Last May, we featured a Queens mother of two, Ellen Weisman, who is one of eight plaintiffs who are suing the city over their policy of banning cell phones in schools. She said in her suit that she needs her children to carry cell phones so she can get in touch with them and does not believe the city should deprive her of that right.
“I don’t think that the School Chancellor has a right to tell me as a parent how to keep my children secure,” Weisman said.
After that article appeared, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone ruled that none of the arguments made by Weisman and the other seven parents who filed the suit persuaded him to overrule the current law. The parents and their attorney, prominent civil right attorney Norman Siegel, vowed to appeal the decision.
This week, Weisman listened to appellate court judges grill representatives on both sides of the school cell phone ban and said she is somewhat hopeful that the judges might issue an opinion that would pave the way for students to carry cell phones legally into city schools.
Most of the judges understood the parents’ position that we felt that banning the cell phones was completely too overboard and an infringement on the parents’ ability to keep their children safe,” Weisman said.
We hope that the appellate judges reverse the ban. The City Council passed a law doing just that and it was ignored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
We do not condone the use during school of any cell phone inside a school building. Texting between students should not be allowed. We do strongly believe that because of recent gunfire incidents and hoaxes on and around our city schools and colleges, having a cell phone is a safety must for each student.
Weisman said it clearly and distinctly when she framed the parents’ position, “Our concern is more before and after school.” “I don’t think there is an overwhelming amount of kids abusing their cell phones during the day. Cheating didn’t originate with cell phones, and it won’t end with them either,” Weisman added.
Colleges in our area from CUNY to St. John’s used the fact that their students all-carry cell phones and have created emergency notification systems.
For the safety of all, let us find a compromise and end this dangerous ban.
Golden Gloves Coverage
The Queens Courier in its relationship with The New York Daily News is proud to announce that we will be bringing our readers complete coverage of this year’s Golden Gloves boxing matches held in Queens. We will be profiling the local fighters and covering their successes in the fabled tournament sponsored by The Daily News. Along with our print coverage, we will be posting video of the bouts on our web site so you too can follow your local heros even if you cannot make it to the preliminaries. The first bout in Queens is on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Club Amazura, 91-12 144th Place, Jamaica - See you ringside!
