Ithaca board advances student cell‑phone ban with first reading after extensive debate on pouches, lockers and exemptions

The Ithaca City School District Board of Education approved a first reading of Policy 5695, Personal and Student Electronic Devices, after a wide-ranging discussion about how to implement a statewide ban on Internet‑enabled devices in schools.

The board's deliberations focused on practical implementation: district‑purchased signal‑blocking pouches already ordered by staff, whether elementary students may keep phones in backpacks, the use of lockers in secondary schools, and how exemptions and tiered, restorative responses to violations will be handled. After debate, the board voted unanimously to approve the policy for a first reading and return it for further revision at a later meeting.

Catherine Senera, president of the Ithaca Teachers Association and an English teacher, opened public comment in support of the draft policy and offered specific revisions. "Teachers and staff are expected to play a limited but important role in responding to student use of prohibited devices by creating a positive climate and providing gentle reminders," Senera said, praising language that assigns further intervention chiefly to building administration and that recognizes enforcing the policy can compromise staff–student relationships.

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