The city is lifting its controversial ban on bringing cellphones into schools and allowing principals, with input from parents and teachers, to formulate their own policies.
Mayor de Blasio announced the revised regulation Wednesday at Brooklyn’s High School of Telecommunications Arts and Technology, as was first reported in the Daily News.
De Blasio, the first mayor to have a child in New York City public schools while in office, promised to end the ban during his campaign and has acknowledged that his own son takes a cellphone to school. He has said parents and students should know how to reach each other in the event of an emergency.
City education officials say the new policy will include sanctions against using phones to cheat on exams. It will take effect March 2.
The ban required phones and electronic devices like iPads to be left at home. It was put in place by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg but has never been enforced consistently.
Its reversal will deal a heavy blow to the cellphone storage industry, which allows students to check their phones outside their school for a fee.
