I’m a 9th grader in Yonkers Public Schools, and I refuse to stay quiet. YPS is about to spend over $700,000 on Yondr phone pouches ($25–$30 each for 24,000+ students). I understand that phones can be a distraction, but locking them away all day doesn’t solve anything — it just silences students from recording the real problems in our schools.

Here’s what students actually deal with every single day:

Extreme heat: Classrooms reach 95°+ with no AC. In middle school, my whole class had to move rooms just to keep going. At my high school, one student with an IEP that required air conditioning forced the entire class into the library every day. That’s humiliating for her and unfair to everyone else. Fix the AC instead of moving kids around.
Unsafe buildings: Mold and leaks are constant. Paideia 15 literally had to shut down because of toxic black mold.
Filthy bathrooms: Most are broken, unsanitary, and ignored.
Bad food: Students are served raw chicken, expired milk, and food that’s unsafe.
Violence: Gorton had multiple stabbings. Riverside went on lockdown after a student was slashed at a bus stop. A 16-year-old was stabbed three times at Yonkers Middle High.
Bullying and harassment: Students report teacher bullying and peer harassment, and nothing gets done. I’ve been through it myself — fights I got into were because admin ignored my reports. My parents only found out because I told them.
It’s not just uncomfortable. It’s about dignity. Low-income students don’t have endless outfits, and sweating through clothes every day in overheated classrooms means embarrassment and shame. Kids shouldn’t have to choose between their education and their dignity.

This isn’t just neglect — it could be breaking the law. Students have the right to a safe, sound education under the New York State Constitution. The Dignity for All Students Act requires respectful learning environments. Students with disabilities under IEPs and 504 plans are legally entitled to accommodations like air conditioning. And taking phones away so kids can’t record unsafe conditions raises serious First Amendment questions.

I know the state passed this phone pouch law, and it’s not all Yonkers’ fault. But YPS can do better. If the district has $700,000 for pouches, it has money to fix the air conditioning, repair bathrooms, clean up the mold, provide safe food, and protect students from violence.

We, the students of Yonkers, demand that real issues be fixed before wasting money on pouches to silence us.

Sign this petition to tell Yonkers Public Schools: Fix our schools first.