City Parents Want Albany To Ease School Phone Ban

With Mayor Bloomberg promising to veto the City Council bill that eases his school cell phone ban, activists are looking to help from Albany, where they hope lawmakers will go over Mr. Bloomberg's head to reverse the ban.

The council voted Wednesday for a bill that allows students to carry cell phones to and from school, but doesn't affect restrictions on their use. Last year, a lawsuit by a group of parents failed to kill the ban.

Because the council handed control of school policy to the mayor in 2002, the law will have "no practical effect" — even if members override Mr. Bloomberg's veto, as is expected, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, Dina Paul Parks, said.

Albany lawmakers, however, may have jurisdiction. Parents have scheduled a meeting with a Republican state senator of Queens, Serphin Maltese, to recruit his support.

Two bills opposing Mr. Bloomberg's ban have been introduced in the Legislature, one in the Senate and one in the Assembly, but have not moved since last year, a lawyer for the parents, Norman Siegel, said. Mr. Siegel said the latest failure to quash the ban could give those bills momentum.

Mr. Maltese could not be reached for comment.