00:00Superintendent Feshire and a lot of people representing young people, students, parents, teachers union and others who have been working intently on something that I think is going to be one of the significant transformational policies that the state of New York has ever engaged in and that is promising our students a distraction free environment when they go to school in kindergarten and when they're done graduating in 12th
00:29grade I'm telling you they're going to emerge as more well-rounded, more well-adjusted, more well-educated students than we're doing right now and it is not their fault, it is not the teacher's fault, it is the fact that for the last decade we have allowed the influence of cell phones in what is supposed to be an educational environment and it creates a great distraction whether it's the phone itself or earbuds or
00:59smartwatches, it's a different world now compared to what it had been previously and it's not for the better because another fight we took on with the state legislature against big tech companies was that we said there's such negative influence on our young people coming from addictive algorithms that are bombarding students.
01:21I mean an average of 250 notifications a day but it's many times pushing darker content and negative content and not just that but it's also monetizing our kids mental health, they've been collecting information about our kids about their preferences and selling it to advertisers and so we stopped all that in New York, we're the first state in the nation to say no more, you can't monetize our kids mental health and we stopped that as well as the notifications
01:51overnight and making sure that they cannot unsolicited send algorithms and messages to students and young people but a cell phone is still the device that is used for bullying creating enormous pressure social pressure on young people teenage years are hard enough I know that from having been a teenager and raising teenagers but to have the extra stress of you know as one the girls I was
02:21talking at one event told me you know we're sitting here and someone's texting that I'm you know they hate my clothes they're mocking me out they're having a meeting in the girls room and I'm not invited they're talking about the parties on Friday and I'm getting all upset because no one cares and it's there's must be learning and also the distraction of you know student has to look at either a math teacher or a tick tock dance video and I'm sorry teachers you know it's winning out there so this is what's been going on a long time
02:49and I went on a year and a half almost two year journey to gather representation of what we have here law enforcement and superintendents and teachers and principals and administrators and students and parents
03:03and just saying what can we do here and I'm really proud that we're able to be now the largest state in America that starting as soon as this school year starts begins very shortly the largest state in the nation to have a complete distraction free environment from kindergarten to 12th grade
03:23not allowed during lunch or study halls or phys ed class either and I'll tell you why because what you're going to witness and experience is something that is extraordinary
03:34I've been to the schools where they went ahead a few schools already went ahead a couple of years ago
03:39and what the students told me is that now they have actual friends in person instead of sitting at lunch and talking even across the room or to someone else
03:49they're talking to people as if they're human beings and making eye contact and interacting
03:53and so I feel really good about having heard from those and the transition's tough
03:58it is tough and I'm telling parents get ready for this you should be weaning your young people whether especially the young children but also learning our teenagers
04:09that it's going to be a hard transition a lot of schools are finding alternatives to bring into the classroom to
04:14you know maybe even some board games and let students interact with each other
04:19every school can handle the way they want but it's going to be a transition but when it's over number of months people won't look back
04:26they'll say why did it take so long and I'm proud that I saw a problem that was going on too long it's not usually the purview of the governor to
04:36talk about education policy but in this case I knew I needed to lead not just as a leader of the state
04:41but also as a parent who cares deeply about our children's mental health so again
04:46superintendent I want to thank you again for hosting us and I would love to hear your remarks
04:50sure thank you and welcome governor we're we're so honored to have you here and
04:54at Niagara Falls High School and as you said in a week 2,000 students will be pouring through these doors and
05:00we've been really working very hard to set the stage going back a couple of months to let our parents our students know that this is coming
05:10you need to adjust to this we're going to help you we're going to work with you but at the end this is the right thing to do
05:16and as you as you stated it's really a war on dopamine because when I'm listening to you talk and and I applaud your leadership on this
05:25the dopamine hits that our students are getting and not even realizing it or what's
05:30taking them away from the purpose of why we're here and we are you through your
05:36leadership and what we're doing here and across the state really helping to rewire kids brains and minds for the
05:42positive things that they should be learning in school in the positive
05:46interactions they should be having with with each other so we're really honored that
05:50you're here at Niagara Falls High School we're proud of our school we're proud of our
05:54district we're honored that superintendent the shears here from Lockport she was a
05:59forerunner and doing this one when no one else was so it's really an honor to have
06:05you here as well and we're going to be looking to you for help too because I
06:09think I know you're right governor there's gonna be some bumps and bruises and
06:12there's going to be some work that needs to be done but we have the support of our
06:17teachers union we have the support of our administrators and together you know
06:21collectively we're going to make this thing work for the betterment of our
06:25students and the reason that we're here and we have support from great parents
06:28like Samika Sullivan and the reason we're here for the two young people on the end
06:33Harjot and and Leo Harjot happens to be our ad hoc board member too so she's on the
06:40school board and we're really proud of that and Leo is a wonderful 12th grade
06:44student here that's why we're doing this we want to give you that lift to start your
06:48college or career days with a little bit of extra push so I think this is I
06:54think this is a long time coming and we really appreciate your leadership again
06:57again I commend districts across the state there are a handful and again I want a
07:01special shout out to Lackawanna for helping show the way I'm looking forward to
07:06that it being part of the conversation as well so thank you
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