NY Students Banned From Using Phones First Hated, Then Loved It

At a high school in upstate New York that had banned mobile phones, a student was constantly reaching for her non-existent device and grabbing air. Hallways rang with the sound of kids trying to smash locks and get to their devices. At another school in the Bronx, students plotted a protest.

Eventually, though, the symptoms faded and behavior changed. At KIPP NYC College Prep high school, AP test scores increased and grades bounced back to pre-pandemic averages, according to Principal Monica Samuels. She said some students even covertly thanked her for instituting the ban, which made it easier for them to focus. And the school saw changes after hours, too: Attendance at sporting events and other activities jumped by 50%.

At Newburgh Free Academy high school, classroom engagement improved after students gave up on busting their phones out of jail. The lunchroom got a lot noisier as the kids switched to playing card games instead of watching TikTok videos.

“And in our classrooms, when you would actually speak to them, you had their attention,” said Kate Sinnott, a math teacher in Newburgh for the past 16 years. Previously, classrooms had been a sea of heads looking down at their phones, she said.

The two schools offer a window into what is potentially in the offing for students in New York City, the nation’s largest district, after Chancellor David Banks said he plans an across-the-board ban on mobile phones for more than 1.1 million public-school students at 1,800 campuses. Governor Kathy Hochul has said she also intends to propose a statewide ban in schools during the 2025 legislative session.

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