Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul appeared on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream to discuss the statewide cell phone ban that recently went into effect in New York schools.
During the interview, host Shannon Bream referenced a 2024 report by the National Parents Union indicating that 78 percent of parents want their children to have access to cell phones during the school day. Bream also cited concerns from New York parents about student safety and communication, including one parent who said, “Had to wait 30 minutes after school to get my 12-year-old daughter’s confiscated iPad back.” Another parent noted, “Kids need to be in contact with their parents, so I think it’s a bad idea.”
In response, Governor Hochul said: “The message is: Change is hard. I understand that, but you have to wonder why for the last decade we’ve even allowed children to have this distraction device in their hands.
They’re not learning. They’re not engaging with other students. You walk into a hallway with a school that allows cell phones. The halls are silent. Kids aren’t speaking to each other, they’re not making friendships, they’re not creating human connections that you’re supposed to do when you’re a child.
And I’m a parent. I’m the first Mom Governor of New York. I understand the fears. What happens when your children — your most precious person in the world to you — goes off to school?
But what I learned, because I had the same fears, what I learned from law enforcement two years ago — the last thing your child should have in their possession, if there’s a shooter on campus or in the building, is a cell phone that could telegraph where your child is.
They need to be 100 percent focused on the adult in the room, that teacher, who’s been going through countless hours of training. And so law enforcement persuaded me — district attorneys, sheriffs, police chiefs — that it is safer to not have a cell phone distracting a child if there is a crisis on campus.
But I’m concerned about the mental health of our kids as well. There is a direct correlation between access to not just the phone itself, but the addictive algorithms that are bombarding our kids all day long; 74 percent of teachers said, ‘We can’t teach our kids anymore.’ The kids are so preoccupied watching a TikTok dance video that they’re not listening to the math teacher.
So there’s been a huge learning gap. I have 3 million school-aged children in the State of New York. Our children, since this is starting now, are going to be smarter, more well-adjusted and more highly functioning adults when they leave our system — and that’s the goal. So I understand parents’ fears more than anyone, but give it a little bit of time. Talk to the students who’ve been through this. I just came from a school on Long Island and another one in Brooklyn. Transition is hard. Change is hard. But the kids, after a little bit of time say, ‘You know what? I actually have friends in person now. I’m talking to people. I feel better. I’m learning.’
Talk to the kids. You’ll see a huge difference in them and their mental health — and that’s what I’m going for here.”
Bream then asked about how teachers manage enforcing this new policy and quoted Harvard researcher Emily Weinstein regarding educators’ challenges with managing student phone use: “We’ve heard over the last two to three years how hard it is from educators that ‘We did not choose to give your child a phone.’ And now we’re in the position of having to be the arbiter and manage it.’”
Governor Hochul responded: “In the State of New York, the teachers helped me lead the charge to do this. Once we had many conversations, and conferences and discussions — I did round tables around the state for a year and a half with teachers, with parents, with school administrators and students.
So I didn’t come to this decision lightly, but I really encourage others to do it because some teachers would be enforcing it strictly, others would say,’Hey don’t worry about it.’ So teachers don’t wantto bethe good cop,bad copin their schools— they wanta uniform policy.
So every school district is supposedto enforceitwiththeirown discipline plan.I mean,nochildshouldbe suspendedfor this,but letparentsknowthat ,afterafewtimes,thechildren shouldbevery much informedthatthey cannot bringthese cellphones tos chool.Butwhatwe sawis alotofschools have adopted something calledthis Yondr pouch—thekids can literally keepitwiththem allday,it’slocked up.Ifthere’sacrisis ,anemergency,theteachercan unlockit,andthekidsfeltbetterthattheyhadtheirphonewiththem,butweleftituptoeverysingleschooltodecidethebestmechanismforaddressingthestorageandthedisciplineafterward.
But,I’llsaythis :ItisgoingbetterthanIexpectedintheStateofNewYork.Isaid,“There’sgoingtobeatransition,somegrowingpains ,let’sgiveita fewmonths,”butthereactionafterdayonehasbeenastoundingtome.Andyes ,there’sgoingtobesomepeoplewhoareunhappy,Iunderstandit.Iunderstandthatinnateneedtoconnecttoyourchildallday .ButShannon ,asyousaid,we didn’t havethat .
At some point you have gottohavealittlebitofseparationandletthemstartdevelopingtheirownindependence.Iwantkidswhoknowhowtomakefriends ,whocanmakeeyecontact ,whocanbethoughtfulindividuals—andthatcellphone,andalsothebullyingthathappensonit .
Thisonechildtoldme,“We’readdictedtothis.Wecan’tputitdown,butI’mgettingmockedoutalldayfortheclothesI’mwearing ,orfindingoutaboutthegirlshavingaparty togetheronFriday,andthey’renotinvitingme,andIsitherefeelingbadaboutitallday.”Thesekidsgothroughenough,theydon’tneedit.Theycametothepandemic,theycamesomuchstress—letthembekidsagain .
SoIfeelreallypositiveandoptimisticaboutthis,andothergovernors—andSarahHuckabeeSandersandothershaveledthechargeonthis.AndIthinkeverygovernor ,ifwedon’tgetapolicyoutofthefederalgovernment ,shouldreallyconsiderthisandlookatthestatesthathavegoneahead.Iknowmykids,mystudentsaregoingtobesmarterandmorewelladjustedthananybody’soncethishassometimetotakeeffect.”
Bream also questioned Governor Hochul about her endorsement plans for Zohran Mamdani as Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City amid speculation about her stance.
Governor Hochul stated: “No there’s been so much speculation about what I’m going todo.I thinkthebiggerquestioniswhatthevotersofNewYorkwanttodo.IvoteinBuffalo ,NewYorkjustfortherecord.I’mnotaNewYorkCity–I’mherepart-timebutlisten,itisuptothevotersandthereshouldnotbeoutsideinfluencesonthisdecisionfromtheWhiteHouseondown.LetthevotersofNewYorkdecide .
But my jobiswhomeveristheMayorofNewYork,Ineedthemtoworkwithmetomakesurethatwecontinuetobeacompanythatprizesandcelebratespeoplesuccess ,thatwewanttomake sureallpeoplefeelwelcomehere ,thatweprotecttheJewishcommunity,thebusinesscommunityfeelsthattheycanthrivehere .
Andwestartcreatingjobsandmakingsureourstreetsaresafe .Thosearempriorities ,affordabilityandpublicsafety.Andthenextmayorisgoingtohavetoworkwithmebecauseit’shardtoacknowledgewhenyou’retheMayorofNewYork,buttheStateofNewYorkhasenormouspoweroverdecisionsinthecityandparticularlythefinancialsideofit.So stay tuned.We’llsee whathappens.”
The full audio recording of Governor Hochul’s remarks from Fox News Sunday was made available following her appearance.
