NYC school cellphone ban ushers in shocking reality: Kids are talking to each other

This school year is different. When students arrive in the morning, I.S. 27 collects the phones for the full school day, even during lunch and free periods. — Mirko Vitali/Dreamstime/TNS

NEW YORK: Melanie Sepulveda, a Staten Island teacher, had her doubts about the new “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban in New York schools.

In the past, she watched students drift through the hallways at I.S. 27 Anning S. Prall, looking at their phones and feet. Some pre-teens, entrusted with bathroom passes, filmed TikTok videos outside her English classroom where a quiet corridor, save for a few offices, gave cover to their scheme.