This week marks the start of a new school year. One parent and community health advocate is keying in on cell phone bans and school suspension standards among her biggest priorities for families heading into a new year.
This fall marks the first time students across New York will be banned from cell phone use during school hours.
Buffalo Community Health Worker Parent and Student Association Co-chair Jessica Bauer Walker says one of the biggest adjustments for students, parents and educators will be the inclusion of Governor Kathy Hochul’s ban on cell phone use during school hours.
“The shift that it's going to require is going to be significant," she said. "Just being able to have access to our children and communicate with them during the day. As somebody who employs youth and teenagers, being able to communicate with them during the day, I think it's going to be a big transition.”
Bauer Walker expects some schools will allow students to keep phones in their lockers, which would make them accessible in an emergency, although some are requiring locked bags.
A policy that needs to be changed on a more local scale is school standards for suspensions, she said.
“I've seen too many young people who have been suspended for issues that we could have worked together to resolve constructively," she said. "I'm working with a student right now who's suspended for an entire school year. It's if we can't get him back to school soon, it's going to have significant impact on his learning and his life that is probably not reversible.”
Bauer Walker says one future change she’s excited for is the addition of a Buffalo Public Schools commissary, providing flexibility for the district to make healthier food and in large batches, then freeze the food to send out for schools.
"We have a short growing season here in Buffalo, so that's really essential," she said. "My understanding is they're hoping to break ground in October, and we're very excited to see that."
