Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WVZ Boston's news video.
Speaker 2: This morning, the President of the Massachusetts State Senate, Karen Spoker,
Speaker 2: spoke at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and joining
Speaker 2: us now is Alison Kuznitz. I hope I pronounced that correctly.
Speaker 2: Allison was, I fairly close.
Speaker 3: You got it.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: I love it when I can nail those, you know,
Speaker 2: Smith Brownsnitz, It's perfect. Alison writes for the State House
Speaker 2: News Service, which is the best coverage in my opinion,
Speaker 2: of the State House because they are up there dedicated
Speaker 2: to the State House. Back in the old days, one
Speaker 2: of the TV stations and some of the newspapers had
Speaker 2: State House reporters are signed up there that there's not
Speaker 2: so much anymore, but the State House News Services there,
Speaker 2: and Allison is one of the bulwarks of the State
Speaker 2: House News Service. You were you at the Greater Boston
Speaker 2: ABRA Commerce speech this morning or were you reporting based
Speaker 2: upon the text that the Senate president delivered.
Speaker 4: Yes, I was in the seaport today. So she was
Speaker 4: at the West in Boston Sport Hotel giving her address.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's talk about the speech that I want
Speaker 2: to know, since you were there, if there was any
Speaker 2: follow up afterwards. This to me seems like a no brainer. Basically,
Speaker 2: the headline in the Globe story is as Mass Senate
Speaker 2: will explore ban on cell phones in public schools. Top
Speaker 2: Democrats says, your headline is Spilka interested in removing cell
Speaker 2: phones from classrooms? Allison, This is like to me a
Speaker 2: no brainer. Why would they? And this has been kicked
Speaker 2: around for a long time. What's taking them so long?
Speaker 2: And do you think that something like this by Spilka
Speaker 2: actually might light the fire that will get some action
Speaker 2: on this.
Speaker 4: I mean, it certainly is extremely notable that then of President,
Speaker 4: the top Democrat and the brand is expressed this. It
Speaker 4: was really one interesting colonel out of a bigger dispute
Speaker 4: or a bigger point of interest. Within her speech talking
Speaker 4: about MBTA funding, but to sid a President, she mentioned
Speaker 4: that her son, who is a public high school teacher,
Speaker 4: is constantly telling his students to put their phones down.
Speaker 4: So she had mentioned that she wants the Senate to
Speaker 4: start exploring the issue. Senator Julian Sear has a bill
Speaker 4: and it's endorsed. It's part of the Attorney Attorney General Andrews.
Speaker 4: Campbell legislative agenda the session actually to introduce a banner.
Speaker 4: It's called a bell to bell band. So basically, some
Speaker 4: lawmakers the attorney general are behind this idea that they
Speaker 4: want to curtail the use of cell phones during the day.
Speaker 4: And the legislation also tries to add some restrictions around
Speaker 4: how social media companies, how they can implement some features
Speaker 4: as well to restrict use.
Speaker 2: But it would seem to me, and I'm just a
Speaker 2: talk show host on a former reporter, but it would
Speaker 2: seem to me that the big corporations that are running
Speaker 2: these websites and all of that, they have an interest
Speaker 2: in kids using cell phones, et cetera. But it's up
Speaker 2: to the school administrators and it's up to the political
Speaker 2: leaders to act. Cell phones have been around a long time,
Speaker 2: you know, and there's no suggestion that the availability and
Speaker 2: access to cell phones are helping Massachusetts kids score better
Speaker 2: on all of these you know, comprehensive tests that they
Speaker 2: have to take in the third, the fifth, the eighth,
Speaker 2: and I think the tenth grade. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: all the scores I see every year, it's always blamed
Speaker 2: on COVID. By the way, that Massachusetts students the scores
Speaker 2: are dropping. I would think that they would be that
Speaker 2: the political leadership would be ashamed of themselves that they
Speaker 2: haven't done something, you know, like yesterday or like three
Speaker 2: years ago. Is what is the impetus? It looks to
Speaker 2: me like the union's not fighting. This looks to me
Speaker 2: like everybody's on the same page. What's the hold up?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 4: I mean again, we saw the Centate president today talking
Speaker 4: about the distractions that come into classroom, of course, worrying
Speaker 4: about cheating in the classroom, worrying about cyber bullying. She
Speaker 4: made the case that this type of ban is as
Speaker 4: commensurate as you know, protecting students mental health and providing
Speaker 4: mental health resources, providing free school meals that she's braided
Speaker 4: this as another piece to the puzzle to really improve
Speaker 4: the academic experience. It's still pretty early in the session
Speaker 4: by standards of the committees holding hearings, and this bill
Speaker 4: has not held the hearing yet, but it'll be very interesting.
Speaker 4: The bill is before the Education Committee, so it'll be
Speaker 4: interesting to see what lawmakers, the age, kind of what
Speaker 4: that feedback is as a discussion kind of really coalesces
Speaker 4: around this issue with the Senate President taking the time
Speaker 4: to mention it today before hundreds of business and civic leaders.
Speaker 2: So two final questions. Let me drill down a little bit.
Speaker 2: Who's opposed to this? Because this is something that really
Speaker 2: should go into effect like two years ago or five
Speaker 2: years ago. A lot of kids, you know, high school
Speaker 2: ends when they turn eighteen. That's it is there is
Speaker 2: there any force that we have that you have identified,
Speaker 2: or that anyone has identified that says, well, you know,
Speaker 2: the cell phone manufacturers are against it. I mean that
Speaker 2: shouldn't that shouldn't be a problem, or Meta or Mark Zuckelberg,
Speaker 2: who's against it. I can't see any group that's going
Speaker 2: to stick their head up out of the foxhole and
Speaker 2: say no, I want my kids and I want all
Speaker 2: these kids to have cell phones in the classrooms.
Speaker 4: Sure, I mean, I think there's definitely been an approach.
Speaker 4: I was speaking with senators here today who is one
Speaker 4: of the built sponsors, and he mentioned that schools and
Speaker 4: his district districts across the Commonwealth habit. But it truly
Speaker 4: has been a decision so far up to the local school.
Speaker 4: So it's really a matter of if Beacon Hill is
Speaker 4: going to step in instead of state wide policy as
Speaker 4: opposed to allowing individual school districts to apply as While
Speaker 4: I apologize for the cirrus going by right now, but
Speaker 4: I think there is all that.
Speaker 2: That is that is not that are those sirens. Are
Speaker 2: not members of the legislature rushing to Beacon Hill to
Speaker 2: pass this piece of this piece of logical No, But again,
Speaker 2: I just not. I just want to make sure is
Speaker 2: there any like trade group or industry up there that's
Speaker 2: lobbying behind the scenes, and that I'm serious when I
Speaker 2: say this. This is something that they should have said
Speaker 2: when the kids first started to bring cell phones into school. Hey,
Speaker 2: hold on, this is a school, this is not this
Speaker 2: is not playtime. Put the cell phones away, and if
Speaker 2: you can't put them away, leave them in your lockers.
Speaker 2: It just seems to me that there must be some
Speaker 2: group or some strong opposition to this that that I'm
Speaker 2: unaware of. And I didn't know if you might have said, well,
Speaker 2: there is this group, no group.
Speaker 4: As far as you know, I haven't dealt too much
Speaker 4: into the issue. As far as hearing from the opposition today,
Speaker 4: I certainly did not hear any pushback apt the chamber
Speaker 4: of itself. But just looking at the response to social
Speaker 4: media companies. A lot of the other portion of the
Speaker 4: bill deals with, you know, severely finding some of these
Speaker 4: social media companies if they do not get on board
Speaker 4: with age verification, if they do not get on board
Speaker 4: with restricting uses as such as like saying you're not
Speaker 4: allowed to have AutoPlay during the school day, you're not
Speaker 4: allowed to have notifications during the school day. I think
Speaker 4: it would really be very difficult to achieve certain parts
Speaker 4: of the bill, So that would be a major hurdle.
Speaker 4: I mean, we've seen in the past that like the
Speaker 4: Senate has tried or the legislature has tried to engage
Speaker 4: in the discussion about banning TikTok, and those conversations have
Speaker 4: somewhat fizzled out. So it'd be interesting to see if
Speaker 4: maybe part of the bill moves forward, but maybe not
Speaker 4: so much. The restrictions social media as well included within
Speaker 4: the bill as well dealing with cell phone usage.
Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me I see and in the
Speaker 2: golalpiece that they say that opposition to the bands Head
Speaker 2: to the Bands has emerged at other schools such as
Speaker 2: Lowell High School in New Bedford. I can't understand why
Speaker 2: kids who are in high school are opposed to this,
Speaker 2: but I kind of imagine why any parent has opposed
Speaker 2: to her, or by any rational taxpayer whose money is
Speaker 2: being poured into the school system. Did she take any
Speaker 2: did the Senate President take any questions on this when
Speaker 2: she finished, or was it make a speech and leave.
Speaker 4: She mostly was being asked questions about the NBTA funding
Speaker 4: that the Senate is tomorrow will be voting on a
Speaker 4: supplemental budget, including which is mostly built off or tax
Speaker 4: money known as the fair Share of millionaire tax. So
Speaker 4: that was really the primary piece of it. But you know,
Speaker 4: the Senate President did mention the voter the ballot question
Speaker 4: and dealing with eliminating the m past. That's something that
Speaker 4: she and the business community were very much against eliminating
Speaker 4: that standard. So it seems that she had an audience
Speaker 4: today that is really recepted to the idea of doing
Speaker 4: what they can to make sure that students are really
Speaker 4: getting the education and the rigorous training they need in
Speaker 4: the classroom and kind of removing that distraction.
Speaker 2: Of self with that millionaire's text, we can build a
Speaker 2: few more parking garages in Queensy, in the speaker's hometown,
Speaker 2: but we'll leave that for another day. I don't want to.
Speaker 4: Put you in Yes, that's an earmark for the Senate
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, Well I suspect one hand washes the other.
Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that. Thank you very much, Alis
Speaker 2: appreciate your time. Tonight. We'll have you back. This was
Speaker 2: your first appearance with us, and we'll have you back.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much, Thank you so much, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: You're welcome. I appreciate you working late for us. All right,
Speaker 2: so we're going now take very quick break, get to
Speaker 2: phone calls. Is there anyone in my entire audience who
Speaker 2: thinks this is a bad idea. If there is no
Speaker 2: one in the audience who thinks banning cell phones in
Speaker 2: classrooms during school hours, during instructions is a bad idea,
Speaker 2: my next question is why are our legislators so hasen
Speaker 2: to act on something like this doesn't make a lot
Speaker 2: of sense to me, but we're going to highlight it
Speaker 2: and give you a chance to talk about it. Look,
Speaker 2: the kids in Massachusetts are badly served in public schools.
Speaker 2: It's as simple as that. The scores are going down, down, down.
Speaker 2: That does not arg well for them going forwards. It
Speaker 2: doesn't arg well for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts going forwards.
Speaker 2: And this would be one simple reform that I think
Speaker 2: everyone everyone would agree upon. Get you want to bring
Speaker 2: a cell phone to school, Fine, you put it in
Speaker 2: your locker and you don't touch it until the end
Speaker 2: of the school day, when the day is over, and
Speaker 2: when football pra if you're an athlete, then you go
Speaker 2: to the cell phone. By the way, this excuse of well,
Speaker 2: I you know, my parents might want to be in
Speaker 2: touch with me. No, your parents shouldn't be in touch
Speaker 2: with you in school. And if you have to get
Speaker 2: in touch with your parents, if you don't feel well
Speaker 2: and you want to go home, you go to the
Speaker 2: school nurse, and the nurse calls your mom or your dad,
Speaker 2: and you get your ride home, and you take your
Speaker 2: cell phone with you. I think it's so simple. I'm
Speaker 2: stunned that we're still talking about this and the fact
Speaker 2: that it hasn't been put into effect, like five years ago.
Speaker 2: The number six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. I think
Speaker 2: this happens to be a really important question. And some
Speaker 2: of you might say, Hey, I don't have kids in
Speaker 2: high school I don't have grandkids in high school. But
Speaker 2: doesn't affect me. It affects everyone everyone when kids are
Speaker 2: being going through public schools. We pay for the schools
Speaker 2: and they're not getting their education. Uh, they'll pay for
Speaker 2: it later. We'll be back on Night's Side in just
Speaker 2: a couple of minutes.
Speaker 1: It's Nice Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about banning, finally banning cell phones in
Speaker 2: schools in Massachusetts. My opinion, this should have happened probably
Speaker 2: like ten years ago, but they're still available. I guess
Speaker 2: each district can kind of do their own little thing,
Speaker 2: which is fine. However, I think it's time for the
Speaker 2: cell phones to be banned in schools during the school day,
Speaker 2: simple as that. And why we're dealing with it at
Speaker 2: this point, I don't know. Let's go to Robert and Tewks,
Speaker 2: but you see what Robert thinks. Robert, Welcome to Night'side.
Speaker 2: Going to start us off this arga right ahead.
Speaker 5: Robert, and I'm nice to hear your voice. Byes. I
Speaker 5: have a lot of my plate to say. I'm sorry,
Speaker 5: I apologize I miss your guests, Allison from the Statehouse,
Speaker 5: because I bettered the stay house so many times. I
Speaker 5: really think they should prohibit cell phones and classrooms because
Speaker 5: children and kids have be able to get a quality
Speaker 5: education answered distraction. I whether they're gonna bring a cell
Speaker 5: phone into school and locker in a locker all day.
Speaker 5: I just think they should prohibit them because I come
Speaker 5: from the old school. I have a physical and mental disability.
Speaker 5: I miss payphones, and I don't like cell phones or computers.
Speaker 2: No, I totally get it. I totally get what you're saying,
Speaker 2: but it just seems to me, Uh, I think it's
Speaker 2: a no brainer. I think that.
Speaker 5: I think it's like being a no brainer being brain dead.
Speaker 5: But because they're just a nuisance and all the things
Speaker 5: that have happened in schools across the country, between the
Speaker 5: violence and stuff and the bullion, I think that's a
Speaker 5: lot to do with cell phones. People are having kids
Speaker 5: having ygues with their classrooms, are in the hallway and
Speaker 5: their lockers, having just disagreements of the cell phones. I
Speaker 5: think they should really prohibit it. In Massachusetts Clubwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they also give they give this gives kids a
Speaker 2: chance if they want to communicate to in the day,
Speaker 2: So if something's going to go down after school. If
Speaker 2: something is going to go down after school, Uh, it's
Speaker 2: going to be a problem. By the way, I'll let
Speaker 2: you know. The New York Nicko Parkers have just beaten
Speaker 2: the Boston Celtics ninety one tonight. Boy, I'm nothing lead
Speaker 2: and they go back to New York for the next
Speaker 2: couple of games. Oh Jesus, I hate to be the
Speaker 2: bearer of bad news. But the Celtics are up pretty
Speaker 2: comfortably during most of the game, and they Tatum went
Speaker 2: in for his final shot and the Knicks played really
Speaker 2: tough defense. They didn't follow him, they blocked the shot,
Speaker 2: and that's the game. So but let just get back
Speaker 2: your cell phones quickly. Please go ahead, sup.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's about the stayhouse. There's a woman up there
Speaker 5: that works for the govern's cats. I don't want to
Speaker 5: say her name over there, but she appoints the judges.
Speaker 5: And I wrote Charlie Bakroll letter when he before he
Speaker 5: left office. I learned am a really nice letter, really
Speaker 5: intelligent intellect I learned about that, and he didn't respond.
Speaker 5: I had filed so may complained for governmar Healey's office
Speaker 5: and never got a letter respond But by.
Speaker 2: The way, just just Robert Robert, let me just help
Speaker 2: you out. Just to understand this. The governor in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: nominates the judges, nominates people to the bench, and then
Speaker 2: it's with the advice and Council of the Governor's Council.
Speaker 2: And in most instances when someone is nominated, in most
Speaker 2: cases the road took confirmations pretty easy. There are some
Speaker 2: cases when a governor makes a mistake. The fact that
Speaker 2: Charlie Baker didn't respond to you, it doesn't surprise me
Speaker 2: because he had a very good first four years as
Speaker 2: governor and then and in his second four years he
Speaker 2: ended up with kind of the b team, and I
Speaker 2: think he lost focus at the.
Speaker 5: Job of it. Do you think that Mary's showing her
Speaker 5: on some job, but what do you think about her accountability?
Speaker 5: Herry Swatsavilia's governor. Do you think he's doing a good job.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of questions about what she's doing.
Speaker 2: I thought that she's a very nice person. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: like personally, but her staff is also I think that
Speaker 2: in my opinion, In my opinion, there's I'll say I'll
Speaker 2: save my comments for for at some point later. She's
Speaker 2: a really nice person, but I don't think she's being
Speaker 2: well served by her staff.
Speaker 5: In my opinion, I do, and I think we need
Speaker 5: a new governor to really crack down on cell phones,
Speaker 5: people behind the wheels.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that this is an example where
Speaker 2: where is Governor Healey's voice on this? Where is her
Speaker 2: leadership on this? She's the governor of the Comwalth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: They always they just you know, raised a lot of
Speaker 2: money with the millionaire's tax, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: twenty five million dollars of that is not going to
Speaker 2: educate or transportation. It's going to a parking garage in Quincy.
Speaker 2: They might need a parking garage in Quincy, but but
Speaker 2: you know, find the money in the budget, not in
Speaker 2: an area of money that was supposed to go for
Speaker 2: education and transportation. Transportation to me is roads, not a
Speaker 2: parking garage. As a matter of fact of parking garage
Speaker 2: is opposite transportation. Because you know, but again it's Marie,
Speaker 2: it's the speaker's district. There's too much Buddy Buddy started there,
Speaker 2: it's never gone away at the State House.
Speaker 5: One last thing, because I know you have other calls. Yeah,
Speaker 5: she hasn't qualified and spend enough money and recognition. I
Speaker 5: met the house. The people in this this hot common
Speaker 5: well are homeless, and the housing that there's a section
Speaker 5: a housing authority.
Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you I think.
Speaker 5: The housing and he met the house and Mary, I
Speaker 5: don't want to think to help the master Hill the homeless.
Speaker 2: I'll say this, I think we have a responsibility to
Speaker 2: people from Massachusetts first, and I think we got ourselves
Speaker 2: in a real bind financially where they decided to open
Speaker 2: up the come Wealth of Massachusets anybody who wanted to
Speaker 2: come here and be given shellfon.
Speaker 5: I think we need to read phones back then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, gotta go, gotta go. Thanks very much, Roll,
Speaker 2: appreciate you call. Thanks going by, Thank you. We'll take
Speaker 2: a break up one line at six one seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four to ten thirty and one line at six one seven,
Speaker 2: nine three one ten thirty. We're talking about what to
Speaker 2: me is an absolute no brainer, and that is cell
Speaker 2: phones are in public schools in the possession of the
Speaker 2: students during class time. That should not happen, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: under any circumstances. So uh, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2: It is a no brainer in my opinion. If there's
Speaker 2: anyone out there who thinks kids should have cell phones
Speaker 2: in their possession, in their bag, in their desk, in
Speaker 2: their pocket. Crazy. Crazy. If we were killing here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts and our kids were number one across the country,
Speaker 2: I'd say, Okay, it really hasn't had an adverse impact.
Speaker 2: Get them out of the classroom. They can bring them
Speaker 2: to school, put them in a locker, walk them up
Speaker 2: for the entire day, don't have them during lunch. And
Speaker 2: if you I would be very strict on that, We'll
Speaker 2: be back on Nightside. I'd love to hear your point
Speaker 2: of view, coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: On News Radio. So continue to talk about cell phones
Speaker 2: in schools in Massachusetts. We're talking public schools. I am
Speaker 2: certain that in some of the prestigious private schools in Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: private high schools, the kids are not sitting in class
Speaker 2: with cell phones because their parents are paying private school
Speaker 2: tuition on top of their own taxes for public school education.
Speaker 2: And everyone is paying for public school education. And I
Speaker 2: don't want those kids to be short changed, and they
Speaker 2: are always going to be short changed. Look, all of us,
Speaker 2: the cell phone is like an attention magnet. I during
Speaker 2: the day, I have to put my cell phone away.
Speaker 2: When I'm trying to work and get do show prep,
Speaker 2: I'll see something, It'll be a distraction. I kind of
Speaker 2: imagine if I was a fourteen or a fifteen year
Speaker 2: old in high school, how I wouldn't be distracted by
Speaker 2: cell phone? Why can our political leaders not show the
Speaker 2: backbone to have this taken care of this problem five
Speaker 2: years ago? Hats off to sending President Spilker for raising
Speaker 2: the issue. Let's go to Rachel and Quincy. Hi, Rachel,
Speaker 2: welcome you next on Nightside.
Speaker 6: Hey Pan, how are you? I hope you're well.
Speaker 2: I'm doing just great. What do you think? What do
Speaker 2: you think about this idea of why should any kid
Speaker 2: have a cell phone on as his or her person
Speaker 2: while in class at school? It just shouldn't happen.
Speaker 6: I one hundred percent agree with you because it's a distraction.
Speaker 6: Number one, And if you see these children, I mean
Speaker 6: I walked by a Duncan Donuts to get a coffee
Speaker 6: and there was a group of This was like two
Speaker 6: days ago. There's a group of maybe four or five kids.
Speaker 6: Every single one of them were like on their phones
Speaker 6: doing blah blah blah. I don't even know what they
Speaker 6: were doing.
Speaker 7: And I'm like, I know when I was younger.
Speaker 6: Right, listen, it was okay, if I need to call
Speaker 6: my mom, if I was sick, I'd go to the nurse,
Speaker 6: or if I had to contact somebody, I would go
Speaker 6: to the you know, the payphone.
Speaker 2: And it's not even that well payphones have payphones have
Speaker 2: gone the way of the model. T okay. So look,
Speaker 2: I don't mind if they have cell phones and they
Speaker 2: keep them in their locker. But you're right, if you're
Speaker 2: not feeling well, you ask the teacher. Can I go
Speaker 2: to the nurse and you go to the nurse's office.
Speaker 2: Every school has a nurse's office. And if the nurse says, gee,
Speaker 2: you know, you look like you got a temperature or
Speaker 2: I just took your temperature, okay, fine, they call your mom,
Speaker 2: they call your dad, they call a neighbor or whomever
Speaker 2: you're contact person, and you get out of there. I
Speaker 2: get it. I get it. But just to be able
Speaker 2: to sit in the classroom and kind of keep the
Speaker 2: cell phone down out of the view of the teacher.
Speaker 2: Teacher knows that the class is not paying attention to
Speaker 2: what he or he or she is teaching them, and
Speaker 2: and it's it's disruptive, it's distracting, and it's it doesn't
Speaker 2: it's it's of no value. It's like it's like every
Speaker 2: kid should be able to during class. Every kid should
Speaker 2: be able to eat pizza, have a pizza party while
Speaker 2: class goes on, see how much learning takes place.
Speaker 6: But you know what it's and this is like you
Speaker 6: said ten years ago, it should have happened, because now
Speaker 6: every child is either on a computer or a telephone.
Speaker 8: And there's so many kids that I'm like, okay, can
Speaker 8: you print? They're not even teaching signatures in school.
Speaker 2: I heard, yeah, the cursive writing. No, I understand. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of stuff that is being pushed
Speaker 2: to the side. You're absolutely right, You're absolutely right. And
Speaker 2: I think it's because the teachers are saying. You know,
Speaker 2: the teachers are at a disadvantage here because if you're
Speaker 2: a teacher and you prepared your your your class notes,
Speaker 2: and you're ready to have a good class and teach kids,
Speaker 2: and half the classes goofing off and the other half
Speaker 2: is looking at their cell phone their cell phones. At
Speaker 2: a point you you lose your enthusiasm for teaching, and
Speaker 2: that doesn't help anyone.
Speaker 6: No, and we need to give our credit to our teachers.
Speaker 6: You can't blame them when you have, like whatever, five
Speaker 6: children in the corner like you going back and forth
Speaker 6: and have them are probably talking about the other two
Speaker 6: kids over there that are trying to learn.
Speaker 7: You got it, you got it.
Speaker 2: You got it. Hey, Rachel. As always, I thank you
Speaker 2: for getting this going here, keep us rolling, Thank you
Speaker 2: so much. And tough night for the Celtics, Rachel.
Speaker 6: Oh goodness, Dan, I was watching the game up until
Speaker 6: like you just said.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, tough night, tough night, Thanks Rachel. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 2: Let me keep rolling here. Going to go up north
Speaker 2: to New Hampshire. I will bet you that cell phones
Speaker 2: they're probably stricter, and cell phones in New Hampshire. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I might be wrong on that. Let's see
Speaker 2: what Patty has to say. Patty in New Hampshire.
Speaker 7: Hi, Patty, Hey, Dan, how you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Do they allow cell phone much?
Speaker 7: I am not sure because my kids are forty four
Speaker 7: and thirty nine, but.
Speaker 2: So they're both out of high school at this.
Speaker 7: Point, right, yeah, and they weren't weren't allowed to have
Speaker 7: cell phones then either, well.
Speaker 2: They didn't exist. That then was a problem.
Speaker 7: Right, But I'm I'm on my way home from Massachusetts.
Speaker 7: My grandson, both of them lived there, and one's a
Speaker 7: baby and one's ten years old. And yeah, I think
Speaker 7: that in society today, these kids have too many distractions.
Speaker 7: And you know, they it's a privilege to have a phone,
Speaker 7: first of all. But you know, when we were growing up.
Speaker 7: I'm sixty nine years old, we didn't have cell phones period.
Speaker 7: And I do understand why the scores are going down.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, it's just it's an unnecessary distraction. I mean,
Speaker 2: first of all, it's there is like any other tool.
Speaker 2: It's a wonderful tool. Learning how to drive a car
Speaker 2: is wonderful. But but if kids aren't taught to drive
Speaker 2: cars and understand and respect that, that's probably I told
Speaker 2: my kids when they started driving cars, they said, this
Speaker 2: is the single most dangerous thing you're probably going to
Speaker 2: do unless you join the military.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: We just saw these beautiful three students from Massachusetts who
Speaker 2: are killed in this horrific automobile accident while on spring
Speaker 2: down in Florida. But cell phones, cell phones are no
Speaker 2: but cell phones, cell phones, cell phones are a great things.
Speaker 2: So if tonight you break down on the side of
Speaker 2: the road. You can pull over the side of the road,
Speaker 2: you can call, you can stay in your car. You
Speaker 2: can be safe. Twenty five years ago, you might have
Speaker 2: had to have dealt with someone pulling over to help you,
Speaker 2: and you have no idea who that person is. In
Speaker 2: most cases it might have been a good person. But
Speaker 2: in that off chance that you had somebody who was
Speaker 2: more probably more trouble than they were.
Speaker 7: Worth, liar and you know good and you know what, Dan,
Speaker 7: You know, when we were growing up, the way you
Speaker 7: communicated was, you know, when you walk from Hallway to Halloway,
Speaker 7: from from class to class, you have a conversation with somebody.
Speaker 7: You know, Today they don't know how to communicate. They
Speaker 7: only know how to get on their phones and send
Speaker 7: a text. And you know, communication skills are failing because
Speaker 7: of cell phones.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 7: My grandson has a cell phone and he does bring
Speaker 7: it to school. He's not allowed to have it, you know,
Speaker 7: obviously he's only in fifth grade, but you're not allowed
Speaker 7: to have it, you know, on his person while he's
Speaker 7: in school all day. But from my daughter, it is
Speaker 7: a great tracking mechanism. She always knows where he is.
Speaker 7: So I would hate to see them take them completely
Speaker 7: away from them. But yeah, they need to be kept
Speaker 7: in the walkers till go home.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, my parents knew exactly where I was
Speaker 2: because I was going to school and I was told
Speaker 2: that was my job. My job was to go to
Speaker 2: school and learn. And I know that sounds old school,
Speaker 2: and I'm sorry about it if it sounds old school.
Speaker 7: But hey, kids today, kids today have way too many privileges.
Speaker 2: Well, I think we have enabled them. I think it's like, well,
Speaker 2: one kid has a cell phone. Everybody's got to get
Speaker 2: a cell phone. It's like the in the rich neighborhood,
Speaker 2: some eighteen year old gets a Corvette, a brand new
Speaker 2: Corvette worth one hundred thousand dollars, while the other parents,
Speaker 2: we can't let our kid drive at Jallopie. We got
Speaker 2: to get him. That's it's it's the old story of
Speaker 2: keeping up with the Joneses. But we now do it
Speaker 2: for our kids, and we enabled them.
Speaker 7: Well, I hope I hope that somebody in some politician
Speaker 7: or somebody that's got some power takes us to the
Speaker 7: table and does something about it.
Speaker 2: Well, they should have done it ten years ago. Better
Speaker 2: late than never, Better late than Hey, Patty. Thanks very much.
Speaker 2: Nice to hear your voice.
Speaker 7: Have you called me good night?
Speaker 2: Have you called before? Is this is your first time?
Speaker 7: I am, but it hasn't been a long time.
Speaker 2: Well, do me a favorite, make it more frequent. Okay,
Speaker 2: I enjoyed the conference. Kay bye six one, seven, two
Speaker 2: four ten thirty one line there six one seven, nine
Speaker 2: three one ten thirty, will be right back. I got
Speaker 2: Allison in Saugust. She will be next right after this
Speaker 2: quick break on Nightside. Stay right there, Allison, we'll get
Speaker 2: you on. Don't worry.
Speaker 1: I promise you're on night Side with Dan Ray on
Speaker 1: w BZY, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Ah, We're gonna go to Allison in Saugus. Hey, Allison, welcome,
Speaker 2: thanks for checking in. You're next on Nightside.
Speaker 9: Hi, Hi Dan, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing just great, Allison, Thanks for calling in. What's
Speaker 2: your your thought on keeping cell phones out of the classroom?
Speaker 9: Well, I'm a public school teacher here in Massa. Jusets,
Speaker 9: I've been a teacher twenty years.
Speaker 2: You sound too young to be a teacher for twenty years.
Speaker 2: You sound like you're you're twenty years old. Never mind teaching.
Speaker 9: If it twenty you were saying that you tell the truth.
Speaker 2: I'm a truth teller, Alison.
Speaker 9: You're a young thank you. So, I mean, I've been
Speaker 9: there for this progression of the advancement of cell phones,
Speaker 9: little by a little, year after year, more and more
Speaker 9: in the classroom. So this is kind of a subject
Speaker 9: to that is very near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 9: And I did want to start by giving you probably
Speaker 9: the best logical reason that I've heard to keep cell phone.
Speaker 9: That is, well, that is, what if there's a shooter,
Speaker 9: and in that regard, having a phone on your person
Speaker 9: could be calling the police, master, it could be calling
Speaker 9: your mom and saying Mom, I'm okay, and I I do.
Speaker 9: I'm more on board for that rationale. The problem is
Speaker 9: phones aren't just phones. In fact, using a phone as
Speaker 9: a phone to call people is probably the least common
Speaker 9: use of a phone.
Speaker 2: Well, the other thing, too, is if god forbid, there
Speaker 2: was a shooter in your school, kids having cell phones
Speaker 2: that could be Actually it could increase the danger. And
Speaker 2: I'll tell you how. If some shooter is walking the
Speaker 2: corridors and he's got two or three minutes before police
Speaker 2: respond and neutralize the situation, if he hears a phone ring,
Speaker 2: he knows there's someone in that room, if he hears
Speaker 2: somebody who has the phone on and it's beeping, or
Speaker 2: if they're talking on the phone. The best thing to
Speaker 2: do in that situation is both the door, you know,
Speaker 2: block the door as best you can with whatever you know,
Speaker 2: and get out of the line and stay and stay quiet.
Speaker 2: Let that shooter throw.
Speaker 9: Oh yes, And we have those like alice drills all
Speaker 9: the time, and that's what it is. It's like quiet.
Speaker 2: And I also think that that the chances of a
Speaker 2: shoot uh you know, I know every year there's there's
Speaker 2: a few of those, but there's thousands, thousands, tens of
Speaker 2: thousands of schools across America. So I understand your point.
Speaker 2: I understand your point, but I think it's outweighed by
Speaker 2: by them.
Speaker 9: It's not even that's not even my point, okay, but
Speaker 9: that's I think the point that if that were to
Speaker 9: be brought up, that that would be the point that
Speaker 9: would probably that would probably sway people. And again, if
Speaker 9: if there were an app for that, that you could
Speaker 9: make a cell phone just a phone from seven forty
Speaker 9: in the morning to two fifteen when school ends, I
Speaker 9: would be on board. You could have your phone again
Speaker 9: these kids are not using their phones to call people.
Speaker 9: They don't even call for a pizza. All of that
Speaker 9: stuff is apps. They all, it's all. They don't talk
Speaker 9: like that anymore, and they don't call if they don't
Speaker 9: absolutely have to. So if that was, you know, for
Speaker 9: a security reason, my son, you know, might need to
Speaker 9: call me or whatever if there's a problem to call I,
Speaker 9: I might be I might be swayed by that. But
Speaker 9: again the problem is is these boons are not being
Speaker 9: used to call anybody on it on the daily. That's
Speaker 9: not most of the time. If the kids on their phone,
Speaker 9: they're playing a game. Sometimes they're watching Much Madness, Sometimes
Speaker 9: they're watching Netflix.
Speaker 2: Sometimes beds problems. They're probably placing beds to who knows,
Speaker 2: what great level do you teach? If I could ask
Speaker 2: junior high high school?
Speaker 9: Would teach high school? I teach high school?
Speaker 2: Good for you? What course? What type of what type
Speaker 2: of teacher I teach?
Speaker 9: I teach Spanish?
Speaker 2: Spanish?
Speaker 9: But yeah, so I just want I wanted to like,
Speaker 9: I just wanted to give you that. If that rationale
Speaker 9: is one, thank.
Speaker 2: You for putting that up there, because it's good to
Speaker 2: talk about it. I think the politicians got to get
Speaker 2: off there butt and do something.
Speaker 9: It needs to be. There's one hundred percent right, because
Speaker 9: the cell phones are the biggest distraction. And the problem
Speaker 9: is these kids don't even realize they're distracted. Fifty minutes
Speaker 9: of class can go by, the bell can ring, and
Speaker 9: they're like, wait, what what happened?
Speaker 2: You know, what were you talking about? They zone out,
Speaker 2: They zone out.
Speaker 9: It's one hundred percent. They don't even And that's the thing.
Speaker 9: It's not like they're getting scores that are lower because
Speaker 9: they're not as smart as before. They don't hear what
Speaker 9: you're saying. Wow, So they they they leave class. They
Speaker 9: have no idea what you said. They have no idea
Speaker 9: what you've taught. And that's the problem. It has nothing
Speaker 9: to do with, like again, with their intelligence level.
Speaker 2: All right, Ellison, thank you very much. As long as
Speaker 2: they were teachers like you were in good shape and
Speaker 2: and you're a credit to you're a credit to the cause.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much much. Right, and thanks for listening
Speaker 2: to Nightside. Good night. Jason is in Waltham. Jason next
Speaker 2: on Nightside, go right ahead, tight on time here, Jason,
Speaker 2: go right ahead.
Speaker 10: Then, Hi, thank you for having me again.
Speaker 3: Welcome, so I don't know what the solution is, but
Speaker 3: for me, for any parent who's against all four kids
Speaker 3: having phones in the school, I think it's the problem
Speaker 3: starts at home.
Speaker 10: Right these days we have young kids having kids. The
Speaker 10: parents are cooking dinner, watch while they're watching phones. They
Speaker 10: do they're doing work at home. Why they're watching the phones.
Speaker 10: They're going to the bathroom of the phones. What do
Speaker 10: you expect the kids to do? Same thing with the
Speaker 10: video games. The parents are playing video games all day
Speaker 10: and one of the kids are doing the same thing.
Speaker 10: Parents on the phone. Everything is on the phone. Then
Speaker 10: they come the red light on the phone. What do
Speaker 10: you expect the kids to do when they get the phone?
Speaker 10: They're going to set the same example when they take
Speaker 10: it to the school because if they have it's from home.
Speaker 10: Same thing parents watching read movies, and I wonder where
Speaker 10: kids go to school start using for our language. Everything
Speaker 10: starts at home. Always for the pirates, before the parents
Speaker 10: go to school and said the school should do this
Speaker 10: and this, the parents should look for themselves. It goes
Speaker 10: back to the the schools tatools. Just because the skill
Speaker 10: the kid goes for go to school, the school doesn't
Speaker 10: end when the kids get out of school. This school
Speaker 10: got quotinue when to get home or does not get
Speaker 10: involved with a home or sent thing with the technology
Speaker 10: when the kids get home, say boundaries. But the kids
Speaker 10: and the person I sat in boundaries because the parents
Speaker 10: are young themselves. You got kids, We got parates who
Speaker 10: are twenty five raising raising somebody who's ten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, oh that's Jason. I'm telling you. I'm so
Speaker 2: impressed by by you and your calls. I'm glad that
Speaker 2: you found night Side. Your your real asset to this program.
Speaker 2: And please continue to listen, continue to call and keep
Speaker 2: me posted on if you were able to uh get
Speaker 2: involved in what we talked about earlier.
Speaker 10: Yes, we did. I got a meeting with the twenty first.
Speaker 2: That's not bad. That's not bad. Jason, Thank you much
Speaker 2: as always, my friend, Thank you so much.
Speaker 10: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Talk to you soon. To the callers of the line,
Speaker 2: you just to call it a little earlier. We're going
Speaker 2: to switch topics. We'll get back perhaps this later on.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the papal conclave coming up
Speaker 2: with a religious professor from Boston College. Professor Thomas Groome
Speaker 2: will be back on Nightside right after this