Pittsburgh Public Schools is considering a district-wide ban on cellphones in the classroom.It’s open to parent weigh-in for the next 30 days before it can be put to a vote.This proposed cellphone ban is partially inspired by recent violence in schools, according to PPS board president Gene Walker.“This is kind of a response to the coordinated efforts of students to be around when fights happen, especially the fight at Carrick last month, and then take videos and pictures of those, and then share them,” Walker said.In the district, 44 out of the 54 schools already have their own bans in place, but how they’re enforced varies.“Some schools have opted to purchase Yondr pouches, which are those secure pouches that lock, but students keep it. Some schools have purchased boxes that students can put their phone in and pick it up on their own when they can get out, and it’s locked and kept at security, and other schools have different methods,” Walker said.Walker said a district-wide policy would aim to streamline that process.Parent Emily Sawyer said that’s the only way this works.“My personal feelings are that I don’t like cellphone bans, but I am very supportive of a district-wide policy on cellphones. I think having cellphone policies be school by school is really unfair and inequitable, so whatever the policy is, it should be district-wide and applied evenly to every school,” Sawyer said.She doesn’t consider this proposed ban to be a long-term solution to addressing conflict in schools.“I think this is a stopgap until we create the kind of schools where students don’t want those things to happen in their schools, and so they figure out other ways to deal with conflict,” Sawyer said.Billy Hileman, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, spoke candidly on a proposed cellphone ban, saying, “If you can’t text and drive, you certainly can’t text and learn.”Hileman spent 23 years in the classroom. He said he considers the policy necessary.“When students have cellphones, they are used sometimes — not a lot — but sometimes they are part of organizing a fight or jumping a student, so it can be dangerous,” Hileman said.The first chance for the public to weigh in will be at a public hearing next week.
Pittsburgh Public Schools is considering a district-wide ban on cellphones in the classroom.
It’s open to parent weigh-in for the next 30 days before it can be put to a vote.
This proposed cellphone ban is partially inspired by recent violence in schools, according to PPS board president Gene Walker.
“This is kind of a response to the coordinated efforts of students to be around when fights happen, especially the fight at Carrick last month, and then take videos and pictures of those, and then share them,” Walker said.
In the district, 44 out of the 54 schools already have their own bans in place, but how they’re enforced varies.
“Some schools have opted to purchase Yondr pouches, which are those secure pouches that lock, but students keep it. Some schools have purchased boxes that students can put their phone in and pick it up on their own when they can get out, and it’s locked and kept at security, and other schools have different methods,” Walker said.
Walker said a district-wide policy would aim to streamline that process.
Parent Emily Sawyer said that’s the only way this works.
“My personal feelings are that I don’t like cellphone bans, but I am very supportive of a district-wide policy on cellphones. I think having cellphone policies be school by school is really unfair and inequitable, so whatever the policy is, it should be district-wide and applied evenly to every school,” Sawyer said.
She doesn’t consider this proposed ban to be a long-term solution to addressing conflict in schools.
“I think this is a stopgap until we create the kind of schools where students don’t want those things to happen in their schools, and so they figure out other ways to deal with conflict,” Sawyer said.
Billy Hileman, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, spoke candidly on a proposed cellphone ban, saying, “If you can’t text and drive, you certainly can’t text and learn.”
Hileman spent 23 years in the classroom. He said he considers the policy necessary.
“When students have cellphones, they are used sometimes — not a lot — but sometimes they are part of organizing a fight or jumping a student, so it can be dangerous,” Hileman said.
The first chance for the public to weigh in will be at a public hearing next week.
