Council Ponders New Cellphone Rules
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Council Speaker Christine Quinn

In the aftermath of a vote by the City Council to allow the city's 1.1 million school children to carry cellphones to and from school, a showdown could occur this week when the Department of Education (DOE) holds a public hearing on its discipline code.

According to the DOE, "For more than 15 years, students have been prohibited from bringing cellphones, beepers, iPods, or other electronic communication or entertainment devices to school. Bringing these items to school is a violation of the discipline code."

However, on July 25, the New York City Council voted 46 to 2 approving a bill to protect parents' rights to provide their children with cellphones while traveling to and from school. The measure is opposed by the DOE and Mayor Michael Bloomberg but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says there are enough votes to override any mayoral veto.

In its explanation, the council said that while they could not directly legislate cellphone policy nor come up with a solution for individual schools, they nonetheless believed the legislation "puts the onus on DOE to develop a reasonable policy within the school system to ensure that schoolchildren are able to use their cellphones while traveling to and from school".

"Cellphones are the lifeline that keeps countless New Yorkers connected with their children as they navigate the city's streets and complicated transportation system," said Speaker Christine Quinn. "By denying children the right to carry cellphones, [DOE] are effectively denying parents their right to monitor the safety and whereabouts of their children. This legislation provides that a student who arrives at school with a cellphone in the morning should have that phone for use when traveling home at the end of the day."

The DOE has published proposed revisions to its discipline code and there will be a public hearing from 6 to 8 p.m. on August 8 at DOE headquarters (Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers St., Manhattan).

Although there has been no proposal by the DOE to revise the discipline code regarding cellphones, it is possible the council's new bill could open the door to such a revision.

The DOE has said it will conduct a pilot program to allow small lockers for the storage of cellphones and electronic devices brought to school by students at 16 as yet unnamed schools.

City Councilmember Louis Fidler, sponsor of the council bill, told WABC that he believes lockers would invite other problems, such as the storage of weapons or illegal substances.

Under the current Citywide Standards of Discipline and Intervention Measures, "Bringing prohibited equipment or material to school without authorization, e.g. cellphone, beeper, or other electronic communication/entertainment devices, is a level 1 infraction for insubordinate behavior.

Possible disciplinary actions range from admonishment, student/teacher conference, reprimand by an assistant principal or principal, parent conference, exclusion from extracurricular activities, recess, or communal lunch, to removal from classroom. If a student is removed from a classroom three times or more, a principal's suspension must be sought, according to the disciplinary code.