James Teal has had a lot of responsibilities as a school aide during his nearly three decades at Health Opportunities High School in the Bronx. And starting today, he'll add another one to the list: phone enforcer.
It’s the first day of school for New York City's approximately 900,000 public school students. That means New York’s smartphone ban is officially live.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers put the ban into the state budget last spring, saying it was time to end the epidemic of distraction in class and help kids get a break from social media during the school day.
The law left it to the schools to decide how to best enforce the ban. At Health Opportunities, that means Teal’s days — which include helping at lunch, monitoring the halls and helping in classrooms — will now be bookended by collecting and distributing phones to students.
Some students have said they want to be separated from their phones so they can focus and socialize, including members of the teen Luddite Club who embrace flip phones and reject social media.
But many students say they're annoyed and frustrated.
Josiah George is starting out as a freshman at Food and Finance High School in Manhattan, where he said he doesn’t know anyone.
“During the first day, I'm kind of thinking, ‘Oh if I don't make any friends by lunch then I'm gonna be sitting by myself with no phone. Just sitting there,” he said, adding that his phone makes him feel connected to his old friends, and “safe.”
Speaking on "The Brian Lehrer Show" on Tuesday, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles Ramos said the transition to the ban may not be seamless but urged patience for students and educators.
James Teal, a school aide at Health Opportunities High School in the Bronx, is responsible for collecting students' smartphones.
Ahead of Thursday’s return to school, Teal shared with Gothamist how he is approaching the new responsibility.
The interview with Teal has been lightly edited for clarity:
How is the phone ban going to work?
When the student is coming in the morning, we will be in the front and they have little boxes that they have to insert their phones into and then they go about the regular school day. We lock the phones up and secure them and put them away and then they pick them up at the end of the day.
And is this the first year your school has had a smartphone ban?
In the past, they would have a pouch and they would walk around with it. But what happened was, when they had the pouches, they were going to the bathroom, banging them on the floor and opening them up. Now they actually put them in the boxes and we secure them in the office and then they get them at the end of the day.
We’re all somewhat addicted to our phones. How can you help kids through this?
Even if you’re having a bad day, this is the protocol. The administrator is going to be there and I guess if it comes down to it they will call the counselors downstairs.
What’s your opinion of the smartphone ban?
I think it's good because now you get to deal with the student again. Before you could be talking to your kids and they had their faces down in the phone, so now you get to have eye contact again.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of my job is basically helping the students that need help, and that are willing to accept help when they know they need it.
