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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=11438
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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 31, 2013 11:04 AM
From: Representative Angel Cruz
To: All House members
Subject: Prohibiting Cell Phones in Public Schools (Formerly HB1223)
 
In the near future, I am planning to reintroduce legislation that would prohibit the use of cell phones and other electronic devices by students in public schools.

The use of cell phones and other electronic devices by students is widespread and increasing all the time. With this growth in the use of these technologies has come ever-increasing amounts of distractions during classes, which have made the task of teaching ever more difficult. Smart phones represent another challenge as students are able to access the internet on their phones, which could be used by students to cheat on exams. Moreover, cell phones that have built-in cameras present additional, unique challenges, as students could use them to take photos of exams or may otherwise unwisely take inappropriate photos of themselves or their classmates and then forward the pictures to others (a practice known as “sexting”).

Together, these concerns represent significant challenges that could be eliminated if cell phones are banned from public schools, which should help to improve the learning environment for all students. As it is, our students are daily faced with enough distractions with all of the social media outlets available to them, and this situation continues to grow as new technologies are introduced to the public each year. Prohibiting the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in our public schools should greatly contribute to the overall efforts by teachers and school administrators to create a positive, healthy learning environment.

Previous co-sponsors: YOUNGBLOOD, M. O'BRIEN, D. COSTA, HALUSKA AND MURT

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Introduced as HB956