NYS Issues Phone Policy Mandate: Trevor Admin to Follow Suit

Earlier this year, New York State enacted Chancellor’s Regulation A-413, which bans all personal Internet-enabled electronic devices, such as smart watches and smartphones, starting in the 2025-26 school year. The New York ban requires school leaders to create their own plans to prevent student smartphone usage, as Governor Kathy Hochul says, “from bell to bell.” This includes during class periods, during lunch, and during any free periods students may have.

While Trevor does not have the proverbial “bell” that Hochul refers to, the school will be implementing its own phone policy for this year. The forthcoming phone policy will be made in collaboration between the Student Council and the administration. While this policy has not been announced yet, rumors about potential policy ideas have been flying and opinions about what the policy should look like have been varied and passionate; mystery and anticipation have defined the issue for Trevor students. Reed W., a current 11th grader, expressed her concerns about how open campus privileges will be affected by the policy, wondering if students’ phone use would be restricted outside of the building. 9th grader Eva H. also noted that, while she supported the addition of a more restrictive phone policy as a whole to improve student productivity and focus, she feels it is “important to be able to communicate between classes” and that balance is the key to any future policies. I spoke to current 11th grade Student Council representative Eva B. to address student concerns, hear her insights on the developing policy, and take a look inside the collaboration between students and administration.

While the phone policy has not been announced yet, I was able to hear from Eva B. about the process and her thoughts. She explained that her personal beliefs about phone usage differ from those of New York State’s current school administrators and legislators, but that she is trying to see the benefits: “Do I think that it’s entirely necessary? Personally, I’m on the fence, leaning towards no, but I think that as a whole, creating the phone policy is intended to create more community moments. ” She expressed that, despite her personal tendencies to view the phone policy in a slightly more negative light, she believed that a phone policy would inevitably lead to more connection within the community and motivate students to take advantage of the resources Trevor offers, namely the common spaces and opportunities for creativity and art. Eva B. expressed the challenges of such a conflicting view, saying that she believes phones create a “unique disconnect” and that the biggest gain Trevor could have from a phone policy is deeper community connection, but also that phones do not hinder student abilities to interact with each other and Trevor as a space. It is clear that deliberations within the council are still ongoing at the time of this article’s writing.

In addition to the benefits that the phone policy may offer to the community, there is a scientifically proven academic benefit to restricting the use of phones in school. Students may be distracted by their phones, leading to procrastination and poor time management. In an October 2025 study, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that by the second year of phone bans, student test scores had improved by an average of 2-3% compared to pre-ban scores. I was assured that similar studies had been consulted, but Eva B stated that “education doesn’t need to be extensive” for the policy to be effective and that council members have a great deal of common knowledge about this topic.

We spoke about potential benefits such as the ones discussed in these studies, but when I asked about wider reaching negative impacts of the phone policy, she expressed that she didn’t see as many negative impacts as she did positive ones. At least, she couldn’t think of any in that moment, but acknowledged that there could be potential ramifications of a phone policy that the council had not yet seen: “I know there will also be unforeseen impacts, but I’m not a fortune teller…we’re trying to consider all of the impacts, but there’s no way to know for sure.” As for faculty and administrative voices, Eva B says that the Student Council has met with Dr. Graves several times and that he and the administration will be responsible for much of the final policy.

Eva B. explains that there are certain non-negotiables factored into the policy in order to fulfill legal and administrative needs, but that the council was trying their best to make reasonable compromises for everything else. So, amidst the chaos of the phone policy deliberations and questions of equal representation from members of the student body, what can non-council students do to make their opinions heard? While there are certainly flaws in the current process and degree of representation, Eva B. has assured me that every Student Council representative has the student body’s best interests in mind and is extremely passionate about Trevor’s success.

The best way to get your voice heard in these critical phone policy deliberations is to speak with your grade’s Student Council representatives and engage meaningfully with the community. Ask questions. Participate in elections. Educate yourself extensively. Consider the impacts that upcoming Student Council policies might have on you, and communicate that to your grade’s representatives. If you think that you have a perspective the council has not yet considered, let them know. As Eva B. stated, council members aren’t “fortune teller[s]”: they need community input to consider how their decisions will impact others. While the policy has not yet been announced at the time of this article’s writing, rest assured that, regardless of the particulars of this plan, the impacts will be felt by many members of the student body. Hopefully, this will encourage members of the student body to be more mindful of their phone usage, engage with the community, and take advantage of the unique opportunities Trevor offers.