School districts across New York are preparing to roll out bell-to-bell cellphone policies this fall. Over the summer, local leaders are making sure educators’ perspectives are considered during that process. To assist local advocacy, NYSUT hosted a webinar on the new legislation in early June.
“As NYSUT leaders, we know that student learning thrives when classrooms are focused environments free of unnecessary distractions, and we believe that this is what this law is going to provide,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person during the webinar. She noted that she was proud of NYSUT’s role in getting the law across the finish line, and in making sure that local bargaining units have a formal role in the policy development process. “We know that no policy works unless it’s rooted in the realities of a classroom and your leadership, collaboration and expertise are going to be critical in terms of making sure these policies are implemented well,” Person said.
In May 2025, after a year-long push by NYSUT, New York became the largest state to enact a comprehensive bell-to-bell cellphone policy for K-12 schools. The law prohibits students from using non-school issued internet-enabled devices on school grounds during the entire instructional day and applies to all school districts, charter schools and BOCES across the state.
According to the law, each local education agency shall develop their own policy in consultation with its stakeholders. Each district must adopt a legally compliant policy by Aug. 1, 2025.
To help local leaders contribute to the process, NYSUT assembled a toolkit, which includes important policy considerations, sample policy language, and success stories from districts where cellphone policies have been adopted.
Last year, Poughkeepsie City School District implemented an ‘away for the day’ policy at the middle and high school. "It has been absolutely wonderful to see kids talking and having conversations again, not engrossed with their phones,” said Kimberly Popken, president of the Poughkeepsie Public School Teachers Association.
During the NYSUT webinar, Popken shared her experiences, alongside Ari Sillam, Smithtown TA and Brian VanArsdale, Hoosick Falls TA. They each talked about how their individual policy worked - including device collection, storage, and enforcement – and how the district had communicated the policy to parents, students and staff.
During the webinar, Sillam noted that while there was some pushback from parents, most were in relative agreement around the issue of cellphones ─ they just needed a nudge in the right direction. “I think this was something that parents also needed help with,” Sillam said. “I think sometimes they need us to be the bad guy, to implement some rules and policies that are harder for them to get ahold of.”
While the district administration is ultimately responsible for the effective development and rollout of this policy, a strong partnership between administration and educators will go a long way toward achieving the goals of the new law.
“We needed our office staff, our administrators, and all the teachers to be on the same page to make this happen,” VanArsdale said.