At 4:15 on Tuesday, students from the middle and high schools in the old John Jay High School building on Seventh Avenue between 4th and 5th street in Park Slope staged a peaceful and exuberant march against the recent cell phone ban in public high schools.
Handmade signs saying "It’s not just cell phones, it’s racism," "We’re Students and We Have Rights" were held high as the kids walked past dozens of police officers assembled in front of the Miracle Grill on Seventh Avenue.
The kids walked down Third Street right past Chez OTBKB and seemed cheerful but determined to get their message across. Neighbors who were in front of their houses cheered them on and showed their support.
There were quite a few adults in the crowd. When asked where they were going the kids shouted: "To Livingston Street."
I assume the Department of Education is located on Livingston Street. The kids are protesting the banning of cell phones. If a student is found to have a cell phone on two occasions, the cell phone is confiscated. The students feel this is an assault on their private property. The schools are conducting random metal detector searches, which according to a high school principal friend of OTBKB, results in a very hostile atmosphere. They can also confiscate cell phones at will.
The POV of the DOE is this: some kids are using text messaging on cell phones to cheat on texts. Others are using them to call in gang members to arrange fights after school. The woman who shared this information said that the vast majority of kids are not using cell phones for these kinds of activities and they don’t deserve to be penalized for the action of the few. While she agrees that cell phone usage shouldn’t be allowed during the school day, she disagrees that they should be randomly confiscated.
One friend standing in front of OTBKB’s building said, "They are learning democracy first hand. This is democracy in action."
The kids looked excited and bolstered by the support that was shown to them on Third Street.
the kids are obviousley right. GO THEM!
Listen, cellphones are extreamly important for kids, even more now, than ever. we need to look at this from the student’s point of view; you work on your weekends, to make money. Now when you want to spend it on something you want, and, the school takes that right away from you. This is compleatly wrong.
Cell phones did not work very well on 9-11, so that excuse does not work that well. Keep a quarter handy for a pay phone (which did work much better by the way). Lets leave the cell phones, sidekicks, play stations, ipods, etc, etc at home and focus on learning. Teachers don’t like the cell phones, so lets listen to them for a change and move on.
It is a good idea for kids to have cell phones for emergencies or in order to keep in touch with parents after school, etc. But, they don’t need them in class. It is a distraction and not fair to the teachers trying to teach. Keep them in their lockers.
My school will also be doing this in a couple of weeks. I travel an hour on the train every day to get to school and it is important for me to keep in touch with my parents.If there was something else like 9/11 and students did not have their cell phones, there would be complete chaos. We need to be prepared.
Don’t students have lockers anymore? A compromise would be to allow phones in school, but not in class. That’s the rule at my daughter’s (private) school. I wouldn’t want her to be without a phone after school, since that’s how we keep in touch.
The City is correct on this one. Ninety nine percent of the usage of cell phones by school kids in a school building is for frivolous things. They are a distraction.
You can learn, or you can play on the cell phone, IPOD or GameBoy. You cannot do both, kiddies.
By the way – the DOE is located at the Tweed Courthouse near City Hall.
Good for the kids protesting. It is a good lesson in civic participation.
I happen to think the cell phone ban is a good idea.