BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — State lawmakers want to ban students from K-12 from using their wireless devices during the school day, but the plan is getting mixed reviews in our community.
- House Bill 1481 is designed to combat cyberbullying and recapture students' attention in classrooms.
- Some neighbors believe this would be a positive change for students, while others believe it would put them in harm's way.
- The bill has been filed and introduced, but no votes have been taken or scheduled.
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"I think it's going to divide the community big time, because you're always going to have someone who's like, 'oh, I don't like that' or, 'oh, I like that', or, 'oh, I don't know about it," College Station resident, Bruce Banks said.
Texas lawmakers filed a new bill prohibiting K-12 students from using wireless communication devices during school hours. It's an unwelcome move for Bruce Banks and his wife, Llana.
"I tell you right now, if it passes, I'm going to pull my son out of school, and he's going to be homeschooled again," Bruce said.
House Bill 1481 is designed to combat cyberbullying and recapture students' attention in classrooms. A plan that has the support of Raul Gonzalez.
"It wouldn't be such a bad thing to do because a lot of students have the potential to actually come to these kind of schools like A&M or any kind of school that really will help them in the future and sometimes I feel like being on the phone or anything like that's not really going to help them get there."
Some of our neighbors believe this would be a positive change for students in local schools.
"I mean, for sure for sure the attention span is going to go up. The grades are going to increase for sure," Gonzalez said.
Others think this could be putting students in harm's way.
"If there's a shooting, I don't want to have to rely on school to get the information to know if my son's okay," Bruce Banks said.
"It's just not fair. It's not fair for the kids' safety," Llana said.
Gonzalez told 15 ABC that if this bill passes, neighbors will—"Have the ability to be proud or realize, damn, this was a good thing that happened."
But Bruce and Llana say they should have a say in what devices their kids can use at school.
"I don't want no legislative person who's never had kids or nothing telling me what I can and can't do with my son. We know how to raise our son," Bruce said.
