Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Senate voted to ban cellphones in schools in the name of improving \u201cfocus,\u201d \u201cmental health,\u201d and \u201cacademic performance.\u201d All the important buzzwords. The idea sounds amazing, but most school districts have cellphone policies with consequences that the school district is responsible for administering. Since politicians in Harrisburg can\u2019t be the ones enforcing a cellphone ban in schools, the legislation doesn\u2019t have meaningful consequences. Its sponsors seem to have championed it mostly for photo opportunities. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Ironically, one of the main things Democrat-run school board members ran on in Central Bucks School District was keeping politics out of schools. I guarantee the Democrats on school boards will now applaud this unenforceable law and act so grateful that state legislators are getting involved in schools because many school directors couldn\u2019t figure out how to do things themselves. They\u2019re happy to cede local education policy to state lawmakers like State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-Doylestown) who heads the Bucks County Democratic Committee and who is heavily involved in advancing this bill. \u00a0<\/p>\n
We live in a digital world where communication, information, learning, and connections happen through phones.\u00a0Rather than teaching them how to use phones responsibly, politicians think they can just remove them \u2014 which is impossible. Many parents don\u2019t want their kids to have phones or social media accounts. I support a parent\u2019s decision to not give a child a phone or social media access, but school \u201cbans\u201d will hardly make a difference on whether other parents get their kids phones or not. They also won\u2019t stop technology or social media at all.<\/p>\n
I am not sure why any Republicans would support this nanny state type of regulation, yet GOP state senators \u2014 with the sole exception of York County\u2019s Dawn Keefer \u2014 voted for it. Republicans are supposed to like less government interference.\u00a0Honestly, politicians did such a poor job helping children during Covid with masking and school closures, the less they meddle with kids the better. Politicians don\u2019t manage classrooms, build relationships with students, or deal with the day-to-day realities of education, yet they are eager to impose sweeping mandates anyway. I think it\u2019s dangerous.<\/p>\n
Obviously, phones in class are a learning distraction.\u00a0I do not think kids should be on phones during instructional class time. I personally want my child to have a phone on them for many reasons. The first is safety;\u00a0God forbid the worst-case scenario happens and a school shooter gets into a building.\u00a0I want my child to have a phone in an emergency.\u00a0I cannot imagine any parent would not want to access their child in that horrible situation, which is a reality in today\u2019s world. Why would politicians think locking away a device that could potentially save lives help anyone? Democratic politicians are always stating how dangerous schools are because the thousands of gun laws in America don\u2019t keep schools safe.\u00a0But now they want to lock away a device that allows students to contact police in an emergency?\u00a0It doesn\u2019t make any sense.<\/p>\n