City Will Reward Students With Phones

The city is launching a campaign to motivate public school students by giving them free cell phones and upgrading features if they do things such as show up to class and behave.

Cell phones are banned from schools, and students will not be allowed to bring to school the new Samsung U740 flip phones they would be getting.

Seven high-need middle schools are receiving the phones. If students meet standards developed by their schools, their phones will be upgraded with ring tones, extra minutes, and text messaging capacity.

The program is being run by a Harvard economics professor, Roland Fryer, who was named the Department of Education's chief equality officer last year. Researchers will study its effects on student learning.

The city's public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, criticized the program as a mixed message, since cell phones are banned, and as "yet another gimmick to justify excessive testing."

School officials said there is no contradiction.

The program is being privately financed.