{"id":148088,"date":"2025-08-15T15:07:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/148088\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T15:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:07:29","slug":"n-y-launches-website-to-find-your-schools-cellphone-ban-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/148088\/","title":{"rendered":"N.Y. launches website to find your school\u2019s cellphone ban policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York state has launched a new website for parents and students to look up their school\u2019s plan to implement the state cellphone ban<\/a> starting this fall.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the launch of ny.gov\/phonefree<\/a>, which allows New Yorkers to search by district or school name among more than 1,050 public school districts, charter schools, and Boards of Cooperative Education Services, which have already published their policy for the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids succeed when they\u2019re learning and growing, not clicking and scrolling \u2014 and that\u2019s why schools across New York will be ready to implement bell-to-bell smartphone restrictions this fall,\u201d said Hochul. \u201cAs we look ahead to the start of the school year, communication is key \u2013 and our new online resource is making it easier for parents and students to review their school\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s website will be updated when any additional policies are published and submitted.<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s statewide \u201cbell-to-bell\u201d ban on cellphones <\/a>and other devices was made to create a distraction-free environment in schools. The Distraction-Free Schools law required public school districts to create a policy by Aug. 1 for the 2025-2026 school year.<\/p>\n

The state policy clarifies that students will have authorized access to simple cellphones without internet capability. They also may use internet-enabled devices officially provided by their school for classroom instruction, such as laptops or tablets used as part of lesson plans.<\/p>\n

The city Department of Education policy<\/a> will not permit personal internet-enabled devices, which includes any device capable of connecting the internet, to be used on school grounds during the school day \u2014 other than specific circumstances.<\/p>\n

Each public school in the city must establish its own written policy regarding the use of electronic devices on school property to be in place by the first day of classes for the 2025-2026 academic year. And the policy should be posted on each school\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Policies will also include at least one method for parents to contact a student during the school day, such as a direct phone number to the school.<\/p>\n

There will be some exceptions, such as: an authorization by the school principal for a specific educational purpose; when necessary to monitor a medical condition; for a student caregiver who is responsible for a family member; and where required by law. Devices may also be permitted where such use is included for students who have an IEP or 504 plan for medical or education purposes.<\/p>\n

Schools may also authorize student use of personal internet-enabled electronic devices in the event of an individual student emergency where the parent has notified the school of the nature of the emergency, and for translation and interpretation services if other means are unavailable.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York state has launched a new website for parents and students to look up their school\u2019s plan…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":148089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,71949,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-148088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-sfcpix","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115033412037719332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}