##VIDEO ID:https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/Ba_iz22BDdj-q51Xx8u--VZN0oq18h1i/media/920852?autostart=false&showtabssearch=true&fullscreen=false## Welcome to, MS number 40. This is our town hall meeting on the banning of electronic devices within the Jersey City Public School District. I'm gonna ask briefly if you would just join me as we stand to pledge to the flag. Good evening. This meeting is being held in conformity with the open public meetings act, NJSA 10 colon four dash six, etcetera. Proper public notice of the meeting was caused to be sent to the Jersey Journal and El Diario La Prensa Newspapers and posted on the district's official website. In addition, members of the public may remotely access this meeting through Zoom, a remote video conferencing system. I'll now take a roll call. Trustee Bartkooch? He's en route. Okay. Trustee Iofe? Trustee Jones Watson? Trustee Mohammed? Trustee Patel. Trustee Tisdale. Here. Trustee Velasquez. Vice president Blunt. I am here. President Morris. President. We do not have a quorum. It's okay. It's a town hall. Yes. Alright. Thank you, Miss McKenzie. And, thank you to all of the concerned parents and community members and stakeholders who, are here today. We all have a clear understanding as to why we're here today, and that is to discuss, the usage of electronic devices, within our school system. The banning of cell phones in schools as technology continues to evolve at a staggering pace, our classrooms are confronted with both opportunities and challenges that we must navigate carefully. Cell phones, and other electronic devices have become an integral part of our daily lives providing us with access to information, communication and a myriad of applications that can enhance the productivity of learning. However, there are some instances in our classrooms and in our buildings that has sparked intense debate among educators, parents and policy makers. On one hand, proponents of cell phone bans argue that these devices distract students from their studies hindering social, interactions and it contributes to a decline in the academic performances. On the other hand opponents contend that cell phones when used responsibly can serve as a valuable educational tool that promotes, engagement and innovation. As we dive into this discussion, it is vital to consider the diverse perspective surrounding this issue. We must ask ourselves what role do cell phones play in this learning environment? Are, what and are the potential distractions outweighed by the benefits they can provide? How can we cultivate a responsible technology culture that fosters both learning and personal accountabilities? Today or this evening we have the opportunity to explore these questions examining the evidence, sharing experiences and envisioning solutions that prioritize the well-being and successes of our scholars. Our goal is to merely arrive at a consensus on whether to ban electronic devices but rather to seek a balanced approach to be able to be inclusive in the landscape of educational needs in this digital age. Let us navigate these complex conversations with open minds and collaborative spirits as we work towards creating a optimum learning environment for all of our young scholars throughout this district. Before I turn, head over to the superintendent for her opening remarks I just wanted to briefly introduce our panelists that we have today who are going to be offering a wealth of knowledge from aspects outside of the Jersey City Board of Education. Number 1, we have one of our renowned captains within the city of Jersey City. His name is Captain Joseph Walzewski, who is the commander of the West District right here in Jersey City. Come on. Let's give him a round of applause. He will be representing the Jersey City Police Department. We also have our amazing, 31st District Legislative Assemblywoman, Assemblywoman Barbara, Stamato, who is here to give her insight from a legislative aspect and also represent, the legislative delegation for the 31st District. Give her a hand as well. We have arriving later. I will introduce him when he gets here. We have, Bruce Dawson, who is the editor of the, Hudson Chronicles, news outlet, who provides local information, based on, issues that are happening, not just in Jersey City, but Hudson County, alone. And we're happy to have them, with us today. We also have our attorney, Ramon Rivera, who was present with us today. And, you know, we have our business administrator, Doctor. Luce. Miss McKenzie is here. And, one of the best attorneys that I know outside of the our county, and that's Mr. Putschnick, who is here today. Let's give Robert Putschnik a hand. Robert playing Robert And I'm gonna let and, now I'm gonna introduce our amazing superintendent, who has been doing a miraculous job, with the Jersey City District, and who is also going to introduce, our principals who are gonna give testimonies on, the the pilot, program that we have, on the back. So at this time please give a round of applause to our superintendent Doctor. Norma Fernandez. I'm sorry, Doctor. Fernandez. One person I forgot to mention, mainly because he wasn't on the panel. Come on and give a round of applause to our second District Commissioner, William O'Day, who has also joined with us today, who is one of our where's the did he step out? Okay. Well, we acknowledged him. Thank you, President Morris. So we are here. We're having this meeting to openly share information and receive feedback from the attendees. We have some senior staff as well as 2 administrators. But it is an attempt to force a transparency and open communications between the administration, the board, and the parents and guardians. I'd like to introduce doctor Maniscalco. Doctor Maniscalco, thank you. Raise your hand so would they know you. Doctor Maniscalco is principal at the Barack Obama School number 34, a pre k to 8th grade school. And they've been using you may have seen them on the in the, paper, they've been using a, pouch, the yonder pouch, to limit, cell phone use during the day. We also have Ms. Monica Patel. Ms. Patel, please raise your hand so they know who you are. Ms. Patel is the acting principal at Academy 1. Academy 1 is one of our, admission, middle schools. They also house a program for students with disability. But it's a part of the accelerated educational program for our district. So it's a gifted and talented middle school. And they use a different method. And each of the principals will share with you how they implement this cell phone free environment within the classrooms. So, President Morris, would you like me to put on the presentation at this time? Yes. Okay. IT, if we're ready. Is there a way that the board members can see one of the screens, please? Thank you. I will let you know when to say next. So okay. It's good. Thank you. Next, please. So what's behind the ban on cell phone use in our schools? As of September 2024, 15 states have passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict students' use of cell phones in school statewide. And 7 of the nation's largest districts forbid the use of cell phones during the school day. Next. A surgeon general's advisory is a public statement that calls our attention to an urgent public issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. We've seen it with smoking, pregnancy and alcohol, and many other health concerns. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation's immediate awareness and action. This advisory calls that was issued calls for the to the growing concern about the effects of social media on youth mental health. It is not just the use of cell phones, it's the use of cell phones for social media and its impact. It explores and describes the current evidence on the positive and negative impact of social media on children and adolescent. Some of the primary areas of mental health and well-being concerns, as well as the opportunity for additional research, they call for more research to understand the full scope and scale of social media's impact. But it does name a few items that are very important for us as educators and consent parents. The influence of social media on youth mental health is shaped by many complex factors, included, but not limited to, the amount of time children and adolescents spend on platforms, the type of content they consume or are exposed to, and the activities and interactions with social media that are afforded, and the degree to which it disrupts activities that are essential for health, like sleep and physical activity. Children and adolescents are affected by social media in different ways based on their individual strength and vulnerabilities, and it's based on cultural, historical, and socioeconomic factors. However, there is a broad agreement among the scientific community that social media has the potential to both benefit and harm children and adolescents. Brain development is a critical factor to consider when assessing the risk factor and harm. Adolescents between the ages of 10 to 19 are undergoing a highly sensitive period of time and with brain development. This is a period when risk taking behaviors reach their peak, when emotions fluctuate the most. Any parent of a teenager can tell you that. And when mental health challenges such as depression typically emerge. Up to 95% of our youth between the ages of 13 17 report using social media platform, which more than a third say they use the social media almost constantly. That is 1 in 3 adolescents. Next. In June, I invited the parents and educators to read The Anxious Generation, written by Jonathan Dave Haidt, who is an American, psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley president of Ethical Leadership at NYU Stern School of Business. The book, published this year, provides insight on how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness and argues that the spread of smartphones, social media, and overprotective parenting have led to a rewiring of childhood and a rise in mental illness. He examines adolescent mental health trends. What happened to the young people in the early 2010 that's triggered that that surge in mental health cases. He attributes this to 3 different items. 1, the loss of free play. There was a time when young people stayed outside and played until the lights came on. We no longer do that because of many different factors. There is constant adult supervision and scheduled playtime and the increase in social media. Next. What the author shares is that the sudden increase wasn't merely due to a heightened willingness to talk about mental illness. The rise was showing up in behavior as well as including, and the behaviors are self harm and suicide. And it showed up internationally as well. It wasn't just an American phenomenon. The rise in anxiety, depression, and self harm is found in all the economically developed countries. As you can see up to on this chart, according to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Mental Health, there has been a significant increase in the number of young people between the ages of 12 17 years old experiencing depressive episodes since 2010. 28% more than a quarter century ago for girls. So girls have increased by 28% between and those are girls between the ages of 12 17. And 11.5 percent of the boys doubled in these 14 years. Next. Mostly internalized disorders. So what mental health disorders are young adults experiencing? As we can see from this chart that is based on the, American College of Health, schizophrenia, substance abuse, anorexia, and bipolar disorders remain flat. There is a population that have these illnesses. But in these last 20 years, it's pretty flat. However, depression doubled and anxiety tripled. Next. We have all lived through the pandemic. But based on this graph, it pays to be older or mature. Younger people experience more anxiety. But in some age group, it has changed tremendously, unlike older individuals. Colleagues, this is the time it pays to be older. People 50 and above had a solid childhood with independent play and no social media. When we made a mistake, it wasn't memorialized for the world to see on demand. We didn't carry cameras with us. It was an expensive, very expensive to develop pictures, and we only took a few. However, the trend has changed for our younger individuals. Next. As of 2015, 1 in 5 American teen girls, or 20% use social media more than 40 hours a week. This is a national survey. As of 2023, more than 46% of teens all teens report being online almost all the time. So about half of our young people are constantly on social media. Extreme inappropriate and harmful content continues to be easily and widely accessible by children and adolescent. Harmful content spreads through direct pushes, unwanted content exchanges, and algorithms that that are designed to create addiction. In certain tragic cases, childhood death have been linked to suicide and self harm related content and risk taking challenges on social media. This content may be especially risky for children and adolescent who are already experiencing mental health difficulties. Despite social media providing a sense of community for some, a systematic review of more than 2 dozen studies found that some social media platforms show life depictions of self harm acts, like partial asphyxiation leading to seizures and cutting leading to significant bleeding. Further, these studies found that discussing or showing this content can normalize such behaviors. Everybody does it. It may include the formation of suicide pacts and posting of self harm models for others to follow. Social media may also perpetuate body body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, and social comparison, and low self esteem, especially among adolescent girls. Most of us have seen social media where people post the perfect life with the perfect family at all perfect ly well done. It's not the reality of what we see at home. Next. So the past week, we surveyed our parents as well as our students. 977 parents participated in the survey. Of the participating parents, 59% said their 4th through 12th grade students have mobile phones. 55% of the parents said that their children use the phone for educational purposes. 89% of the parents said their children spend between 1 5 hours daily on their phones. 27% said cell phones positively impacted academic performance. These are the parents. 31% didn't, see a decrease in children's attention span. However, when asked differently, only 5% of the parents didn't find the use of phones distracting for their children. So if only 5 did not find it distracting, 95 found it distracting. So it was when asked differently, it was a different response. 61% of the parents agreed that cell phones should be banned completely. And 37% said it should be banned with restrictions. Only 12% of the parents didn't find negative effects, but more than 3 quarters found negative side effects, and these were the most common. 23% found reduced physical activity, procrastination, 17% decreased communication skills, 15%, and loss of sleep, 5th 12%. Next. So we also surveyed our students. And we had the response of 3,257 students between 4th 12th grade. So it's a significant sample. 85% of the students surveyed between 4th 12th grade have cell phones. 32% of the students say they they use their cell phones frequently. So when asked what do they use this for, it's no surprise that the popular activities are messaging, 21%, social media, 18%, educational purpose, 17%, and gaming, 16%. That's 17 for educational purposes. They're very smart young people who know what the right answer are. What I found shocking is the honesty of our students when asked, do you find, cell phone distracting? 79% of our students said they found the use of cell phones distracting. That's over 2,500 students currently enrolled in our district who find phone distracting. Next. According to the students, these are the, negative, effects they identified. Children's mental health has deteriorated during the same years that, smartphone use has grown. Loneliness has increased, and sleep hours have decreased. In surveys, both teenagers and adults expressed deep anxiety about their own phone use. By many measures, American society has become angrier, more polarized, and less healthy during the same period that smartphones had revolutionized daily life, according to our very own students. 21% of them attribute the, distractions or negative effects to loss of sleep. That's 1100 students. 16% procrastination. That's over 800 students. 10% identify reduced physical activity. So that's 500 children who instead of playing physically playing are now on their phone. 8% decreased in communications. And yet, the parents said that 15% have seen decrease in communication skills for their children. 7%, reported incidents of loneliness as well as social isolation. And 6% identified incidents of bullying. Hence, 3 quarter of the students surveyed reported being negatively impacted by the use of cell phones. According to a recent New York Times article, at least 8 states, including California, Indiana, and Louisiana, have restricted phone use or taken steps in doing so in k to 12 classrooms. Next. Has childhood transformed into something unrecognizable? Has con constant access to social media caused an epidemic of social emotional concerns and mental illness among our youth? Next. I don't have the answers. But parents and caregivers should not be solely responsible for mitigating social media's potential harms. In collaboration with educators, parents can take steps to protect and support children and adolescents against the risk of harm. We can work together, parents, educators, and community leaders. In an article by Carol Vidal from John Hopkins Cent Children's Center, she said it is critical for health care providers, educators, parents, families, and friends, to encourage a balance of moderate screen time and social media use, outdoor activity and exercise in today's digital age. Next. According to Susan Lynn, the author of Who's Raising the Kids, Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children, and a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, she said, and I quote, we have been living with this incredibly seductive technology for several years. And what is finally coming to light is that constant exposure to social media and games and other tech products is actually phenomenally distracting and harmful. With that, next, I thank, the committee and the opportunity to share some of the research that is out there. This is not my own doing. It's just a, collection of different articles and research that everyone can follow-up with. We also have 2 principals who have implemented phone free schools during the school day. Children bring the phones to school and take them home. But they will, they're not used during the day who will be able to share their experience, with you, the community. President Morris, thank you very much for the opportunity to present. And I turn the meeting back to you. Okay. So we'll ask them to speak at this time as well as, we have other administrators. We have, Principal Salgado, Middle School 40. We have Principal McInano, McNair, academic high school. Any other principals that I don't see right now? We have assistant principal, Lisa. Miss Santiago. Sorry. I was gonna call you by your first name. Miss Santiago, thank you for coming. Anyone else I missed? No? I think that's it. And senior staff. So at this time, if I could have, Doctor Maniscalco, if you could share a little bit about how you use the phone free in your building with our parents would be great. And just before, we hear from the principal, you can go ahead to the mic. I just wanted to acknowledge that, trustee Barkuch, entered and also trustee Jones Watson. So we now have a quorum. I also would like to acknowledge trustee elect Matt Schneider, who is in the audience and also, trustee elect Tia Resabella. Did I pronounce your name correctly? Okay. Thank you. I just want to acknowledge, our trustee elects. Madam principal? Good evening, every oh, this loud. Good evening, everyone. I'm doctor Matta Scalco from PS 34, president Barack Obama Community School. And I did bring, examples of our pouch. So I will turn my back at, you know It's okay. Go ahead. Speak to the parents. So we have the elder pouches, and this came about when my assistant principal and I joined the PS, 34 full community after he went to a concert. And they I'm sorry. I have to interrupt you for a second. You could face straight because the monitor, they can see you. This is better? No. Face straight. They could see you on the monitor. Oh, yes. Okay. Thank you. We fixed it for you. We got you. Thank you. This is my first time on TV. Okay. Go ahead. And he secured his he secured his phone pouch, and it was he held it, and then it was returned at the end. And we said, oh, this would be a great idea coming from, you know, navigating through the pandemic and some of the things that we saw with children, not really socializing as much. You know, we have recess. That's where they learn how to resolve minor conflict, how to speak, instead of just being down on their device. So I would like to just I'll show you the magnet. This is how we unlock it. This is the neoprene pouch that's magnetized. And, let me just I'm gonna show you how we do it real quick. Now it's locked. And when we unlock it, when the students come in through the metal detectors for our students in grades 5 to 8, We we have them put it in. We have a 100% compliance. And at the end of the day, about 10 to 15 minutes before dismissal, we begin to unlock it. And the students are very happy because they may have to pick up groceries, pick up their siblings, and the unlocking process is relatively quick. I just have a brief question before you, leave. I'm going to put you on a hot seat real quick. Just in terms of, in the morning when the scholars are coming in, does this add additional time to the entrance and them getting settled and being able to get to class? Is this an, an extended, timing for you guys to do this? It was a learning curve in the in the beginning, but we it's a it's a quick process now. So I can't say now that it impacts any children from they know they come in. Their bags get checked. They hand over the phones. We label the pouches. They put it in. Any AirPods, they put it in. If they need it anytime throughout the day, they find us. We unlock it. If they need to some of them put money in the phone case, and all they'll say, we need to call my mom or we unlock the case. We don't wanna preclude children from communicating if they, you know, need to retrieve a phone number from their cell phone. So how we unlock it, it's, like, it's quick. I hope you can see it. Yeah. Addition, addition to that, for the 500 viewers that we have online and the, the parents and community that we have present, I I I know that when I asked the superintendent to for to invite you, both in, miss Patel here, I wanted, you guys to give an honest, opinion of of how this is working because I wanted, I didn't want the public to think that we, ask you to be in favor of this. So from your from your personal perspective as the principal of your school, do you find this to be effective? Number 1. And number 2, is there a better way of of implementing this that might make it easier, on the district since you've already, had a pilot program at your school? I I do think it's effective. I I you know, our goal as school educators are to definitely to promote student achievement. This is what we want. I'm a part of the Jersey Public Schools. That's what I want for our students here. And just, again, navigating through the pandemic was concerning that I have children at home too. You see the socialization a little bit that kind of decreased and declined. And when children came back to school, you we did notice our again, our what we saw, this definitely gave the children their voice Mhmm. To socialize, to interact. Like, we wanna promote collaboration, cooperative learning. We wanna promote, soft skills where children can present more and not be so anxious and attached to the phone. The pouch stays with them. We do not hold it. We secure it. It's labeled. At the end of the day, we unlock it, and everybody goes home happy. Alright. Thank you. Trustee Tisdale, do you have anything? Okay. So, good evening, everyone. I want to concur. Congratulations, by the way. I know that I said thank you the last time we saw each other. We were both fighting for it, so congratulations. Thank you. We do implement the Yonder Pouch in Inglewood. I know it's a much smaller district, but they started at the high school level, which I found interesting, and then brought it down to the middle school. Initially, when the students were listening or hearing, oh, this is coming, this is coming. There was some reluctance about it, and we're gonna figure out how to break it and how to do this, this, and that. Interestingly, they are unable to open it for whatever reason. It's whoever created it did a brilliant job, and it does take away from all of the distractions. And now what we're starting to see is that students have to start to think about what's going on in the classrooms, especially those who are so distracted. Interestingly, and a lot of educators have an issue holding students' attention spans. No matter what it is that you're doing in the classroom, if the trick is not every 30 seconds, you've lost them. And so in some instances, the the trick has to be every 5 seconds in order to sustain the attention and the ability to finish what's going on. So what we're seeing now is although that they're having certain conversations, they're understanding, okay, we have to get back into this. And they're learning certain skills, like you said, soft skills. How do I present? How do I give myself an opportunity to have a voice instead of being so, hiding behind my cell phone and things? And the difference between what we do in Englewood and what you're doing in, your school is if there's an emergency and they need to make a phone call, they have to go to the office. The pouch is not opened at all throughout the course of the day, which, I find interesting. But I tell you one thing, they're holding on to those pouches for dear life. They're in a secure spot. And whether the students have a phone or not, they still have to have a pouch and be responsible for carrying it in and out of the day, getting it locked, and open it up. So I do think it's, it might be effective, and it'll definitely cut down on a lot of those videos that are going around with regards to the fights, which also lead to, a form of bullying and like doctor Fernandez talked about, in certain instances, suicide. So Yeah. If it's gonna work and give young people an opportunity to actually start to use their brains for the reasons that they're supposed to be used, then I'm all for it, especially since they don't know how to actually navigate technology the way that it's intended for them to use. What I want the public to also be aware of is that, when we originally called for, this town hall meeting, we were we were talking about just cell phones. But now we have since expanded it to all electronic devices, because now we have eye eyeglasses with the eye sun eye sunglasses. How it were I have no idea how that works, but they apparently are electronic sunglasses. The purpose of it, I don't know. But to record. Okay. But anyway, we're we're we're looking to, ban all electronic devices. Trustee Barkuch, do you have anything that you would like to ask the principal, regarding this, the bag? Thank you, mister president. And thank you, everyone, for your patience. I was commuting from Patterson. But thank you for having me. My question is because I've I've done some research about the yonder pouches. I love the fact that, teachers will unlock them for students because that was a complaint in other school districts where they were implemented. Parents were worried, like, that they couldn't communicate with their child. Some parents communicate with their child throughout the day in terms of pickup schedule or, you know, after school activities. So I love the fact that students can just come to their teacher and have it unlocked. Something that I have a concern about was that, a Google search I've I've Googled it before, how to unlock a yonder pouch. In in in your time piloting this at your school, did you have any issues with students unlocking it themselves? Because I there's a video online that shows 5 different ways to open it. So kids are really resourceful. And that's a form of higher order thinking, of course, of how to, you know, challenges presented in front of them. We, you know, we discuss consequences with parents. And when I tell you less than 5, when we get the pouches and this was the 1st year. You look at it just to make sure the pins are not broken, and then we take it from there. But it's really we haven't had any other issues at all. For the trip. And We talk about it. I'm sorry. Isn't the replacement cost of the pouch $40? Well, that's what we charge them. But we haven't we don't have a policy on it yet, so we don't Oh. So so that was going to be my next question, for the president as well as the board. In terms of the policy, will students be responsible for the replacement fee? Well, that's something that needs to be discussed in the policy committee. And right the purpose of this meeting today is to get a consensus of the community, stakeholders, our elected officials, our law enforcement on why this is a good idea. Right? And then after we've determined that this is a great idea or a good idea, then we're gonna transfer the resolution. We're gonna vote on a resolution today and have that sent to our, policy committee saying, hey. We met with the community. This is what happened. We're either for or against this policy so that the committee can proceed. So when that comes up, if you would like to be a part of that committee, I'll allow you to come in, briefly because I know you're not a part part of that policy committee. But if you would like to come in and give your input, I'll allow you to come into that committee. Thank you. Trustee, Jones Watson, do you have any questions? Yeah. I just wanna say good evening to everyone. I wanna thank, Doctor Fernandez for that extensive report on the pros and cons. I think that the information you gave gave will definitely be a great input into the community. However, I just have one question. I applaud your program at PS 34. Thank you. I really do. I just have one question. You stated that if the children needed to speak to their parents or anything that you allow them to, do you have any many interruptions during the day for that? Or is it just No. We still have the, the regular school policy where the the child is sick. They go to the nurse. The nurse will call. But sometimes, if there's an update in a phone number they need to call, they need to retrieve a phone number, and, you know, the student will have it saved because they may not memorize the parent's phone number. So there's hasn't been an issue. They'll come to us. Or if they're like, hey. I need to tell my mom I have practice, you know, with our middle school project a team sports, I have to tell them I have practice. So I need to tell them we're leaving late. It's not a problem. Okay. Thank you. And I also was gonna ask if the children destroyed the palliative with the course, but that was already answered. Alright. Thank you. I don't I I actually have a a brief comment on that. Like, I believe that during the instructional hour, between that time, what need is there for a scholar to have to reach their parent? I believe that, thank you for raising that question. I was just saying the same thing right here. I remember being in school, and when I was in school, my mother never needed to reach me during the time I was in school. I love that you wanna reach me. I thought it was just understood that you're in school, but things have changed. Yeah. Vice president Blunt? Vice president Blunt? Yes. I I do. 1st and foremost, recognize that many states have already moved in this direction. This is this is seems like it's a a tidal wave that's going across the country. When people begin to understand that you need to train, you need to be in an academic environment. When I was in school, in New York, we we didn't have those kinds of things. And when I was principal, we didn't have those things. Now I do understand. I think it's worthwhile. I support it a 100%. Thank you very much for your presentation. Thank you. Thank you, mister vice president. Thank you so much, madam principal, miss Patel. Principal Patel, would you take the mic, please, and just give us your testimony on what could someone help, with the mic going back in the holder, If you don't mind. Thank you. Oh, wow. Look at that. You brought a prop. Yes. Good evening, everyone. I'm the acting principal at Academy 1. We do have a, no cell phone policy within our building. So the way it starts is in the mornings, we have a homeroom time where the students all will be in the homeroom. At that time, please sorry. The camera's right on you, so go ahead. There you go. See it moves. Where do we see them? So at the during homeroom time, the each classroom has a computer card. We wanted to stretch out our resources, which district has purchased. So the the teachers would open up the card. And during that during the homeroom time, there is a swap between the cell phone and the computer, Chromebook. So each student has because the district initiative was 1 on 1. So, therefore, the students are turning in the cell phone, and they're collecting their Chromebooks throughout the day. We do also have during lunchtime where the students are not using their Chromebooks at all. During that time, the students are just socializing. We saw there was a need of students learning the soft skills of communication, collaboration, and all the other, you know, soft skills that are needed for them to be successful in, you know, high school, especially my school as a middle school. And at the end of the day, all students return back to the homeroom, and the teacher would then open up the cart, and all students will retrieve their cell phones. And that's the process that we have at academy 1. Okay. Is there any negatives? So far, it's very positive. Okay. I think so too. Do we have any how much is that if you don't mind, what was the cost? The Chromebook cards were purchased by the district. How you know how much it cost? They're expensive. Therefore The cards are expensive, but those are the chargers for the Chromebooks. We already invested the money in these cards, during the pandemic when technology became. We did a 2 to 1. So every student has a Chromebook they use at home as well as one they keep in school. So the cards are there. It's already purchased. That that's actually a a a good idea. You not only are you we have one principal that had to purchase the pouches, but you decided not to do that, just to use the available space after the chrome. I think that's actually pretty good. Yeah. Okay. Does anyone have any questions for, principal Patel through the chair? Mister Barkuch? I think that's a brilliant idea. It's it's a good way to, recycle school u resources. It's a good way to take the student's phone, but there's that, you're giving them something back as opposed to just taking something. So, I think that's a very creative idea. And it's it it would be cool to kind of pilot it in other schools. Yes. Mhmm. To the chair? Go ahead. Yeah. I concur with, Trustee Bakug. It's very creative. And, I like the idea that you said that the students who are able to communicate verbally when they're in the lunch room because they don't get their phones back. So I think that's an excellent idea because our children need to communicate verbally. So I applaud you on that also. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee I'm sorry. Go ahead. Were you complete, miss Watts? Yes. Thank you. Trustee Tisdale, do you have anything for, Principal Patel, Vice President Bullitt? No. Thank you, for your time. We appreciate it. At this time, I just wanna, introduce our our guest panelist, and give them the opportunity to speak. Just so that the community is aware, I've asked, captain Ozuski to come and give, his perspective, on the banning of cell phone electronic devices, because a lot of people don't really realize how closely the board of education works with the Jersey Police Department. They provide our outer safety, outside of our security, and not only that, but when we have investigations that have to take place that require the police, they handle that as well. And God forbid, like across the country, we have a situation, such as a mass shooting. We take our directives, from the law enforcement. So I invited, captain Ozuski to come and give his, input, from a police perspective, as to why this is a good idea or why this is not a good idea. So at this time, I'm gonna ask captain Ozuski if he will proceed. Hi. Alright. I would be in support of this because from the police field, we see 4 issues with the phones. The first, somebody mentioned the fights with the phones. First, these are how the fights are set up. They text each other where to meet, what time to meet after school, so they set the fight up first with the phone. Then the other thing is filming the fight without mentioning the school or mentioning the person because it's a minor. We had an incident a few months back where the where a girl, they were gonna beat her up. 6 of 6 girls jumped her. She was a little bit on the heavyset side. So to embarrass her, they tried to rip her clothes off, and that would fall under somebody mentioned the bullying. And then they had this this film was done. The fight took place, let's say, at 11:30. The film was out by 11:35, and we had 17 of our family adults in the family coming to the school to beat up the other kid and their parents. So it's not only you have the setting up of the fights, the fight, and then the communication after the fight, and then they may run it on the weekends. Something happens on the weekends. They bring it back to the school. So this this gets set out before we even know about the fight. It's already on video. We also have issues with misinformation. We've had situations where I have other principals calling me and saying, was there 3 kids shot at this school today? No. We spread it on social media. This girl said, this these kids were shot by the school. We find out who the girl is. We go and speak to her. Oh, she heard from somebody. We heard from somebody, but they put it out. And, again, it's misinformation which causes problems with parents because now they're calling to find out if somebody was shot at their kid's school and nothing happened. The 4th biggest thing we're having a problem with this is I'm a child porn. What's happening is you have kids. They're dating each other. She dates him. She sends him nude photos, whatever. They break up. She's dating somebody else. This guy's mad. He sends pictures of her photos all over. He gets in trouble, but she's also in trouble because she's not supposed to be sending because it's technically kiddie porn, and she's under a certain agent. We're finding a lot of this with kids. They're doing this constantly. And the charge for that, you what the captain is speaking about will be 1, will be invasion of privacy and also, cyberbullying? We have cyberbullying, invasion of privacy, and, endangerment of a minor. Yeah. Captain, if you don't mind, could you just speak a little bit from the aspect of, of the precautions taken on behalf of the department and the board of education, to prohibit, anyone being hurt during mass shooting or a scare of that sort? Last time we had a mass shooting here was about 2019. It was down here in the South District. One of the problems we had with it I mean, we were on it, like, immediately. The problems with the cell phones again is kids texting their parents were giving wrong information. I had other principals calling me saying, is the shooter walking up, Ocean Avenue now? No. The shooters were at this point dead. But it's gonna be a problem if kids start texting or texting their parents because their parents come running to a scene, and we're not able to control the situation with the parents. So you need you by taking the phones away and letting the school, the principal security, letting them handle the situation and we come in on the criminal aspect. I think it makes the it's more cohesive that we don't have panic mass panic running all wild with the, kids, parents, parents coming in, parents not knowing what's Going on kids texting, I heard this, this one heard this. But it should be left up to the school, then they call us in and we handle the criminal part. Thank you, captain. You in the audience will have the opportunity to ask Catherine Ozuski, Assemblywoman, Stomato, or anyone here, any questions during the portion that we've allotted for you to, speak. At this time, I've asked, that our assemblywoman of the 31st district come, because oftentimes the policy and procedures that the Board of Education follow come from state legislation. And not only that, but I just wanted to get her views from a legislative aspect as to how this might look, possibly, for legislation throughout the state. So not only just Jersey City, in some districts, are doing this. Although I just wanna admit that we want Jersey City to be the leading district in this initiative. But, we would want other districts to also follow through. So at this time, Assemblywoman, miss Damato. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, first of all, to, to president Morris for inviting me here and also to doctor Fernandez for that, everything that we just saw. Presentation. Presentation. I, just on a personal note, I agree with banning cell phones. I think that, that it's really gotten out of hand. And, I, when my kids were in school, we, I didn't have that problem. Although my boys, they both, I always say if I had a nickel for every time, a teacher used the word focus, for my boys, I'd be rich. And I think that cell phones just, you know, add to that distraction. And, I would like to sponsor legislation, to ban cell phones. I'd like to take my direction from the Jersey City Board of Ed, and, and definitely make Jersey City the leaders in this initiative. I think so. I think those are very And I just I guess when the, when we hear from speakers in the audience, I'd just like to know, like, what is the opposition to it? Yeah. Me too. Because You cut your mic on. I was just wondering specifically because we're providing them with the Chromebooks to do everything that is necessary throughout the course of the day. Mhmm. And so the websites that they need for educational purposes are accessible. Okay. Through the chair. Go ahead. Thank you to the captain, and thank you Assemblywoman Samato for joining us. Captain, I did have a question for you. Something because I've been looking at the yonder pouches for a while myself doing my own research. And I know, you know, Philly School District turned it down. One was the cause. But the question I have for you in terms of the mass shooting, hopefully, we don't have another one in Jersey City. But a lot of parents when their school districts implemented the under pouches, they were concerned that if there was a school shooting, how would they be able to communicate? I know that you said it's better to not have parents on the scene, but, some parents may argue with what happened in Uvalde. I'm very grateful for the JCPD. You guys are amazing. But, you know, there are concerns amongst parents of of what happened at Uvalde where, you know, police officers were rushing in to rescue their own children as opposed to, like, everyone. To the parents that might have that question, how would you respond to that? Okay. Back to the one in Texas. It was handled totally wrong. Mhmm. How it works with active shooter, we go in, just go and take him out. Mhmm. That's the option. We go in, and that's it's not we don't sit and wait. You're supposed to go in. They messed that up totally. Mhmm. But with the parents, it's not gonna do anything. It's it could make it worse. Mhmm. I understand. And especially what if what if the shooter sees you on the phone? Yeah. Then the shooter now maybe I wasn't gonna shoot, but I'm gonna shoot that. Maybe that person's doing give them tell them where I'm at, and now I'm gonna shoot that person. K. Thank you, Catherine. It's reassuring here that the JCPD has a plan. And then for assembly with Samato, I absolutely love the idea of sponsoring a cell phone van. But maybe even beyond that, maybe this is a bit much to ask. I I understand how the assembly works. I understand, it's it's a series of give and take. I do know that the cost of of the yonder pouches from my research was 25 to $30. I heard doctor Tizil say $40. In a school district of 30,000 kids, that's going to be over $1,000,000 at $40. Probably about $2,000,000. Yes. It's going to be expensive. And, that's actually one of the reasons that other school districts across the country have not implemented it, simply due to the cost. And again, a physical object in the hands of children. I know at at when I was a kid I probably would have destroyed this thing at some point trying to break into it but, it would be awesome if you could potentially work on something that might provide grants, similar to how the state provided, funding, grant funding for electric buses. Oh I'm sorry. Similar to how the state provided funding for electric school buses, just wanted to recommend that. Yeah absolutely I would be open to any ideas, for funding and I do agree I think that it's going to be another added expense that we definitely have to Yeah. Address. Thank you. I just wanted to make a comment, you know, on something you said in regard to, as a young person, carrying this around probably would have been a hassle. It It was interesting when you said that because I think to myself, they come to school without their laptops charged or without the laptop charger, but they have the Yonda pouch. If I may add something. Schools regularly practice drills for all kinds of situations. So every month, every school in the district has 2 practices. And in that, we do the stay in place, active shooter. So we have a system. And the idea is for students to be not not to be visible and to pay attention to the person in the room. In 2019, I was the deputy superintendent of schools. I was on, MLK that day, And we sent every staff member and every parent communications throughout the afternoon, letting them know. The problem was that people were trying to make their own decisions Because in collaboration with the office of emergency management, we had decided that we were all going to stay in place because as you put 30,000 students on the street with very nervous parents trying to get them and staff trying to get out of the city, the police had an emergency they had to deal with. And so we were all safe in our places, and we communicated with everyone in the city, all our employees as well as the parents, throughout the afternoon. But the idea is to really work on the problem. And everyone needs to focus on how to stay safe and allow the police to do their, due diligence. We have security guards. We practice. We do this all the time. In case of emergency, worrying a parent, you know, for something that may fortunately never happens, it's a balance between something that we know. We have the data. It's happening. So what is happening to our young people we already know versus something that may happen? The person I want in case of emergency is the emergency, workers rushing in. We don't need the parents rushing in. Mhmm. We need I emptied out, in collaboration with other administrators, a building on 911. And I see mister Mack nodding his head. We hopefully, we never have to do that, but schools have systems in place that are used. We know how to manage 100 of children. Well, in one building in one building. We I but in one building, you we manage they can send no. I don't manage 2,000 inside the build. When they go out at lunchtime, that's a whole different story. But inside our buildings, students are safe, but they may be sending parents inaccurate information that will get more people hurt. So that was just mine. Thank you. Thank you, madam superintendent. All right. At this time, I'm going to ask our attorney, to read, our preamble, so that we might be able to open up the public comment. So, just so you know, for your convenience, public, we did not require you to call in, like, normally, to, have a slot. I felt that it would be important for you to just be able to get up, and speak, and not have us not have the call in in that measure. So I'm gonna ask our attorney if he would still, we still have to follow the preamble. So whatever he says, we're gonna have to be adhered to that. Mister Rivera? Thank you, board president. So our public comment is as follows. All speakers must adhere to the 3 minute speaking rule. The clock shall not be stopped. Speakers will be called to the microphone to speak in the order that their request is received. All statements or comments shall be directed to the chair. It is the expectation of the board that comments will remain positive and focused around the best interest of the students and the district as a whole. The board will not condone comments that can be perceived as harassing, insulting, threatening, or lacking in respect or civility. The chair reserves the right to, a, interrupt, warn, or terminate a participant statement or comment when it is too lengthy, b, interrupt and or warn a participant when the statement or comment is abusive, obscene, or may be defamatory. C, request any person to leave the building leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum or presents themselves as a danger to others in the building. D, request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person prevents or disrupts the meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with the meeting, including threats by words, actions, or objects, e, call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of a meeting, and f, waive these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting. Thank you. Thank you, mister Rivera. Is there anyone from the audience that wishes to speak at this time? If you do, we ask that you would come to, the microphone at this time. When you come to the microphone, I ask that you would state your name and, and then begin. So, come on down. Good evening, president Morris, superintendent Fernandez, and cabinet. I am currently a and have been an educator in the Jersey City Public School System for 20 years. And, I just wanna just shine light on 34 school. I attended there as a visitor one day, and I saw the process of the pouches. And I must say that it is very effective, and I do believe that's something that we should invest in for all schools for the Jersey City Public School System. My only concern with the academy, one process is what happens when we have substitutes. That's another concern. I know that at 34 school, I've seen them. They've had the bins. They put them in the bins. Security guards bring them to the classrooms, so it's a more secure system. With Academy 1, I'm not sure. I I like the idea of using the carts, because it's something that we have in our schools already, and we don't have to spend money. But I'm just concerned about the substitute, when the when the substitute is in the classroom. But I just wanted to say that I do think that this is a great thing for our students. The phones are a distraction. Being a classroom teacher for 16 years and a library media specialist for 4, It is a distraction and I really think we should use utilize our funds to purchase pouches for all the schools in Jersey City Public School System. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll, try to get an answer to your question at the end of the meeting. Oh, what was your name again? I am Kim Malloy Chapman of PS 14 School. I'm also a product of that school as well. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that would like to, speak at this time? Don't everybody come running at the same time. Come on down, Madam Trustee Elect. Hi. I'm Tia Rizabalah. I was a former teacher at Ferris, and I'm gonna speak to the fact that I agree. I'm a teacher that was put on TikTok and Snapchat because of an outfit I wore, instead of them paying attention to what I was teaching in the classroom. So it can be a very big distraction. Another thing, when I was listening to the officer, twice we went into lockdown, and I had to tell my students, do not give out your location to your friends. We don't know why we're on lockdown. So it's a consistent push to explain to them. Not even your parent should know what classroom you're in right now. Right now, we're on lockdown. Don't communicate with anyone. So I do agree with the with, the ban. The only, reservation I would have is as a business teacher, some of the sites are blocked. Sometimes I would need them to pull up share prices or watch a case study that they couldn't watch through their Chromebook. So unblocking a couple of the business sites for them. But other than that, I do agree with the policy. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Well, madam trustee, one of the things you just should realize is that you're gonna be part of a recession because this is gonna go over into next year. Is there anyone else that would like to, speak at this time? This is your opportunity before come on down. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. My name is Jason Stewart. I'm a middle school teacher here at MS 40. Thank you, for having this wonderful panel. Thank you for taking this initiative, for having this discussion. As a middle school teacher here at MS 40, we have a process of collecting cell phones. It is voluntary by the students. As a homeroom teacher, I try very hard to collect cell phones, but I cannot force my students to turn their phones in, which is why I'm here at this meeting today. I'm hoping that the district will adopt a district wide policy so that all of us, all of my colleagues, my principal, we can all be on the same page in regards to cell phones, so that students know that we are united in our efforts to free them from this device and allow them to be better academic students, which is what we all want. I can tell you that during the process of collecting cell phones, over time it's become even more defiant from students. In the beginning, I would collect, out of a classroom of 25 students, I would collect 10 phones. Today, I collected 0. And this has been an ongoing deterioration of this collection policy. I had a conversation with a parent just this evening, right before this meeting, about a student who is consistently late. One of the things that the parents told me was that I am tracking my child on their phone, texting them, calling them, making sure that they are here in the courtyard before school starts. I understand the need for parents to be able to contact their kids. I have a middle schooler, 7th grade, she has a phone. She turns it in at the beginning of her day, I asked her, is this an issue with you and your classmates? She said absolutely not. It's an issue here and I imagine it's an issue at other schools district wide. So I'm hopeful that a district wide policy will be enacted soon. I am hopeful that our legislation will pass some type of legislation which will then address this completely and comprehensively. I am hopeful that we can do this in a timely manner. Because every day that goes by that this policy is not in place, it is making it extremely difficult in the classroom. So if we could somehow put this on the fast track as something that is urgent, I think you will get a lot of improvement, not only throughout all the district and the schools, but a response from families and students that we appreciate what you've done for us. So those are my comments. I thank you for your time, and I hope that this gets done quickly. Alright. Thank you for your comment. Well, I have a question for him. Thank you. You you mentioned in your statement that the policy is voluntary yet, at PS 34 and at, academy 1. It seems like you implemented a no no, no you this is not an option situation. Why is it voluntary at PS 40? I say it's voluntary because I don't have the ability to force my students to physically turn in their cell phones. Oh, okay. So there's nothing basically in writing indicating that this is what we're doing as a school? We have school wide policy. Cell phones are not permitted during the day. If you are caught with a cell phone, there are consequences for it. But it seems like it's an unnecessary process because it's just, as I said, I collected 0 cell phones today, so now there are 25 students with the possibility of taking out their cell phone during the day, which is then going to cause so much paperwork, follow-up and discipline that I think we could avoid if we simply collected at the beginning of the day. So let me ask you a question, you say you collected 0 phones? 0. Did you find that your scholars were utilizing their phone during the hours? Today I did not receive an email from one of my other colleagues that the cell phone was taken out. But I can imagine that if they had the time or if perhaps there weren't other things, I might have received an email. I know my students, this is my 1st year here at this school, I've spent every day with them minus 1, I've gotten to know them, I know that they will try hard not to take it out, but there are a few that, and then it's a cascading event. And throughout the day, it's just it's it's tough. Okay. Well, if they didn't take out their phones, then your it worked because the idea is for students not to use the phones. We don't want to police phones. We don't it's the idea that phones are not used from bell to bell. So maybe as a school, that could be a consideration because the code of conduct currently allows if a school wants to do a school wide ban on cell phones, it's a possibility for the school. What this policy with the consideration may be that all schools will have a ban. So that's a consideration. If the school does not want to do it this year, and the board approves this policy, then it'll be district wide. But as of right now, we do have a policy, a code in the code of conduct that administrators at their schools have a policy. Now in reality, do students always follow every rule? No. As adults, we don't always we all make mistakes, make poor choices. Schools is the place where young people learn consequences, and event and we will have to even if we ban it, we will have to call parents in, come in, pick up the phone. There's a consequence. That's part of teaching and learning. So the ban may not be the magic bullet, but it will be all on the all of us will be on the same page that's unacceptable and that there are consequences. But it's really about families and the district being on the same page. Will students bring them? Yes. Will they fib? Yes. But we will all be consistent on how to deal with it and the consequences. Because that's the reality of education is there are consequences, whether they didn't do their homework, they came late, whatever it is. So thank you. Thank you. Mister Stewart. Thank you, madam superintendent. Is there anyone else that has, anything they would like to say on this matter? Now is your opportunity. Israel Nieves, you said you had something you want to say? Oh, okay. Wow. I thought I was gonna have I thought we were going to have an influx of questions. President Morris, can we do, by show of hands, how many people would feel that a district wide ban would be effective? If you could raise your hand. Okay. Wow. Okay. Thank you. Everybody, doctor Fernandez, especially the teachers and principals and the vice principals, would like it as well because they don't wanna deal with that nonsense throughout the course of the day. And interestingly, you know, it's just really an issue of let's work together here. We the the school has become a place where, you know, we do more than we sign up for, and we understand that. I think everybody in education is in agreement to that. We get it. But there are things that if we could alleviate throughout the course of the day, we all would like. Principles don't want you coming here telling us about this, and the teachers don't wanna be distracted with that. Right? Because they're being evaluated to see if they're effective or not. So everybody is in favor of the ban. Okay. We'll go with it. Mister Nelson. In general support, yes. I wanna thank Jim Nelson, a parent at Innovation High School. And I wanna thank you for holding the town hall meeting, and the thank you for the presentation, doctor Fernandez, as well as from our panelists in the room, and the the experiential learning that we continue to do. I wanna also acknowledge, because I did tune in for a bit of the New Jersey Senate Education Committee's, session last Thursday, and that there were comments that were addressing proposed statutes, and also acknowledgement that there's a study underway that, the commission on the effects of social media on youth that I understand might be released in January. So I appreciate that what we're discussing is in tandem with that process and hope that those findings are shared in the months ahead. I do want to also lift up, doctor Fernandez, that you cite that the school is the learning laboratory where we learn how to live as well as the consequences. And both the material, the US Department of Education site and also the New Jersey Department of Education site sites, as you have said in the presentation, there's harms and benefits when using cell phones. So I'm hoping that we also recognize some nuance that when to promote a space for responsible use of technology. And that's under the instructor's guidance, but in partnership with parents. So I wanna respect that we're mainly talking about restricting use during instructional time, but also the opportunity to lift up the need to teach responsible use outside of the school. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mister Nelson. So I just wanted to read our, current, sorry, a summary of our current, policy we have in the restriction area labeled a. It says that student is not permitted to have turned on or use a cell phone while on school grounds. During the school day or while the, student is participating in or, sponsored curriculum activity. So we already have the restriction. I believe that it's just not being followed in certain, certain schools. So the purpose of this meeting is to have a, a conversation on the complete ban throughout the entire district. And, you know, some parents, and some community members, for some reason think that that means that we're gonna just take their kid their kid's phone and say, hey. You can't have it back. But, one of the reasons why we wanted to have this conversation is because we don't wanna be responsible. And although I know the pilot, with the bags, at what's that PS 38? 34. 34. You know, they have a a success, story there. But we also have to take into consideration of the price of these, bags and what is gonna cost the district. And and are we fiscally able to do that, at this moment or, next year? And now I'm gonna call on our acting business administrator, and I'm gonna ask if she can, speak to that aspect. So as they said, it's approximately $40 a pouch. 30,000 students, it's over $1,000,000. I would think that's pretty exorbitant. If we could get funding from elsewhere, that would be amazing. Or come up with some alternatives that are some similar situation. I know maybe not optimal, but it does appear to work as miss Patel spoke about using the cards. Every school does have them. So that is a that I feel that is an avenue we could use without costing the district a great deal of money at this time. And we can look at other options and see. And maybe there is something that will come down that would be there'll be some kind of a group rate or whatever or, you know, if we buy in bulk that if all the districts do this, maybe the cost will go down and it would be much more effective for us to do that. Okay. I'm not gonna ask you to speak on behalf of the IT department, but I don't I do not. They they they fall under you? Yes. Yeah. So you are Not my area of expertise, but go ahead. Okay. But you do manage that department. I oversee. Yes. So do you think that, from a, Wi Fi perspective, like, if we somehow were to, restrict, either our Wi Fi or broadband to district issued electronic devices only, and restrict outside usage, would be probably not only a cheaper way, but a better effective way, outside of what miss Patel is doing, at Academy 1. What are your thoughts? So, the IT department, the director I mean, there is the capability to do such things. What that looks like and how it will affect everything else at the school and the district level, I couldn't really speak of, but it is something we could explore, and I will look into it. Yeah. So in in putting this policy together, there are other components, because we can sit here and have a conversation about banning cell phones all day. But in, and and it looks like like a lot of our, madam assemblywoman, like a lot of our legislation, it looks great on paper. But in real time, when you're really dealing with it, we come to the conclusion that it really doesn't work. So the objective today is to collaborate and figure out what three elements can we put in this policy that will work just in case one fails. One of the reasons why I believe it was a great idea for our superintendents to have a pilot, on 2 different, methods is because we needed to broaden a horizon on what would work district wide. Right? And so, every school is Wi Fi accessible. Correct? Yes. Yes. Alright. And because every school is Wi Fi accessible, it means it's also monitored. Yes. Alright. So if if it's being monitored and and and we're able to restrict, we are able to restrict. Right? Yes. Because I know my email was cut off. Yes. And I didn't know what was going on. So I know we can restrict. We migrated. Migrated. Alright. Well, we migrated. But I know we could do it. So, you know, that might be an aspect that we can, do as well during instructional, periods. You know, to be honest with you, I know I'm probably not gonna be popular for saying this, but captain Ozewski can attest to this. I'm not really popular as it is. So, in fairness. What I where I think we're gonna fall, probably, to get some some arguments is, if the Wi Fi was, restricted, then that would also means that our faculty and staff, Wi Fi will be restricted as well. Correct. Well, they shouldn't be on their cell phones through instructional hours. Sorry. I didn't know my Do I share? Go ahead. Oh, well, here's an answer to that. I'm sure you're gonna give me a reason as to why you should be on your cell phone. Well, not on my cell phone, but I have a few different points, but I will, go down the list. The first thing I was gonna say in terms of the language, I think that the word band is probably what is troubling a lot of people. So rather than use the word band, restricted use of the cell phone during the course of the school day, which is language that's already in the initial policy. And then we said, you know, you made the comment that it's already there, but it's clearly not working. That's an issue with implementation. So, you know, we need to address that. And another thing is before we, you know, I think that the teacher made a very good point in terms of substitutes coming to a building on days where there are times where half the staff is absent in the building, and you have you're laughing because you know it's true. And so half the teachers are absent in the building, and you might have coverage of all those classes and things of that nature. But what happens in on those days, let's say, for instance, and I'm not saying it's a bad pilot or a bad situation that they have going on at academy 1, but we do put our cell phones in this, open cart, if you will. And now, I take the wrong one or this and that. Those are issues that are going to occur that also need to be addressed. And what I would like to see is an actual breakdown in cost analysis so that the business department can look into that and get us an actual cost analysis of what it would actually cost the district based on the number of students that we actually have minus the the pouches that are already purchased at PS 34 because we shouldn't have to buy new ones. And then that would give us a better, I think, avenue for actually saying this would be a way to go or that would be a way to go. But the language is definitely something that we need to to consider. As far as your comment related to the educator being on the cell phone, I don't necessarily need to be. But when there are restrictions to the Wi Fi and so on and so forth with regard to what sites that students can visit, sometimes the teachers have those access that access if they're playing, like, videos for the students to watch in class. So that might be something that is But they can't do that on their, their laptop? They they absolutely can. Okay. Oh, well, I I don't Oh, I'm sorry, Douth. We we have some comments. Madam, come on down to the mic. This is a discussion. Come on down. We want you to be inclusive. Vanessa Tobar. I've been at MS 40 for over 20 years. I was listening to the gentleman speaking. Sometimes the Wi Fi is restricted for us too. There is I teach special education, a lot of videos that I do wanna show for the children, and we're not able to. So the only way that I can show them is through using my cell phone, and using my hot spot. So there are things that are restricted when we need them. So in lieu of just also, my comment was, you know, about teachers. Somehow, I feel this got turned on us when we're on our cell phones. Before we get knocked down for that, we should look around on people who are on their cell phones. So that's the only thing that bothered me. But, yes, we are very restrictive, especially teaching for special ed. I'm sorry. You said that, you said that you were not teachers are being knocked down confused. I don't remember having a conversation. Said teachers shouldn't be on it, but in some cases, there's a reason why we're on it. So I just wanted to make sure that was known. Yeah. I think you probably, misunderstood what I was saying. Maybe I did. What I meant was during instructional hours. Well, that would be my instructional time if I'm using my hot spot so I can teach a video or something. Was there a reason why you don't have a hot spot on your Chrome or you can request? I don't know. If I may. I'm not really sure. If this if I could interrupt for a second. Sure. If there's a video that needs to be part of a lesson when you write your lesson plan, and you notice that it's there's no access, please contact the help desk and say, I need access to show this. So as teachers are creating their lesson plan and have these links available, if they reach out to the, IT department, the help desk, they will be able to allow us to use whatever link it is for that specific video that's necessary. Yes. I do understand. Hold on one second, Cecile. Go ahead. No. No. I was gonna say I do understand that. I usually we do contact the help desk, and it sometimes is not available or it takes 2 weeks to answer back. Alright. So to the chair? Mhmm. So Trustee Tisdale then trustee Marcuse. I I was just going to say, is there is there a way that the teachers can possibly, or maybe even in the curriculum department, miss Joanne, provide a list of resources and or websites that they frequently visit? Because this is an issue, and you're absolutely right. Because we've all experienced that. And sometimes trying to get an answer, and it's not because they're not answering. It's because it may be a 100 that they're getting in the day or whatever it is. Exactly. So is there a, way that we can provide, like, a list to the curriculum department? It is part of the curriculum. All the links are already there. And I won't speak for miss Ruan or doctor Cristanino with special education, but those are and most of the videos that are part of the curriculum are used through Clever. I think, though, doctor Fernandez, what what she's saying, and and we might be trying to dismiss, is that sometimes as teachers, what's going on today is you have to step outside of the links that are provided in the material that's right in the curriculum. And so in order to what I said earlier is, like, you know, in order to get these students engaged, there are certain tricks and things that you need to perform. And sometimes that is the resources that is not provided within the curriculum. So, again, is there a list of material or some way we can provide? We have lists, and those have access. But in this specific case, the educator, the teacher can go to their principal who will then know who to reach in IT or Okay. Someone else. So in the future In the future, we can do that. I just wanted to make to mister Salgado, and he will get you taxes. Wanted to make. But, also, while I'm up here, the the thing about cell phones, I do agree with the pouches. I did have a question with the the Chromebook cases that we do have. I we have Chromebooks in all the classrooms. I'm not really sure if the student I don't know if it's Academy 1. Do they when they switch classes, do they put back the Chromebook, take their phones to go to the next class? Because I know our Chromebooks do not stay charged all day. So that would be an issue that I think we would face also with that. Well, how miss Patel, how do you handle that? Yeah. Okay. So I have 2 different versions going on at academy. One one is the students do keep their Chromebook from beginning of the day until the end of the day. And the other version is, students teachers keep the, Chromebooks in their classrooms. So the way that process works is that in the morning, normal routine cell phones are collected. Teacher will open up the cart. These cell phones will go into the each compartment, and all the Chromebooks will lay on the top of the cart. So then each class will come in because we the the teachers only have, like, you know, 3 sets of 3 groups of students. So the teacher has assigned 1 Chromebook to 3 different students. And then throughout the day, they will have their Chromebooks. And at the end of the day, homeroom will come back, and they will receive their cell phones. And the homeroom student will then put the Chromebooks into the cart, and they will charge overnight. Oh, okay. So did that answer your which I'm sorry. What's your name again, ma'am? It's Omar. Okay. Did that answer your question? You gotta come to the mic so people can hear you. I'm sorry. So at the end of the day, they stay charged all day? So they're get charged overnight overnight. Do you understand? And they stay all day. They're being charged overnight, so they would be fully charged for the day. So it seems like, you're having some problem with the with the batteries of some of your that's something that you need to address with your administrator. Yeah. We've had it for a while. I mean, we have new new Chromebooks now. Mhmm. So I'm not really sure if they sometimes it's a Chromebook or sometimes it's the the case they're charging in. So I just just had questions. What do they do if they ran into those issues? No. This is what this meeting is for, and I don't want to seem too formal. I want you to feel comfortable enough to ask questions. I want this to be a safe environment. But also, you know, to your point, when I said the teachers do not need to be on their cell cell phones either, I wasn't talking about for, instructional purposes. Obviously, the superintendent answered your question about the help desk and what you need to do in that aspect. What I'm talking about is being on Facebook, doing the TikTok and the things of that sort. Now we know that TikTok is popular among our scholars, but there's some of our, teachers who like TikTok too. So let's just be clear. How else do you expect to engage with your scholars? Because this is what they're into. So you have to, familiarize yourself so that you might be able to engage as well. You know? And and we appreciate that. But as it pertains to this policy, and if we do decide that we wanna implement the restrictions or further implement the restrictions on the, Internet process, you do realize that would have to be strictly followed. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Through the chair. Through the chair? So I just wanna say I think we're in a really great position because everyone seems to be in agreement that something has to be done about the student phone usage. And I think we're in an even better position because we have, something that is a model of success in other school districts across the country, the yonder pouches. And then we have something, from Academy 1, thanks to the principal who just, I guess made us aware of, what she's working on. We have something that's innovative and kind of homegrown. And I think we one of the things we have to figure out because the yonder pouches are very expensive to provide to every single student. And I think we have to figure out with what age groups should we buy yonder pouches for specifically. So maybe just the high school actually, maybe the middle school students. Because elementary school I think elementary students are very receptive to their to to listening to their teacher, you know, being told that they don't do this. Listening to after what? 7th grade? Excuse me? I said usually they are in the middle schools. Usually they are a little bit more They're reaching their rebellious age a little bit, but the yonder pouches in my opinion would work great with the middle schoolers. And then in terms of the high schoolers, because one of the, comments regarding, the academy 1 principal's method was that what if phones get mixed up? I can guarantee you high school students know what their phone is. They don't want anyone else's phone. They're looking forward to getting back to their text messages. So in a way to try out or implement both ideas while also cutting costs for, the yonder pouches, we could try to introduce them for middle school students. And then high school students, we can try the card approach. And then something else that I wanted to talk about, you brought it up, president Morris, about sometimes we make decisions and there are unintended consequences. At one point, some students in the district suffered from, student lunch debt where if they hadn't paid, their we were still providing them lunch, but they were students who had to purchase their lunch. And as a result, there was a student lunch debt that grew. My fear is or not not my fear, but something we need to consider when coming up with the policy for the yonder pouches is if students are going to be responsible, for, you know, the replacement cost if their pouch is broken, is there any way we can avoid, you know, the same issue happening where now there might be a yonder pouch debt. Right? Maybe a kid because if a kid doesn't buy a replacement, are we are they not going to have to use a yonder pouch? Yeah. But I think we need to clarify that. You you already know that when we say that the scholar is gonna have to replace it if it's damaged, we're really talking about their parents. Yeah. But that's my point. I mean, I I some parents may not be in the situation. Like, I'm just saying the same way that there was a student lunch that, and that was only, you know, $2 a meal or so, maybe even less. My fear for the Yonder pouches. Yeah. Doctor. Fernandez? If their phone is inside the Yonder pouch, they're very unlikely to lose that. I agree. I I agree. What is is the what you're talking about, I think, is something that is, like, you know, a need versus the want. Right? So you're talking about somebody who is extremely financially strapped. But we're talking about a situation where most of these people are walking around with phones that cost more than than the teachers have or whatever the case is. So very unlikely that somebody has a $1200 phone and the parent can't afford to pay $40 to replace it. My problem with your statement is the lack of responsibility that falls on the student to incur the the opportunity to walk around and do what he or she is supposed to be. If the job of the school is supposed to not only teach academics, but we are supposed to also teach different things, that's part of your job, to come here and be responsible and turn it in at the end of the day. Take it home at the end of the day, bring it back the next day, and why is it broken? What are you doing with it? But but Your phone is inside of it, so why are you breaking it? So so that's the thing, and and maybe it I have, I I don't know how to explain it. But the way I see it from my perspective, right, if every single student was responsible, like, every school district would be perfect, amazing scores all around, no facilities getting damaged. My concern is students may decide, hey, if I damage this pouch, then I I can have easy access to my phone, and there's no way for schools to force students to pay the replacement cost. Is there? There is no way. Let's ask our council. Mister Puchnik? Well, thank you, mister president. As you rightly pointed out, that would be the responsibility of the students' parents, but that certainly could be part of the policy if, in fact, we were to, use yonder pouches at a certain level as mister Balkush is suggesting. And and and there's nothing wrong with including in the policy that if you choose to break the pouch and then not wanna pay for it, then you are also foregoing the privileges that the district also provides you, I e graduation and so on and so forth. We cannot sit here and say that you what you're saying to me is I am going to be irresponsible. And because of my irresponsibility, you should not make me be hold any consequence. Well, the officer will sit there and tell you that if you go out there and break the law, it doesn't matter if you understood what you were doing or not. You are going to pay the consequences. And so what what what needs to happen is, oh, I can't. I'm sorry. No. No. Here's what we're doing. Either you do it or this is the reality of what's gonna what's gonna take place. It's not hard. Carry the pouch around, bring it back at the end of the day. We open it for you. Take it out. You put your phone back in it. It's nothing to break. I I agree with you. It it shouldn't be that hard. But, again, all decisions have unintended consequences, and I'm just pointing out dollars to buy the student's phone. Speak over each other. Let's wait until the other trustee has spoken I'm just pointing out Go ahead, mister Barkuch. I'm just pointing out that there was a student lunch debt issue at one point and there is a possibility of there being a yonder, pouch debt but I do like the idea that you recommended which was if you were not going to, like, pay for the replacement cost then other privileges will be taken away from you. I just have one question for you. We gotta cut your mic on. When you said the student loan, the student lunch debt, right, these students who were not able to pay the $2, the dollar 50, and so on and so forth, Were they walking around with $1200 cell phones? I I I don't think you can answer that. Yeah. I can't answer that question. So I think that because we're in a educational institution, that not only are we going to be holding our scholars accountable, but we're also gonna be teaching them responsibility. And when we give them this method, when we institute this policy, it is the administrator and the faculty's responsibility, educator to educate the student on the responsibility aspect of how important this pouch is and what the consequences are if they violate it. That's part of why we're putting this policy together and why we have the ability to implement that in the policy so that the administrator has the opportunity to enforce. I think that we're, speaking a little premature about, you know, losing and how much is gonna cost. I think first, we have to figure out the format of the policy, number 1. And then once we figure out the format of the policy, then we can start thinking about consequences. But, obviously, just like any other school property that's damaged, the parent is responsible for their scholars damaging in the property. And whatever method is that we have in our policy. I don't know if mister Puchnick could add to this on how we get the parent to pay for a device or something that is owned by the school that a scholar destroys. You know, whatever that aspect is, we would I would assume that, that will be the same process on these pouches as well. So let's not get sidetracked with how much is going to cost, but let's stay more focused on what the policy is going to look like. Are there any other questions from the audience? Alright. So in discuss in in this discussion, we've, talked about the banning of cell phones. But we have to also realize that we're not just talking about cell phones. We're talking about electronic devices, such as the electronic sunglasses or the glasses, the the other devices that they have, the eye watch, and things of that sort. So although Ms. Patel's process for cell phones is borderline brilliant, What do we talk about when we're talking about the other devices? So if a scholar comes to school with an Iwatch that has the same capabilities as an iPad or iPhone. I don't know, dude. Yeah. They do. You can add on it and you can talk to people. It has Wi Fi. You can listen to You never had an iWatch? I I never got it. Oh, okay. You can record on it? I don't know if you can record on it, but it's still an item of use. You could talk on it. You can call somebody on it. Right? So there are other devices as well that we have to take into consideration as to how we're going to handle it. And I think the best way, that we should be inclusive in this policy is through the IT aspect. Because you can't collect everything. The pouches are great when you're talking about cell phones. But we're talking about other devices as well. IPads, we're talking about other things as well that that don't classify as cell phone. That still gives the same outcome as if you would use a cell phone. So we need to this policy has to be inclusive of all devices and what we're going to do. And the only way that we can control that aspect is through the IT department when we restrict the Wi Fi accessibility for personal devices of any kind and strictly design it to where it only works on district approved electronic devices. So I think that's the way we need to go and I just want the trustee's opinion on it. Trustee Barkuch. So as just to clarify, you want to restrict Wi Fi access to only school issued devices, no personal devices? Yes. I I don't know how that would work. I'm not an IT specialist. But if you can get that to work, that would be awesome. I I would I would imagine the easiest approach is maybe changing the school Wi Fi password. Or actually no. And then actually, maybe changing school Wi Fi password and making sure all school issued, like, devices are automatically connected. Don't require the students to log in themselves because I I as far as my knowledge extends in terms of Wi Fi capabilities or accessibility, I don't know how, like, only specific devices would be Well, it does work. It has before. How do you, when you go into certain, government buildings, you can't sometimes you don't have a signal. Yeah. Yeah. It's one thing to block signal. It's one thing to block, like, maybe they're, like, cell service or their But isn't that Wi Fi? Doesn't isn't that connected No. That's separate. No. But it's still electronically connected somehow. Right? It still works off of the frequency somehow. Right? So that's why I asked to clarify your, your statement. If if you want the Wi Fi for only school issued devices, I don't understand how that works. In terms of, like, MS 4, having gone to MS 4, I know MS 4, like, blocks, like, cell signals and stuff like that. So you can't it's very difficult to make phone calls within the school. Or or I apologize, doctor Flanders, if I We do not block. Oh, sorry. The newer buildings, don't have good Wi Fi reception. Oh, sorry about that. 20. P s 26. Middle School 4 PS 3. It's the age of the building and construction. Oh, sorry about that, doctor. I growing up, we always thought that the the the schools intentionally did that. But You may wanna take credit, but though. Yeah. It is a good thing to take credit. But the attorney just advised that we're not allowed to block cell phone usage but we are allowed to restrict Wi Fi access. So yes. Wi Fi restricting access to specific sites and stuff like that. The school already does that. Unfortunately, as one of the principals said, students are very resourceful. And, I remember when I was in high school in 2017, they started using VPNs. So, that, like, whatever we figure out, they might have a way around. But Yeah. Yeah. But we need to work with parents. Of course. It's not just us against the students. It's the parents and us working together to improve outcomes for students. So let's keep that focus in mind, that really we're protecting our students from the impact of social media. Not really the phone call. Calling your parents. Students are not calling their parents. They're on social media. Because as a young man, I don't want to put you on the spot, but how many times do you call home? Well, you're not wrong, doctor Menz. You're a 100% right. So they're not calling parents. They're communicating through social media. They are scrolling. They are doing all kinds of stuff that are not good for them. It is not the used phone. It is not the one YouTube video. It's the constant social media that our students are being exposed to so let's let's go back to social media. Mhmm. Thank you, mister Barkuch. Thank you, madam superintendent. Well, that was one of the reasons why we wanted to have this town hall meeting because we wanted to get the parent and the community input. So, is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time? Alright. And our and we're, at the portion now where we've already pretty much discussed, what we're, pretty much doing or what the ideal is. So we have a consensus from the community, that they're in favor of it because our superintendent did a, a side, poll, in in the auditorium. We have the police perspective, captain, Ozuski brought, in favor of this, method. We have, Assemblywoman Stamato who's representing the 31st legislation, delegation rather. And we have our stakeholders. I received several emails, before the Jersey Journal put that we were gonna be having this, town hall meeting of mixed feelings. I had some parents say that they wanted to be able to be in contact with their child 24 hours, or during the instructional period. You have some that says, oh, we love this. This is a great idea. You know? So you're everyone is not gonna be happy. But what we can do as a board is try to come to a consensus on how we can fit that equal medium. Our objective, is not to make everyone happy. Our objective is to provide a safe and positive environment for our scholars to come and get a quality education. And I believe that if we implement this policy that we will not only be able to, have allow them to have the next step to efficiently have an equality education because they're focused on their instructor, but without interruption or without distractions I think that this will definitely be something, that we need to work on. For those of you who are watching right now, right now we have about 575 people watching us, and the audience members This is not going to be an expedited process. We have to first, put the policy together, and then it has to go through a first and second reading. And then after that, it has to come to, the board, for approval. So this, is a great start and moving in the right direction on how we can set district wide policy, to and and making sure, that we're fair across the map to all of our scholars, faculty, and educators. So we wanted to start the conversation this year, but this is not going to be, handled officially until next year sometime, because we haven't even met, to start putting the policy together. So the objective today was to get the opinions and the concerns of the community, our elected, our police personnel so that we might be able to put a resolution together so we can present it to our committee, our policy committee to say that on this day we did have a conversation with our community, with our parents, with our, our educators, with our police department, with our legislature. And everyone collectively had a positive conversation with both pros and cons. And we have concluded that there are more people that are for than are against. And based on our superintendents, PowerPoint presentations will have to my well, which I have to add was quite well put together, because she had a lot of stats and and we were able to get a better understanding of what we're doing and and what we're looking to do. I believe that we are able to, come to an understanding that we are in an agreement with this. So at this time, I'm gonna ask if the, attorney would read the resolution, that's gonna be presented to the policy committee, so that we might start this process, leading into the New Year. Mister mister Rivera? Thank you, board president. And I appreciate the symphony of comments from today, and I will read the following resolution. Resolution authorizing the Jersey City Public School District and Board Council to draft a district policy banning or limiting the use of cell phones, mobile phones, electronic communication, and recording devices by students in a school setting. Whereas, the Jersey City Board of Education strives to develop and maintain effective policies to ensure the efficient delivery of educational services to students. And whereas the board previously promulgated district policy number 5516 titled use of electronic communication and recording devices, which serves as the district's foundation for addressing the use of cell phones, mobile phones, electronic communication and recording devices, known as ECRDs, by students in a school setting, and whereas the board desires to make additional amendments and or revisions to district policy 5516 to promulgate or to promulgate an entirely new policy, if warranted, to address issues associated with the use of cell phones, mobile phones, and ECRDs by students in a school setting. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Jersey City Board of Education, County of Hudson, State of New Jersey hereby authorizes and directs the superintendent of schools along with any district personnel she may designate and board counsel to draft revisions to district policy 5516 or to draft an entirely new district policy if warranted, which bans or limits the use of cell phones, mobile phones, ECRDs, and any other device that may function in a substantially similar manner or in whole or in part by students in a school setting to be drafted in such a manner that is consistent with applicable law and comports with best practices and or effective emerging trends in education and school district governance. And finally, be it further resolved that this resolution shall have immediate effect. Thank you, mister Rivera. I'll entertain a motion. Motion by trustee Tisdale. Second. Seconded by vice president Blunt. Miss McKenzie? Trustee Balcooch? Yes. Alright. Well, that's something to be discussed in policy. Mhmm. Yes. Trustee Tisdale? Yes. Vice President Blank? Yes. President Morris? Yes. Resolution passed. Thank you so much. And I just wanted to say thank you to the Jersey City community, stakeholders, our scholars, who came out. I was interviewed, earlier today by our scholars, with the JC what is it? The TV? Yeah. JCC TV, where our school, they were very, strict on their questions that they asked me. I wanna thank the Jersey City Police Department, director Shea, for allowing captain Ozuski to come, and represent the police department. I wanna thank also, assemblywoman, Stamato, for taking time out of her schedule. You did have something else that you were supposed to be doing, but you, made arrangements to be here today. So I really do appreciate that as well. Let me just thank the, superintendent's cabinet for coming out in full force. Thank you guys so much for taking time out of your schedule. And it's just great to see that you guys are supportive, of the board and the different decisions that we're making. We are, coming to a close in our year, and we know that, moving into our new year that we're gonna have a lot of different mechanisms of movement. A lot of things that we're gonna be carrying over from this year into next year that we weren't able to get to. So with that being and this is one of the topics of discussion that we wanted to definitely handle this year before we moved into our new year. Because I think that this is going to be a very important policy that's going to last or be in effect for years to come. So I appreciate the trustees, those that are here that took time out of their schedules because this is an important topic, to come and discuss and, and have words on, what we're gonna do moving forward. So again, thank you to everyone. And most importantly, thank you to our school district, our superintendent, and all who are here on this panel. I'll entertain a motion. Motion. Motion for adjournment, introduced by, trustee Tisdale. I'll have a second. 2nd by, Jones Watson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you very much.