Schodack CSD Community,

In the weeks after spring recess, we will be hosting public forums for interested families, district employees and school community members about student cell phone use in schools.

We will be hosting two public forums – one virtual and one in person – and you are invited to attend whichever is more convenient. The forums will be led by our Director of Teaching & Learning Alyssa Sabbatino and Superintendent Jason Chevrier. The schedule is below and there is no need to RSVP.

In-Person Forum: Tuesday, April 29, at 6:00 PM in the Maple Hill Auditorium.

Virtual Forum: Tuesday, May 13, at 6:00 PM. The link to join is available here. If asked for a password, it is 939yZRtSPXK.

The purpose of these forums is not to announce or indicate that the district is instituting a cell phone-free school plan. Instead, these forums will be an opportunity to present data and discuss the overall impact of student cell phone use in schools. Our district holds voluntary faculty book studies and two of those books – Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari and The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt – focus heavily on the impact cell phones have on the developing minds of school-age students. Both of these book studies received a large amount of faculty participation and findings from the research in these books will be discussed, among other data sources. The district will also have a limited number of free copies of each book at the April 29 event that attendees can keep.

As you may have also heard, Governor Hochul has announced intentions to put a policy in place that would limit student cell phone use in all New York State K-12 schools. While you likely know of local school districts that have implemented cell phone-free policies, these were put in place voluntarily by those districts and the Governor’s initiative has not been mandated at this time. If this policy is passed, the Governor has stated that it will go into effect for all NYS K-12 schools starting in the 2025-26 School Year. The Governor’s proposed policy will not be the primary focus of these forums, but Ms. Sabbatino and Mr. Chevrier will touch upon it and preliminarily discuss what it might look like in Schodack should it be passed.

Questions?

If you have any questions about these events, please email Alyssa Sabbatino (asabbatino@schodack.k12.ny.us).