I Dream Awake

I’ve uploaded all the pics from yesterday’s hearing. Click through and enjoy:

Gothamist is first to the punch with this post. It’s a little light on the substance and heavy on the witty, but what do you expect? Students always make easy joke material.

AMNY sums it all up with a collection of soundbites, like this one from Dennis Walcott:

“As far as compromise, we are very clear about our policy and we’re going to stick to that policy,” Walcott said.

NYPost repeats all the same info with different soundbites.

The Times gives us this frustrating update to the already terrible numbers Walcott had given during the hearing (he said 1800 and 37):

According to the city, the authorities have confiscated 36 weapons, mostly knives, since scanning started — and 3,027 cellphones. Many of those phones have been returned.

And they finish off their piece with a Dana sighting!

Dana O’Brien, 15, a sophomore at Fiorello H. La Guardia High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, said she believed the scanning program was “a violation of our right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, since a turned-off cellphone is not really threatening.”

Dana could not stay to answer council members’ questions. She was sorry, she explained, but she had a Regents exam.

Jenna made it all the way to Washington (well the Post anyway):

“I feel mature enough to be able to turn off my cell phone in class,” said LaGuardia high school student Jenna Gogan, 16. “This is about students’ safety, because, especially in New York City, many parents need to feel reassured they can contact their kids going to and from school.”

Of course since she was the only one that didn’t have Regents to rush off to she was flooded by reporters coming up to her one after another for the rest of the time we were there.

Heh, the post also mispelled Melinda Katz’ name:

“Kids pass notes back and forth but that doesn’t mean we take away pens,” said council member Belinda Katz.

Damn that MSM! No respect for spelling…

FoxNews used a quote from Seth in their writeup:

Sophomore Seth Pearce noted wryly during his testimony: “All three of us have cell phones right now in City Hall, and it seems to me the city is running just fine.”

The Sun takes a look at it all from the State angle:

State lawmakers are also stepping up to address the cell phone issue. The chairwoman of the Assembly’s education committee, Kathy Nolan, introduced a bill asking the state’s education department to draw up guidelines for New York’s more than 700 school districts.

“We’re not trying to browbeat the city,” Ms. Nolan said. “But state ed - they’re not business people, they’re educators, and hopefully they will weigh in.”

Yesterday’s big showdown also got attention from the local ABC and CBS networks (with video), the Boston Globe, Staten Island Advance, NY1 (with video), and CNN.

I’ll check around for more blog coverage and update this later.

With 40 Councilmembers signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, this baby is as good as law. Bloomberg can go ahead and veto all he wants, but the Council will just overide. Since he is on record as saying the DoE won’t change their position no matter what and won’t apply the bill even after it’s approved, count this one as sure to be heading for the courts.

It was great to see Councilmember after Councilmember speak strongly in favor of the bill and use tough and mostly respectful questioning to disarm each argument made by those testifying in favor of the status quo. But best of all was getting to record a slightly choppy video in less than ideal conditions (***DAMN that guy that kept getting in my way was annoying!!!***) of students I happen to have the pleasure of knowing giving the best remarks of the day. Sure I’m biased here… but it’s still true.

For anyone that doesn’t know: Council bill = end cell phone ban. Status quo = zero tolerance for student cell phones on school premises, unevenly enforced but involving recent systemwide crackdowns.