Press & Media

Zach Mangino, a rising senior at Wilton High School in Connecticut, spent most of the last school year undistracted by text alerts and TikTok videos, thanks to the town’s Board of Education decision to ban high school students from accessing their smartphones from “bell to bell.”

Cyberbullying has risen sharply in New York City public schools since the pandemic shuttered buildings and forced young people onto their devices, according to a new citywide survey of students.

A new school year is just around the corner, and with that new year comes a major new rule.

Starting this fall, classrooms across the state will have to comply with a new "bell-to-bell" cellphone ban. The ban was approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature as part of this year’s budget.

After more than four months, 17 local school districts failed to turn in a state-required plan on how to ban all internet-connected devices used by students.

New York's 731 school districts are prepping the Yondr pouches and other methods for stowing away students' cell phones and other internet-enabled devices come the first week in September.

The deadline has come for New York schools to implement “bell-to-bell” cell phone restrictions that require all students to put their devices away for the entire school day.

As all schools across New York state work to ban cellphones and other internet-enabled devices, public school students reported more incidents of cyberbullying among their peers, according to new results of a citywide survey.

As the new school year begins, a state mandate in New York is enforcing a ban on cell phones in schools, a decision that has sparked discussions among parents, educators, and students. The mandate, which removes the option for schools to allow phones, is being implemented with some flexibility for districts in how they choose to enforce it.

Two years ago, banning phones in schools seemed almost unthinkable. Now, thanks in part to parents’ organizing efforts, support for phone-free schools is rising quickly levels in a country that can’t seem to agree on much else.

State leaders have received just over 900 of about 1,100 total plans required from public schools, charters and BOCES as of Tuesday afternoon, or about 81%, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office. Submissions were due Friday via a State Education Department portal.

One common explanation for why children spend so much of their free time on screens goes like this: Smartphones and social-media platforms are addicting them. Kids stare at their devices and socialize online instead of in person because that’s what tech has trained them to want.