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Council Pushes Bill Rebuffing Mike on City Schools Phone Ban

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 12:01 CDT

By Michael Saul, Daily News, New York

Jun. 10--Mayor Bloomberg wants to disconnect a City Council bill that allows students to bring cell phones to and from school.

"We have the right to keep cell phones out of schools and we will continue to do that," Bloomberg declared on his weekly WABC-AM radio show.

But 38 of the Council's 51 members, a veto-proof majority, have sponsored a bill requiring that "no person shall interfere" with a parent or guardian's right to provide a student with a cell phone for use to and from school.

Bloomberg said he has no problem with students using cell phones while commuting.

"But I can tell you that they can't bring 'em into the school, and we don't have the facilities, the people or the physical storage facility to let them store it," Bloomberg said yesterday.

"Now, you can say, 'Well, how can they have 'em outside if they can't store 'em?' I can't help you," said Bloomberg, signaling no willingness to compromise with the Council.

Councilman Lewis Fidler (D-Brooklyn), the bill's lead sponsor, said Bloomberg "needs to come to a sense of reason here."

Fidler said he agrees with Bloomberg that students shouldn't use cell phones in class, but he said it's important for safety reasons that they have access to a phone while going to and from school.

"Our intention here is for them to be able to leave the house with a cell phone and come back with a cell phone, notwithstanding the fact that they will spend the entire day in school," Fidler said.

"If they confiscate the cell phone," Fidler said, "they must return it at the end of the day."

Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) had not signed onto the bill as of yesterday, but her spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, confirmed that Quinn opposes the mayor's ban.

The speaker's position is that "students should be able to have cell phones before and after school in case of an emergency," Alvarado said.

The Council's Public Safety and Education committees will hold a joint hearing on the bill in the Council Chambers at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

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Source: Daily News

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