One month into the New Brunswick government’s implementation of an in-class cellphone ban, Fredericton High School students say most students are still using them anyway. “I’d say a lot of students don’t follow the rules and they hide their phones and just try to get any way around it,” Grade 11 student Michael LeBlanc told CTV News. On Aug. 28, the province announced that cellphones would be banned for the full school day for kindergarten and junior high students, while the devices would be banned in classrooms for high school students for the first semester and fully banned during the school day in the second semester. But Grade 10 student Owen Cooper told CTV News on Friday that not only are students not listening to the ban, teachers also aren’t enforcing it. “I think it’s pretty ridiculous the phone ban that is happening, because what if there is an emergency,” he said. He’s not alone — a petition to reverse the ban has gained over 2,500 signatures. “It’s an important part of what you do now, especially if you don’t have a computer or a tablet,” Grade 11 student Khalil Sedore said. “For getting a better learning experience, I think it’s better. But at the same time, you’re losing like a lot of people express themselves with their phone,” LeBlanc added. The province also restricted social media use on school Wi-Fi — but students told CTV News that many have found ways around it. “Kids just turn off their Wi-Fi. And then they use their data,” Katie Borgald, a Grade 9 student, said. “You can just use a VPN and get around it. I don’t think it’s really working right now,” Sam Allavy, a Grade 10 student said. But David Shipley, the CEO and co-founder of Beauceron Security, said it’s only been a month. He believes the ban is a good start and will take a while to fully work out. “When smoking was banned on high school campuses when I was a student, people still snuck of school as well. It was still the right policy decision. It’s going to take time,” he said. “Doesn’t that tell us a lot, how hard students are working to try and find ways around it.” For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
