Will banning cellphones keep students safe?

Gov. Kathy Hochul took her cellphone ban to an Albany area middle school Wednesday, touting her proposal to eliminate students’ personal technology from the classroom and expounding on how the move could increase safety and refocus classrooms on social studies instead of screens. While the idea has support from teacher’s unions and state legislators, it’s not clear that the absence of phones would actually make students safer in an emergency.

Hochul thinks it would. She told reporters in Guilderland that phones could distract from directions from teachers who have been trained in active shooter drills on how to protect students in emergencies.

“They know what to do,” she said of the teachers. “The students do not know this and if they’re fumbling for their cellphone and trying to see if their friend is okay – ‘maybe I can capture a video of this and I can go viral’ – there’s so many things that could be harmful to our children. I want to make sure that they’re safe.”

Recent school shootings, which have unfortunately become commonplace in America, has given some parents pause at the idea of sending their children to school without a way to immediately contact them. The National Parents Union, which has opposed the proposed cellphone ban in schools, said that the governor’s logic that students would be safer in the absence of cellphones makes no sense.

“I don't think she's actually had conversations with the parents of Uvalde or with Parkland parents, who have been very clear when they've been asked about this about how cell phones actually helped to identify areas of danger for first responders, get increased communication directly to parents and families, direct children into areas where they could be safe and find exits,” NPU President Keri Rodrigues told City & State. “In talking with parents who have actually seen this play out in real time, she's in conflict so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.”

Teachers are often trained to respond to active shooter situations using the “ALICE” method, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. However, training for teachers in the system can vary wildly in method and efficacy. Meanwhile, students themselves are often drilled in lockdowns where they sit out of view of windows and are instructed to be as quiet as possible. A worst-case scenario would see ill-equipped teachers trying to lead students to safety who are deprived of agency and information. In the past, lawmakers have referred to such students as “sitting ducks.”  

Students who appeared with Hochul at the event didn’t seem to mind the prospect of having no access to a cellphone in an active shooter situation. Eighth-grade student Anika Bhupati said that she believes a teacher would be of more use to her and her peers than a cellphone would be.

“I know that the teachers know what they’re doing, and I’ve also done research on this stuff, and I know that having your phone in school can alert the people you don’t want to alert, such as a shooter, and there are so many drawbacks to having your phone in a dangerous situation, I’d rather not have it,” she said.