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(TNS) — The nation's largest school district is poised to ban students' cellphone use during the school day a few months into the 2024-25 school year, providing a major boost to a national movement to keep students away from their smartphones so they can focus on learning and in-person interactions with classmates and teachers. Next week, New York City public schools Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams plan to announce their initiative to cut down on cellphone use in the district of more than 900,000 students. "I can't stop the kids from having phones, and I want them to certainly be in communication with their parents and families when school is over or even on their way to school," Banks said in a June 27 interview with Education Week.

"But during the school day, I see no good reason for the kids to have access to their phones." Banks and Adams have not released the details of their plan, but the chancellor told Education Week that the policy would likely involve taking phones from students in some fashion before they enter the school building. That way, he said, enforcement doesn't fall to teachers.



With New York City's schools under mayoral control, the policy can take effect without local board approval. New York's plan follows widespread calls to cut down on social media and smartphone use among young people as concerns over their worsening mental health rise. New York Gov.

Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said that she plans to introduce a bill that would ban sm.

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