‘Teachers want the kids to pay attention’: Doug Ford claims broad support for Ontario school cellphone ban

“They don’t want little Tommy or little Jane sitting there on the cellphone while they’re trying to teach class,” he said in his first public comments since Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the sweeping restrictions.

Pointing to internal government polling published by the Star on Saturday, Ford said support for the measures is “overwhelming.”

“It’s staggering numbers, the numbers I’ve seen with parents supporting the ban because they want their kids to go to school and learn — not to be on social media and fiddling around with their cellphones during class,” he said.

“Outside of class, all the power to them. You can do whatever you want. But while you’re in learning, you’ve got to learn. The teachers want the kids to pay attention. It’s as simple as that. It’s not that complicated. Don’t use the phones.”

Under new rules that take effect in September — which are tougher than the vague 2019 limits that proved unenforceable — cellphones will be banned in elementary schools for the entire day and during class time for middle and high school students.

School boards will also be required to remove all access to social media websites from their Wi-Fi networks, and report cards will be modernized to include comments on students’ distraction levels.

Lecce said Sunday that unless teachers specifically mandate the devices for learning, “our policy is ‘out of sight, out of mind’” for cellphones in schools.

Students up to Grade 6 will have to put their cellphones away and on silent mode when at school, while those in Grades 7 through 12 will only be allowed them between classes and at lunch.

There will be exceptions made with the “explicit” permission by teachers for learning purposes, Lecce said, as well as for students with medical or parental custody situations.

“We will respect the professional judgment of teachers of when technology is appropriate and of when it’s not appropriate,” the minister said.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said it would “reserve judgment” on the government’s new policies until “it had an opportunity to review the full range of changes.”

But the teachers’ union noted it brought up concerns surrounding cellphone use during recent bargaining.

Polling commissioned by the Progressive Conservative caucus and conducted by Campaign Research found 75 per cent of respondents favoured a “full restriction on students using their personal cellphones from the start of the class to the end of the class” and that nine in 10 believe phones are a distraction in class.

Similarly, 85 per cent feel limits “would help students focus on their studies,” and 87 per cent said that phones “must be put away” and “not used during class time.”

More than three-quarters agreed with giving teachers the power to confiscate phones.

Campaign Research polled 1,488 Ontarians on April 11 and 12 using Maru Blue’s online panel. While opt-in polls cannot be assigned a margin of error, for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have one of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Tories have announced the high-profile phone ban ahead of Thursday’s byelections in Milton and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.

Ford was in Ottawa on Monday to open a new “regional office” for the provincial government in a capital city that has not been kind to his party in recent years.

Underscoring that, the premier said veteran lobbyist, Sean Webster, the defeated PC candidate in the July 27 Kanata-Carleton byelection won by Liberal Karen McCrimmon, would be his personal representative in that office.

“He has public- and private-sector experience. He’s well-known here in Ottawa, and he’s going to be a touchpoint person,” said Ford.

Webster’s salary has yet to be made public, but Ontario representatives in Chicago and Dallas earn $180,780 annually.

In an April 23 email to Ford’s office obtained by the Star, veteran Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean) questioned the wisdom of the move.

“I don’t agree with the Ottawa regional office. It’s not a great idea and I won’t attend,” said MacLeod.

Liberal house leader John Fraser said “rather than stopping the gravy train, Doug Ford is opening a new station and hiring his failed candidate for Kanata-Carleton to run it.”

“With the most expensive premier’s office ever, it’s clear that Doug Ford isn’t interested in making life better for Ontario families. He’s just in it for his well-connected insiders,” said Fraser.

In a statement, the New Democrats denounced the patronage appointment.

“Ottawans deserve better services. Still, you can’t convince them that a failed Conservative candidate who ditched an opportunity to connect with voters is the best person for the job,” said the NDP.