Mayor Adams Delays School Cell Phone Ban, 'We're Not There Yet'

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams has revealed that the city will not be implementing a cellphone ban during the upcoming school year.

"We want to remove any distraction from our children. Right now, there are some schools that already have bans. But once you use the conversation or the terminology that it is a full ban coming from the chancellor, there are a lot of things that will kick into play, Adams said during a press briefing Tuesday.

"... There will be some action in the upcoming school year. But the extent of a full ban, we're not there yet."

Adams reiterated he wants to have parents and educators on board.

"Once you do a decision one way or another, you're going to have those who are in favor and those who are opposed, and we just got to get it right. So I don't want to go backwards after we make the determination," he said.

This latest development comes after Schools Chancellor David Banks and other city officials were deciding on when to put a possible cell phone ban in place, Patch previously reported.

At one point, a school cell phone ban was floated to go into effect as early as February, Chalkbeat reported.

City officials were exploring a number of options, including collecting devices at the start of the day or requiring students to put their phones in cloth cases that are locked with a magnet.

In addition, schools may be required to buy cubbies or other storage equipment for student's phones.

Similarly, Gov. Kathy Hochul is also considering a ban on smartphones in schools. Students would only be able to have cellphones that can’t access the internet.

"We're going to review the policy. We want to get it right. And we're going to learn from people like L.A. and other places," Adams added.