Not likely.

Per Hartford Public Schools Board of Education Member and Policy Committee Chair A.J. Johnson’s announcement at the January Regular Board Meeting, the board, or some of six members that remain from the statutory nine (they’re dropping like flies and are just as annoying), will meet on February 5th to hold a first discussion concerning HPS’ cell phone policy.

(Update, Feb. 9: The announced Feb. 5th meeting was not held...quelle suprise).

Despite Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez telling an audience at a Maple Avenue NRZ meeting last year that HPS does not have a cell phone policy, the current cell phone policy, on the books since 2009 and last visited by the BOE in 2020, follows the national trend to prohibit non-academic use of cell phones in schools, which one study showed was the policy of 77% of schools in 2019-20, up from 70% of schools in 2017-18.

HPS’ policy states that “cell phones and other electronic devices may not be used, heard or displayed during the school day” unless otherwise permitted by the principal, a violation of this policy will result in “consequences” being imposed (☺).   The policy states that the aim is to maintain school order, protect personal property, and to prevent disruptions to the instructional process.

What HPS’ cell phone policy does not address, or name as an aim of their policy, are the health effects of cell phones and electronic devices on the students’ health.  Just as they ignored the documented health effects of electronic screen time on the health of adolescents when they excitedly and happily approved contracts to bring eSports on-line gaming into Hartford schools, the district and the board are ignoring the real and present health dangers accompanying the use of cell phones.

During a recent broadcast of “Morning Talk with J. Stan McCauley,”  members of the Greater Hartford Coalition for Safe Technology (please visit their web site) appeared to raise awareness of the threats to the health of school children from the use of cell phones and from their proximity to cell phone towers, a threat which has had an increasingly greater effect on urban school communities.

The issue is the radiation emitted by the wireless signals from individual devices and cell towers, including the commonly seen small rectangular cell “towers” mounted on many roofs throughout Hartford.  Rachael Stephens of the GHCST stated that this radiation poses a “tremendous health risk” and there is “compelling evidence” that there has been an increase in heart tumors, brain tumors, DNA damage, reproductive harm, endocrine destruction, and many other issues associated with high levels of radiation from cell phones and cell towers.  Ms. Stephens stated that the risks are especially high for developing adolescents and for pregnant women.

Dave MacDonald, of the GHCST, stated that the increase in bad student behaviors should also be viewed as an exposure risk to wireless radiation as there is a link between that radiation and increased stress levels in human beings.

Ms. Stephens stated that the risk to urban districts is greater as many of them, seeking another source of revenue to cure underfunded budgets, are renting space on school roofs to telecom companies to install cell towers, thereby increasing the risk to children (and teachers!) who attend those schools (don’t give Torres-Rodriguez any ideas; we’ll be seeing cell towers from AT&T to Oscar Winner Ryan Renolds’ company crowding the roof of a Montessori magnet school).

Ms. Stephens stated that parents and school districts (and soon, boards of education) are making uninformed decisions when it come to students’ use of cell phones and the placement of cell towers near neighborhood schools because they are being fed misguided, corporate-influenced information from the FCC, which sets the “acceptable” levels of radiation that telecommunication companies can zap US citizens with.  The GHCST disagrees with the FCC levels.

In April of 2023, the GHCST measured radiation levels on the grounds of 50 schools in the Hartford area and found that while the FCC standards are met (much like the federal standards which suggest giving kindergarten students the same food proportions as is given to a 12th grade student), the GHCST feels that these “acceptable” levels are in fact a danger to everyone in the school.  The GHCST study found 9 schools with “Extreme” radiation levels and all 9 were within 3,000 feet of a cell tower.  Four of these “Extreme” schools are in Hartford while another 10 Hartford schools rate as “Moderately High”, “High”, or “High/Extreme.”

The GHCST website states that “across the world, thousands of physicians and researchers have been calling on government officials to take the public health risks of wireless radiation more seriously.”

Will the Hartford Board of Education invite and give serious consideration to the information provided by the GHCST?  Will board members craft a policy based on the recommendations on the use of cell phones in classrooms provided by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)?  Or, as is their practice, will they consider themselves the sole arbiter on everything that is right for Hartford students?