When New York City public schools reopen Thursday, many students will face a new directive: Put your phones away until the end of the school day .

About half of the 1,600 schools in the nation’s largest district already instituted cellphone policies before this academic year. In coming weeks, those schools — and hundreds others yet to regulate the devices — must come into compliance with new state guidelines meant to crack down on distractions at school.

“First and foremost, I’m a New York City public school mom myself, a rising sixth grader, and she’s not thrilled about not having her phone,” Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos told Fox 5 New York on Tuesday.

“But we want to make sure that students are using technology in a way that is safe and that is fostering innovation an

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