One US District introduces phone ban for almost one million students sparking an important debate

The new school year is already looking a little different to students in one US state, with education leaders now having brought in a controversial new technology ban.

Fronted by Gov. Kathy Hochul and approved earlier this summer by the district's Panel for Education Policy, New York City will become the first to see mobile phones banned from classrooms.

The aim of the policy - which was implemented across around 1,600 of NYC's public schools - is to have recently-stalled academic performances both tackled and improved.

Officially known as the Distraction-Free Schools bill, it will see K-12 schools across the state restrict smartphone use in the hope of creating more harmonious classroom atmospheres, and see children becoming fully present during lessons.

Students will still be permitted to use their devices during commutes to school, but after the bell rings, they'll be forced to hand them over to members of staff.

The policy came into place today (Jim Franco/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)

As we say, the cell phone prohibition has since sparked a rather heated debate online, with a number of parents being all for it and citing several societal benefits.

Taking to social media, one fan of the ban gushed: "Fantastic News. This should be the norm around the country if it's not already in your school get on the PTO."

Another agreed on X (formerly Twitter), name-dropping the positives in reducing the risk of children relying on artificial intelligence to help with their school assignments, adding: "This needs to be a nationwide law to stop the decline of grades and the use of AI to cheat.

"We weren't even allowed to use calculators in school unless for a specific project."

A third went on: "This should be in every school."

Others, however, attempted to point out a potentially-fatal flaw to the new system, being that a mobile phone ban would prevent children alerting either parents or the police to the presence of an unwelcome intruder to the premises.

Students will be forced to hand in their mobile phones (Getty Stock Image)

"If there is a school shooting, phones can save lives," one critic hit out.

Another claimed they'd continue sending their children to school with their cells, referencing the possibility of an emergency.

"My kids go to school in Suffolk and I told them to continue bringing their phones to school and just not take them out. My kids, my rules. In an emergency I want to be able to contact them or know their location," they explained.

Discussing her intentions behind the ban previously, however, Hochul addressed this potential refutation directly, suggesting that mobile phones could actually land children in more dangerous situations whereby shooters are involved.

"The last thing you want is for that child to have their cellphone go off and reveal their location," she previously explained.

A similar point was also made by National School Safety and Security Services president, Kenneth Trump earlier this year, who said arrivals from parents who've received an alert text from their child could make rescue attempts harder for the authorities.

Some parents have voiced school-shooter concerns (Getty Stock Image)

"In a critical incident, if you have 20 kids texting, receiving calls, live-streaming, they are not being able to pay attention to the safety guidance fully or to stay alert," he explained, as per Chalkbeat.

In agreement, one Albany, New York parent told News 10, 'I think the phones are going to cause too much stress in a situation like that', whilst another mentioned the risk of phones spreading false information.

"It would be very worrisome if my child were in that situation," they explained. "But I would hope that the school would have things under control and I think it’s better than to have things get out, bad information, and that’s what would happen."