Goshen board reviews stakeholder input on new state cell-phone 'bell-to-bell' law; policy slated for July vote

The Goshen Central School District board received a summary of stakeholder work to implement New York State’s new student cell-phone legislation, described by district staff as a “bell-to-bell” ban on student phone use, and was told a policy will be presented for adoption in July to meet an August 1 deadline.

Superintendent Dr. Curtis Coates said the district convened a stakeholder committee of students, staff, families and administrators after the law passed and used sample policy language provided by the school boards association. The committee met several times to discuss how the ban would be applied and how to address communications and consequences.

Assistant Superintendent Jason Carter said students and parents were particularly concerned about how students would communicate with families during the day. Committee members preferred solutions that did not rely on individual locking pouches for every student; the group discussed encouraging use of lockers and a tiered approach to consequences for violations. District staff said the law’s definition of “internet-enabled device” includes tablets and smartwatches, and the policy will address those devices as well.

Board members asked questions about technical details, such as whether personally owned devices that can be filtered by the district network (for example, some tablets) would be treated differently. District staff said devices that can be restricted by the district’s network controls would be managed under existing filters; devices that connect independently to cellular networks would be affected by the ban.

Coates and Carter said the district will reconvene stakeholders in July and expects to present a final policy for board action at a special meeting scheduled to appoint the interim superintendent; adoption at that meeting is intended to meet the August 1 implementation deadline in state guidance, the superintendent said.