Cell phone ban in classrooms: 'When you don't have consistency from classroom to classroom, that's when problems occur'

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) With more and more public schools around the country moving to restrict cell phones in classrooms, New York State is not there yet. Governor Kathy Hochul has been holding listening tours around the state. Her inclination is to leave the decision to localities, but she is being pressured to make a statewide decision.

"Guidance from the state always helps us in making these decisions," said Sweet Home School Superintendent Mike Ginestre. "I appreciate the attention the governor is bringing to the issue."

New York State Assemblyman Bill Conrad from Tonawanda participated this summer with the governor at a roundtable in the Ken-Ton school district.

"Reaction," he said, "ranged from "the cell phone is a lifeline; It's how I pick up my kid," to, "I want an outright ban; these things should be nowhere near kids."

Conrad said he always support local control. But added, that a lot of local districts have left it up to individual classrooms.

"When you do not have consistency from classroom to classroom, that's when problems occur. One teacher allows it and one teacher doesn't. That's where the struggle of education takes place. It truly becomes a distraction. It becomes a power struggle in the classroom."

He believes if the state is going to do something, it should be universal. "Teachers, especially," he said, "have asked the governor to do something so that they are not held responsible."

In his own conversations with constituents, Conrad said "90% were in favor of a ban in schools."

He thinks the state is headed toward some kind of ban on cell phones. He expects it to be part of next year's budget which gets finalized April 1st. He admits he doesn't have a sense yet as to whether it would pass the state legislature.