Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos today highlighted plans for implementing smartphone restrictions across NYC Public Schools – the nation’s largest school system – when students return this fall. The Chancellor’s proposed regulations for NYC Public Schools will be voted on by the NYC Panel for Education Policy (PEP) on July 23.
VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.
VIDEO: The remarks after the roundtable concluded are available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
AUDIO: The Governor's remarks after the roundtable concluded are available in audio form here.
PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning and thank you for joining us for an important conversation and I'm delighted to be here at Walton — and joined by extraordinary students and educators and union representatives and school safety officials — and all the people who spend their lives dedicated to making our children emerge healthier, fully functioning adults at the end of their tenure in our public school system.
I've had roundtables around the state starting last year where — we had an opportunity to really listen to what is happening in our schools, particularly those that did not have any kind of restrictions on cell phones during the class time of which they were the majority — and what I heard was really profound.
First of all teachers, very frustrated because they were competing with TikTok dance videos when they're supposed to be teaching a math class. And they just said, it's just getting so hard — and the teachers who said they wanted to make a connection with the students when the students are not even making eye contact with them the entire day. It became impossible. So for them it was frustrating because they had a different vision of what their jobs would be like every day, and the cell phone was getting in the way.
Then I talked to students — now I know it's hard — but you know why? Because it was intentionally made to be an addictive device. The algorithms that are bombarding our students and actually adults as well — but I'm focused on the kids right now. The algorithms were intended, designed by the social media companies to draw our children in, hold them there and many times take them to dark places and just bombarded them with all kinds of negativity — and it really had an effect on their mental health very negatively so.
And then we look at this, the student to student issues. When students would tell me and say, why can't you put down the cell phone? Well, because you know right now I'm being mocked out for what I'm wearing today. Kids are teasing me, I need to know what they're saying. I need to know how to respond.
And it takes an effect on, especially young girls in high school. Then they said, “well, everybody's getting together Friday night and I'm not invited and it's making me feel really bad.” They're all talking about this, they're getting together in the restroom,”and so all day long — they felt like they could not put it down because they're missing something — but it was not necessarily a positive experience.
So I learned so much from schools that had gone ahead. There's schools like this that have already said no to cell phones. We're in our fifth day of summer school and we can see out front the system you have for collecting the phones. But I wanted people to know that we're listening, that government can also not sit on the sidelines and say, “well that's a you problem, you figure it out.”
I'm more engaged, I'm actually a mom too — and I knew what this was doing to our kids as I saw this unfold over many years. So we took action and I want to thank AFT and NYSUT across the state for helping me champion this.
We made a difference. We had overcome a lot of obstacles — and I'll never forget the young girl who said, “you've gotta save us from ourselves.” And I said you know what, when a child calls out for help from adults to allow them the ability to put it down because they know it's bad for them — but they just can't, because of all the social pressure. How could we not respond?
And so I worked with our leaders in the legislature. We're able to push through over some opposition, a full bell to bell ban on distracting devices, including smart watches and the earbuds as well as the phones. Clearly there's exceptions when there's a medical need or a language translation required.
We're not insensitive to that but what I'm doing now is going around to different school districts coming to the largest school district. Yes, and commending our chancellor for her leadership. But also to hear from all of you, why you think this is important. What are some of the challenges and how we can really be a model for I believe other states.
I said this on national news this morning “I don't know why every other state does not do exactly what we're doing because our children will emerge more well adjusted. They'll have more in-person friends.” One girl told me it's the first time I've had friends in person when they ban the cell phones in schools. She said, I never needed friends in person.
Well, you actually did, but you just didn't know it. And so the school superintendent who did this a few years ago said the most significant changes were that we heard voices in the hallways again. We heard laughter, sometimes fighting, but the kids were interacting with each other.
It was silent for so many years — schools are not meant to be silent in the hallways and cafeteria and during recess. I mean, it's supposed to be making relationships and learning how to deal with each other and even if it is conflict, how you resolve it as opposed to being taken into your cell phone and never having to deal with other people.
So we have a deadline for our school districts. I'm trying to remind them of this, of August 1st to submit your plan to us so we can review them. And this is starting this fall — I'm impatient. I actually think a lot of time has been wasted. There's been evidence for some time now that this is negative.
But it does take political courage sometimes and I want to thank everyone who partnered with me. We have our Assemblymember George Alvarez joining us here today and I want to thank him for also standing up on behalf of the people he represents in his district. So with that, I will turn this over to our great chancellor and ask Melissa Aviles-Ramos to talk about what she's doing.
I also want to thank Mayor Eric Adams who put $25 million into this program in addition to the $4 million from the state. So that investment was important to us, so we're grateful for that so, Chancellor.
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Thank you for joining us as we are on the cusp of making history here in the state of New York. We are literally six weeks away from a statewide prohibition on distractive devices in our schools, which I think is gonna transform the educational experience. I'm very excited about this.
It's been a long time in the making, and what I'm doing now is going out to different school districts — I was out on Long Island not long ago or up in Buffalo. Here we are in the largest school district, New York City, to have a roundtable to talk about how they're preparing for this date, starting very soon, when we'll have a distraction free environment for our schools.
And I'm so excited about also knowing that our kids are gonna be so much better adjusted. The results from scores are going to go up, they'll have more friends in person, they'll have stronger emotional health. Because all of those factors have been in decline since the advent of schools allowing cell phones about a decade ago.
And what we heard today were some of the concerns from students and parents and others, but I think the takeaway I had was that they wanted to be over communication with parents. That's the strategy, right? That we're employing here as well. I just want people to know we listen to them.
We also talk to our school safety officer — I'm joined by the chancellor as well as the school safety officer about what emergencies require. They don't require a cell phone. In fact, a cell phone during an emergency can make you less safe and he can talk about that if you have any questions.
And I also will finish with this. I do hope that for the sake of our entire country and the health of all American children, that other states will take our lead. That they will have the courage to stand up against all the forces that are challenging them and also not just on the restrictions, the prohibition of these devices during school. But even what we did last year by taking on the social media companies and saying, no, you cannot monetize our children's mental health.
You don't have access to them 24 hours a day. You cannot have access to their personal data — and you can no longer bombard them with addictive algorithms that have taken them into a spiraling situation and many have not recovered. So that was our message last year. It was strong. We won that battle, and I encourage again other governors to look at this model of how to focus our energy on making sure that our children have the best outcomes in life.