STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City now has a comprehensive policy to prohibit cellphones and other internet-enabled devices throughout the school day in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s statewide “bell-to-bell” ban.
The policy, which was approved by the Panel for Education Policy last week, aims to create distraction-free learning environments across all public schools.
These are the five takeaways from a recent Advance/SILive.com report.
1. ‘Distraction-Free Schools’ law
The city Department of Education’s proposed policy directly addresses Hochul’s statewide “Distraction-Free Schools” law, which mandates that all public school districts create policies prohibiting cellphone use during school hours. This state law requires districts to establish their policies by Aug. 1 for implementation in the 2025-2026 school year. The governor has emphasized that the initiative aims to shift student focus from “clicking and scrolling” back to “learning and growing.”…