NYC FTW: Happy 2015 to students in New York City public schools. The city has announced a lift of the ban preventing the city’s 1.1 million public school students from bringing electronic devices, from cellphones to iPads, into the classroom, according to the city's website. Starting on March 2, students can now bring phones to school as long as the devices are kept out of sight during school hours; principals will also have the option of working with teachers, parents and students to develop an appropriate in-school use policy. As Mayor de Blasio explains, “parents should be able to call or text their kids.” According to the release, the changes will also alleviate the inequity of the ban, which has been enforced predominantly at schools with metal detectors in low-income neighborhoods. The ban, referred to as “inconsistently enforced,” hails to the days of Bloomberg, who started strongly enforcing the ban in 2006 despite the fact that ban had technically been around since the late 80s.
There may be a loser in this, however: mobile storage trucks and bodegas, which have charged NY students $1 per day to safekeep phones outside school grounds, may need to pivot to another line of business.
