School cellphone ban starts next fall, but questions remain

New York State was right to enact a law that will prohibit public and charter school students from using smartphones "bell-to-bell" starting next school year. While the new law hammered out in the budget process lays out some specifics, gaps remain that must be addressed before September.

There is no doubt that the phones, with their addictive social media feeds, are detrimental to young people's mental heath and a distraction for teachers. Other details involved in separating students from their phones, however, need to be settled.

How will schools alert students and parents before the school year starts that it is now against the rules to use a cellphone in class? When and how will schools collect and store students' phones? And what happens when a student refuses to hand it over? The new law bars schools from suspending a student for using a smartphone, so what can a school do to enforce the rules for repeat and willful offenders?

Wisely, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers left those decisions up to individual school districts, acknowledging that different regions of the state might have different priorities and concerns. In an interview Tuesday with Newsday’s editorial board in Melville, Hochul explained that the state undertook the ban because schools have "always had the power to do what’s right and they didn’t. ... The local discipline is up to them."

Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association Executive Director Bob Vecchio told the editorial board that while his group supports the ban, its members are concerned about the success each district will have enforcing it with the possibility of suspension off the table. It's also unclear whether districts will face state Education Department sanctions if some report that kids are using their phones.

 Suspension seems to be an extreme punishment. But the most important thing now is that school districts meet with teachers, parents, and students to devise principles regarding how phones will be collected and how uncooperative students will be disciplined. Other states should be checked for best practices. Then districts need to communicate the new procedures clearly and repeatedly to students and parents so that everyone is aware of the new policies before the new year starts in September.

Hochul sidestepped another traditional complaint — the one about unfunded mandates — by providing $13.5 million in the budget for schools to buy storage containers. Hochul and state legislators should be prepared to enlarge the pot if reasonable remedies turn out to be more expensive.

The first few weeks may be difficult as students, parents, and districts get used to the ban, but the results will be worth it. Reducing screen time is vital to student success. Our kids will be better educated and healthier mentally.

CORRECTION: The Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association was opposed to the state ban on cellphones in schools that is part of the new state budget, and advocated for local control and flexibility on such policies, including on the issue of suspensions for students violating the cellphone policy. The group’s stance was mischaracterized in an earlier version of this editorial.