Testimony of Michelle Bodden before Joint hearing of the City Council Education and Public Safety Committees

Jun 14, 2006 12:00 AM

At the June 14 Council hearing on cell phones in public schools, UFT Vice President for Elementary Schools Michelle Bodden called for a policy that balances “parents’ rights and an orderly classroom.” While agreeing with the DOE that cell phones should not be used during school hours, Bodden argued that it should be up to individual schools whether or not to bar the possession of cell phones in school.

Bodden’s full testimony to the joint hearing of the City Council Education and Public Safety Committees on cell phone use and possession in schools:

Good morning Chairmen Jackson and Vallone, and members of the Council’s Education and Public Safety committees. Thank you for inviting me to testify today to offer the United Federation of Teachers’ views on crafting a sound cell-phone policy for public schools.

Cell phones are a fact of modern life. It doesn’t help to want to turn the clock back and say, “Well, in my day, we didn’t have cell phones and we did just fine.” Perhaps, but the world has changed and we can’t squeeze the toothpaste back into the tube.

Because of our changed culture, many parents give their children cell phones as a convenience, yes, but also as an important safety tool. Banning them from schools is simply unrealistic. Yet, the use of cell phones in the classroom is disruptive and unacceptable, so we should focus our energies on crafting policies that strike a balance between parents’ rights and an orderly classroom.

There are multiple situations one can cite in which a cell phone serves as an important lifeline. Parents are often encouraged to send their children to the farthest edges of the city in pursuit of the right school for their child. These are often long commutes outside the child’s neighborhood and even outside his or her home borough. With so many hours spent outside the home, parents should have the peace of mind of knowing their child can contact them or they can contact their child. Transportation problems, medical conditions, after school commitments — many situations present themselves that clearly illustrate why cell phones are more than a convenience — they are part of the way we live our lives. And frankly, in a post-9/11 world, it is simply not acceptable to tell parents that they cannot use one of the most basic safety tools available to them.

I could cite the testimony of parents, other elected officials, teachers and kids but I’m sure you’ll be hearing from many of them today. They will all tell you the same thing — the mayor and the chancellor’s policy is unworkable and must be amended. The question is how do we do that?

We must maintain a balance between parents’ justifiable interest in seeing that their kids are safe on their way to and from school and the responsibility of teachers and administrators to keep the focus on teaching and learning. That’s what most other cities do. That’s what this city did on the issue of student uniforms. The way to do that is to enable each school to tailor a policy that fits its own needs.

The administration just announced a significant expansion of empowerment schools — leaving key decisions in the hands of the schools rather than the central bureaucracy. In that spirit, empower school administrators, educators and parents through the school safety committee to craft a policy that works in each individual school community. In high schools, for example, an outright ban may make some sense as a safety measure to cut back on gang activity. But even there, individual schools should be trusted to know their own safety needs and interests. The UFT is in agreement with the DOE on one key point — the use of cell phones while school is in session should not be permitted.

The people who work in the schools know their students, their environment and their challenges better than anyone.

The UFT is proud to line up with them and with parents in support of a fair, flexible policy that attempts to address parents’ concerns on an equal level with limiting classroom disruption. Cell phones should not be used during school hours. Students should be punished for violating that policy — perhaps an escalating schedule of penalties would work the best. In schools where the situation has been bad — such as scanning schools, can bar them entirely. In other words, schools should be permitted to craft their own individual policy that works best for their schools.
The mayor and the chancellor are simply wrong here.

Let’s end this silly standoff and move on with the business of educating our kids.