Bohnak, Downstate Colleague, Discuss Cell Phone Ban In Negaunee

CLICK TO HEAR RRN’S CALEB GORDON NEWS REPORT

Starting next school year, students will have to put away their smart phones during class.

Republican State Rep Mark Tisdel introduced that bill banning student cell phones, and that bill passed both the House and Senate.

It was signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer back in February.

Tisdel spoke with students Thursday at Negaunee High School. Tisdel, who’s from the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, says the state needed to take action because phones have become a distraction in many classrooms across Michigan.

“It removes that burden from the school districts, from the principals, from the teacher, being the ‘bad guy’,” Tisdel said. “Now, Representative Tisdel can be the bad guy, and they can say they’re just following the state law. If you’re going to wait for 537 local school districts to design, implement, and actively enforce a cell phone policy, you could be waiting a long time.”

State representative Karl Bohnak, also a Republican from the local 109^th house district, agrees. He helped Tisdel’s bill pass in the House, and he also talked at Negaunee High School on Thursday.

“Keep them in your lockers,” Bohnak said. “You can take them out at your lunch hour, but that’s it. The teachers think it’s great. And frankly, the kids think it’s great, too.”

Tisdel says this is just the start. He also hopes to regulate social media by requiring teenagers to have their parents sign them up for social media sites. Tisdel says that a minor should not be able to agree to the “user contracts” that are agreed to when someone signs up for a social media site.

Tisdel and Bohnak also said that they hope their colleagues in the Senate take action on energy legislation to preserve the UP’s reciprocating internal combustion (RICE) generators when lawmakers return from recess. Bohnak told students and the media Thursday that without the legislation, the UP will likely see higher energy rates, and could see a loss of jobs and industry.

CLICK BELOW to hear from REP. MARK TISDEL (R-Rochester Hills)