the main switchboard was shut down, so there was only voicemail... I made an emergency appointment at an ophthalmologist nearby and called her on her cellphone and told her to take a cab over there. He removed the glass from her eye and gave her an antibiotic that prevented what was rapidly becoming an infection. The doctor said that, without our prompt action, she would have needed a cornea transplant."

+ One mother wrote, "I have three children in New York City public schools. As a working single mother, I need to be able to communicate with my children at any given time...Just a week ago, my daughter...was attacked by three students in her school. I tried furiously to reach the school but couldn't [get] through

because of] the voice prompts. She has a cellphone but can't take it to school because it will be confiscated. By the time I was able to reach her, she had already been taken to the hospital with a broken arm...If she had been able to call me, I would have known what hospital she was taken to and may have been able to help her get out of the situation."

+ According to one mother, "My 13-year-old son was shot with a paintball gun last week...walking home from school and he had no way to call me at home to inform me that he was injured. His only result was to leave the scene of the accident walking home bleeding, hurt, dizzy, disoriented as well as having blurred vision....The NYPD informed me to try and get him a cellphone! I told them that he had one but could not bring it to school...our children have the right to have immediate access to their parents!"

+ One student was assaulted on her way to school, and could have received help sooner if she had been allowed to carry her cellphone. "As I was walking about a block away from the school a man appeared behind a car...he exposed himself to me...he chased me for about 30 seconds before he gave up. As soon as I went to school I informed my assistant principal about my situation...Later [the assistant principal] said that another girl had come in five minutes before me with the same story. My assistant principal also said that if I had a cellphone the security guards would have been able to find him because I would have been able to call the school while the incident was happening and help would have been swifter. She also wanted me to have a cellphone so if I saw the man again I would be able to call the police."

+ As one parent of an 11 year-old daughter wrote to the mayor, "[My daughter] and her fellow students are traveling... on NYC trains and buses on a daily basis...cell phones afford kids and parents some comfort that in a small or large emergency, our children can reach us and we can reach them...I really think you've missed the mark on this issue. How much more evidence do you need than the fact that parents continue to tell their kids to take their cellphones with them every day? Cellphones are for getting to and from school, not for use during school hours. Please be reasonable. I am shocked that our attempts to communicate the importance of this issue [have] fallen on deaf ears."

"I clearly don't want students using cellphones during class time, and neither do parents," Gotbaum said. "But in today's world, the mayor has got to understand that cellphones are a vital line of communication. My message to the mayor is simple: Allow principals to decide on a cellphone policy on a school by school basis."