Let Freedom Ring: Students Can Use Cell Phones In Public Places!
Yesterday, the City Council approved a plan to let students carry [cell phones to and from school], as long as they are not used in classrooms. Apparently, council members are unaware that such a rule is the equivalent of allowing teens to go to school in the buff, but not touch each other.
The citys [cell phone ban is nothing new], but students carried the devices anyway without much consequence until recently. As part of a crackdown on weapons, schools began conducting random security checks, and finding and confiscating hundreds of cell phones. The new legislation would [prevent schools from seizing](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=71975) students cell phones unless theyre being used inside school buildings.
Unfortunately, the Department of Education is still considering the absolutely ludicrous idea of [special phone lockers] built outside schools in an attempt to comfort worried parents who say kids need their cells for safety reasons. Even Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. said, Were creating a generation of little prohibition smugglers now with this ridiculous policy. The priority is protecting the kidsand preserving their right to distract teachers to the point of insanity.
Aides to Mayor Bloomberg have said he will veto the bill, but the council, which voted 46-2 for the measure, may well have the 34 votes needed to override him. Bloomy believes [cell phones are a distraction] in schools, where students can use them to cheat, share naughty photos and generally waste time chatting and text messaging. What? Thats ridiculous! Our kids would never do that. In a speech on education policy yesterday in St. Louis, the mayor said, You come to school to learn. What? Thats ridiculous! Our kids would never do that.
Photo courtesy of [jurvetson on Flickr]