All school districts around New Jersey are banning phones for the 2026-2027 school year. Governor Phil Murphy made this decision, but not all schools are implementing it. Here at Roosevelt, we interviewed Mr. Gechman about the subject, and he said, “Waiting on my guidance from the state personally, the school is getting better with the no phone policy”. He also said, “ I don’t think it will affect the school day as well as learning it might just be more of a culture shock when the students are used to having their phones in their pockets every day.” Many students at our school did know about the ban, and what it is going to do. Most students don’t think this ban is necessary because phones are already banned, and they don’t believe it will make much of a difference. 8th-grade student Vanessa Norton said, “No, it’s not needed because we don’t use them, so it shouldn’t be necessary.”
Students have also been talking about whether other Apple products will be banned as well. Some of those products include Apple Watches, MacBooks, and iPads. Since all of these devices work just like a phone and have the same apps and account, there is a chance they are banned too. Mr. Gechman spoke on this matter and told us, “We are waiting on guidance for more of a lead on everything to see if everything will be banned as well as phones.” Out of the 15 students we surveyed at Roosevelt Intermediate School, only 6 were aware of the upcoming state-wide phone ban from grades K-12
Recently, Mr.Gechman has sent emails about the school-issued computers stating that no other computers are allowed. This means that MacBooks are banned now, making us wonder if the Apple Watches and iPads are next. When asking students, everyone said that they shouldn’t ban the other devices because they are not a big problem and are not more distracting than the normal computers.
While this 2026/2027 cell phone ban is still in the making, students at Roosevelt are still very appreciative about it. With Mr. Gechman still waiting for some information from the board and the recent MacBook ban, it is clear that the technology rules are getting stricter. Even though we still don’t know about Apple Watches and iPads, students still feel all of this is unnecessary. As we get very close to the end of the school year, everyone is wondering, what will happen with the phones?