| Releases
& Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193
For Immediate Release: November 9,
2006
Statement
by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum
On
Department of Education’s Newly Released
Cell
Phone Waiver Policy
“Having created chaos and confusion
among the parents of special-needs children with its cell phone
ban, the Department of Education in June assured me and parent
representatives that a waiver policy would be ready by the start
of the new school year.
“Ten weeks into the school year,
the waiver policy the Department has put forth is entirely inadequate,
which may explain the Department’s reluctance to make it
public.
“For all the delay, the policy
reads as if it was hastily pieced together, lacking in detail
and specifics. It unduly burdens the parents of special needs
children, whose conditions are already amply documented in school
records, by requiring them to secure a physician’s sign-off
to a waiver request.
“The new regulations do nothing
to alleviate the concerns and problems created by the Department
of Education’s misguided ban on cell phones.”
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