It's so funny how Mayor Bloomberg banned cell phones in public schools, since didn't his daughters go to, like, Dalton? Or wherever? (We can't remember—do you?) Anyway, it seems that kids in New York private schools these days have moved beyond RAZRs and now carry BlackBerries and the like to school. Apparently they get hand-me-downs from their important parents? And sometimes they even get new ones? And the teachers don't even care? Not like at those stupid public schools!

With his new BlackBerry, a junior at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side, Matthew Ressler, said he plans to keep track of his homework assignments, exam dates, basketball practices, and volunteer activities. "I think it will keep me better organized, and I won't have as many missed appointments," Matthew, 17, said of the device, a recent birthday gift from his mother. "It's really like you're organizing a professional career."

Matthew said that in recent months, many of his Dalton classmates have replaced their paper calendars with so-called personal digital assistants, or PDAs. Students are not supposed to use such devices in class, he said, but many teachers don't enforce that rule. "You say, 'This is my planner,' and they say, 'That's fine,'" he said.

At Private Schools, 'Smart Phones' Are Public [NYS]