Lawmakers Want to Ban Cell Phones in Pennsylvania Schools
Plus, the first cannabis lounges open in the region.
A stock image of school children using cell phones in the classroom, something that wouldn’t be allowed if a cell phone ban goes through in Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)
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Lawmakers Want to Ban Cell Phones in Pennsylvania Schools
Glory, glory hallelujah! There is a bipartisan effort underway in Harrisburg to ban cell phones in elementary schools. The move is being spearheaded by Republican State Senator Devlin Robinson of Western Pennsylvania as well as Philadelphia-area state senators Vincent Hughes (a.k.a. the husband of Abbott Elementary‘s Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Steven Santarsiero. This is a ban that is long overdue. More than half of the states in the country have some sort of restrictions against cell phones in schools. Pennsylvania has none. So, like with recreational marijuana and minimum wage, Pennsylvania is way, way behind.
Details are still coming in, but it sounds like exceptions would be made in certain limited situations, like for a child who requires an electronic device as part of a structured learning accommodation plan or for medical conditions. It’s also unclear exactly how districts would enforce this, i.e. would the phones be locked up in special pouches or storage units during classes but accessible in between classes, at recess, and at lunchtime?
In Philadelphia, some schools do already have cell phone bans, according to superintendent Tony Watlington, but there’s no district-wide policy. He tells Philly Mag that he believes this should be a school-by-school decision. Sounds like he won’t have that option if the aforementioned state legislators (and me) have our way.
Yikes!
Things you don’t want to see in your quiet suburban neighborhood: a rattlesnake.
Want Weed?
Atlantic City now has four cannabis lounges, where you can smoke up, sing karaoke, and smoke up some more. This is all part of a drive to turn Atlantic City into the “cannabis hub of the East Coast.” Perhaps not the worst idea ever.
By the Numbers
$34,415: What Philadelphia drag queen Martha Graham Cracker has raised thus far for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) via her online campaign. (Full disclosure: I’m her pianist.) According to LLS, her campaign is the third biggest LLS campaign in the country right now. LLS is particularly important to her because she has recovered from both leukemia and lymphoma. Not the kind of BOGO deal she was looking for.
74 degrees: Forecasted high for Philadelphia on Friday, a 17-degree dive from Thursday’s high and one of the coolest days I can remember in a while. Give the AC a break. Open the windows. Light the grill. Sit on the stoop with your neighbors and drink sangria.
100 percent: Likelihood that I’ll be trying this blood orange, olive oil and sea salt soft serve before the summer is over.
Local Talent
Our friends Low Cut Connie may be too liberal for the good folks of Luzerne County, who ironically replaced them with a band featuring a lead singer who is a convicted sex offender, but they’ll fit in just fine in King of Prussia, where Adam Weiner and his bandmates take to the stage on Friday night. Guaranteed to be an entertaining show.
