August 16, 2007

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A True Education Coalition? Maybe Next Mayor

Filed under: Education Guest Bloggers by Seth Pearce @ 4:42 pm

[Editor’s note: Seth Pearce is a student leader opposed to the cell phone ban in city schools and part of the New York City Student Union.]

The saddest part of Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of the anti-cell-phone-ban bill is not the veto itself (hopefully the City Council will override it) but that Bloomberg is squandering a great opportunity to achieve some semblance of unity in our public school system.

With this bill, another group of people involved in our education system, politicians, have joined teachers, parents and students in the fight for student safety. The rarity of this situation is what makes Bloomberg’s decision so sad.

Dealing with the misuse of cell phones in class is a difficult task. There is no question about that. In this situation, however, it seems like everyone is willing to sit down and work together to find a solution, not only to forward their own agendas. It seems like all the constituents of our school system agree that student safety is important, and that we must look to creative solutions to this problem instead of banning cell phones outright. Everyone, that is, except Mayor Bloomberg and the DoE.

The majority of the problems facing our schools are going to have to be solved through compromise and unity between teachers, school administrators, parents, students, politicians and DoE officials. Finding common ground on this issue could have created that sort of unity.

Ideally, Bloomberg and the DoE would have realized their mistake after the 46-2(!) vote and joined the discussion. Then we would create working relationships between groups that are so often at odds. And those working relationships would have let us begin to deal collaboratively and seriously with other issues like class size, school security and our dismally low graduation rates.

And we are opening up channels of communication. I, a student, am writing on the UFT blog. Parent and Teacher blogs are popping up everywhere, and we students even have our own blog. I hope that, just as the blogosphere has united many constituencies to influence the political landscape in Washington, we can work together to influence the Education system of New York City. Who knows, someday the DoE might even join us.

What do you think makes a reasonable compromise? The comments are open for you.

2 Comments »

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  • What do you think about the DoE’s plan to install coin-operated cellphone lockers where students can store their phones during the school day?

    Comment by Steve Perez — August 17, 2007 @ 11:12 am

  • I’m happy that they’re thinking creatively but like Councilmember Vallone says: it’s a complete waste of money. There are more important places that these funds need to go.

    Comment by Seth Pearce — August 17, 2007 @ 10:11 pm

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