Veto House Bill H.5366/Senate Bill 2581

The Commonwealth’s policy imposes a suspicionless, bell-to-bell physical lockout of private digital property. Because that property contains private papers, communications, expressive tools, medical and safety functions, documentation capacity, and economic value, the lockout is not a simple school rule. It is a serious interference with privacy under G.L. c. 214, § 1B, an unreasonable seizure of possessions under Article XIV, a deprivation of protected property interests under Article X, and a burden on student speech and documentation rights. These are not separate accidents. They are the same constitutional injury viewed from each affected right.  The bill does not address the true problem of distraction in the classroom, it is the educational equivalent to quitting a drug cold-turkey. The proper and constitutional approach is to reform the state’s curriculum and get businesses back offline to restore life to the world. There needs to be something for teens to fall back on, methods of communication and mental health services to recover from an addiction that significantly affects the chemistry of the brain and how dopamine works inside of it.  The phone problem in schools is a result of a lack-luster, repetitive curriculum, a lack of opportunities to socialize and interact with the real world because of corporations that retreat online, and the mistreatment of a population that is struggling with an actual addiction. A lock-out policy would disrupt the classroom structure and put students in danger. It would most of all be a vagrant violation of student rights and civil rights.