East Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - As Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to ban cell phones in classrooms across the state, the largest teacher's union in New York is getting feedback from teachers and parents.
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) hosted its "Disconnected" conference at Casey Middle School on Thursday to take a look at the mental and social impact cell phones have on students in the classroom.
Donna Walters, a NYSUT Board Member, says the goal of the conference is to educate people on this risks of children having cell phones in class.
"The focus will be on the policies about implementing a distraction free setting and different policies that different locations could establish. We maintain that schools should keep local control about how they implement policies to have a distraction free setting," stated Walters in an interview with WBEN.
Walters says that it's harder than ever to get students to pay attention in class and believes addiction is root cause.
"There is always music or something playing in their ear. We've had students who try to maintain FaceTime conversations with other people while in class, they just leave the ear bud in. Now I'm like, 'who am I teaching? I'm teaching everybody.' I really think it's an addiction aspect, and there have been studies indicating that the way we receive notifications through cell phones is designed to create an addiction," stated Walters.
There are parents who argue against the proposed cell phone ban because they want to have a direct line of communication during an emergency. However, NYSUT Board Member Michelle Licht, says this could end up making the situation worse.
"If they hear that there's a lockdown situation at the school, they want to be able to contact their children. So you think there is that impulse to just know that your child is safe and know that you can reach them during the day, but there are other ways to reach your children, through the main office. If there's an emergency at home, and if there is an emergency situation, you don't want your child trying to contact you to let you know them they're safe. You want them staying safe," stated Licht.