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Releases
& Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino,
Press Secretary
O: (212) 669-4193
For Immediate Release: November 14, 2006
Gotbaum
and Parents Cite Serious Safety Concerns
Call on Mayor to Dump Cell Phone Ban
Armed with e-mails from parents and students fed up with the Department
of Education’s cell phone ban, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum
today called upon Mayor Bloomberg to allow students to take cell
phones to school.
“I’ve heard from countless parents who rely on cell
phones to stay in touch with their children,” said Gotbaum.
“I’ve received e-mails from parents whose children
were lost, mugged, or injured, and were only able to receive assistance
by using their cell phones to call help."
Gotbaum released copies of the e-mails at a news conference, Tuesday,
Nov. 14, 11:30 AM, on the steps of City Hall and delivered copies
to the Mayor following the news conference.
“For far too long, the Mayor and the DOE have refused to
listen to address parents’ concerns,” Gotbaum continued.
“It’s wrong that this administration would continue
to brush off these serious concerns, especially when our children’s
safety is at stake. The Mayor must rescind this archaic cell phone
policy immediately.”
The Public Advocate established an e-mail address “hotline”
earlier this month specifically for parents to send in their complaints
to the Mayor regarding the school cell phone ban. The e-mail “hotline”
has received over 100 messages from parents and students who want
the DOE to revise its cell phone policy, including:
• One mother makes her 14-year-old son carry a cell phone
because “he has some slight neurological difficulties that
have the dual effect of making him unaware of his surroundings
and unable to speak with strangers. When he finds himself lost,
he will not ask an unknown adult for help. The cell phone is his
lifeline. I want to let [him] have a ‘normal’ life
and travel around the city (with some limitations) like his peers.
The only way to do that is with a cell phone.”
• After receiving a call from her daughter, who had lodged
a piece of glass in her eye, one mother was able to get medical
attention that saved her child’s vision. “She called
me from her cell phone to let me know that she couldn’t
see. I tried in vain to phone the school nurse, the principal,
the two assistant principals or the guidance counselor, but they
were all in an assembly. The receptionist was out to lunch and
the main switchboard was shut down, so there was only voicemail…I
made an emergency appointment at an ophthalmologist nearby and
called her on her cell phone and told her to take a cab over there.
He removed the glass from here eye and gave her an antibiotic
that prevented what was rapidly becoming an infection. The doctor
said that, without our prompt action, she would have needed a
cornea transplant.”
•
One mother wrote, “I have three children in New York City
public schools. As a working single mother, I need to be able
to communicate with my children at any given time…Just a
week ago, my daughter…was attacked by three students in
her school. I tried furiously to reach the school but couldn’t
[get] through [because of] the voice prompts. She has a cell phone
but can’t take it to school because it will be confiscated.
By the time I was able to reach her, she had already been taken
to the hospital with a broken arm…If she had been able to
call me, I would have known what hospital she was taken to and
may have been able to help her get out of the situation.”
•
According to one mother, “My 13-year-old son was shot with
a paintball gun last week…walking home from school and he
had no way to call me at home to inform me that he was injured.
His only result was to leave the scene of the accident walking
home bleeding, hurt, dizzy, disoriented as well as having blurred
vision. … The NYPD informed me to try and get him a cell
phone! I told them that he had one but could not bring it to school.
… our children have the right to have immediate access to
their parents!”
• One student was assaulted on her way to school, and could
have received help sooner if she had been allowed to carry her
cell phone. “As I was
walking, about a block away from the school a man appeared behind
a car…he exposed himself to me…he chased me for about
30 seconds before he gave up. As soon as I went to school I informed
my assistant principal about my situation. … Later [the
assistant principal] said that another girl had come in five minutes
before me with the same story. My assistant principal also said
that if I had a cell phone the security guards would have been
able to find him because I would have been able to call the school
while the incident was happening and help would have been swifter.
She also wanted me to have a cell phone so if I saw the man again
I would be able to call the police.”
•
As one parent of an 11 year-old daughter wrote to the Mayor, “[My
daughter] and her fellow student are traveling…on NYC trains
and buses on a daily basis…cell phones afford kids and parents
some comfort that in a small or large emergency, our child`ren
can reach us and we can reach them. … I really think you’ve
missed the mark on this issue. How much more evidence do you need
than the fact that parents continue to tell their kids to take
their cell phones with them every day? Cell phones are for getting
to and from school, not for use during school hours. Please be
reasonable. I am shocked that our attempts to communicate the
importance of this issue [have] fallen on deaf ears.”
“I
clearly don’t want students using cell phones during class
time, and neither do parents,” Gotbaum said. “But
in today’s world, the Mayor has got to understand that cell
phones are a vital line of communication. My message to the Mayor
is simple: Allow principals to decide on a cell phone policy on
a school by school basis.”
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