

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Jan. 22, 2025
Ashwin Verghese
717 676 8584
[email protected]
MEDIA ADVISORY
Welcoming Gov. Hochul’s ‘Bell-to-Bell’ Phone-Free School Proposal
The Phone-Free Schools Movement and the children’s advocacy group Fairplay today welcomed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal for a “bell-to-bell” phone-free school policy across the state.
“By calling for cell phones to be banned from the first bell in the morning to the last bell in the afternoon, Gov. Hochul aced one of the most important parts of her proposal,” said David Monahan, Campaign Director at Fairplay. “It’s not enough to keep phones out of the classroom because they can still harm children’s mental and physical health in the hallways, cafeterias and other parts of the school. With this bell-to-bell phone-free school proposal, Gov. Hochul and the state of New York are setting a strong example for the rest of the country.”
“The research is clear that phones in school are a major problem,” said Sabine Polak, co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement. “They distract students from learning, they facilitate bullying and fights, they lead to serious mental health harms, and they endanger students during an emergency on school grounds. By proposing a strong phone-free school policy, Gov. Hochul is confronting this crisis head-on and putting the focus of the school day back where it belongs: on our kids.”
Toolkit for school administrators
Given the flexibility that school districts have to implement the policy under Hochul’s proposal, the Phone-Free Schools Movement and Fairplay encourage districts to use their Phone-Free Schools Administrator Toolkit. This free toolkit — which has already been downloaded by school leaders in all 50 states and across Canada — offers administrators the resources they need to transition to a phone-free environment for the entire school day.
The two organizations also recently released a Phone-Free Schools Ambassador Toolkit to help community members advocate for their schools to go phone-free.
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Fairplay is the leading nonprofit organization committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay works to enhance children’s wellbeing by eliminating the exploitative and harmful business practices of marketers and Big Tech. Learn more at https://fairplayforkids.org/.
The Phone-Free Schools Movement is a collaborative movement by parents, educators, administrators, and students to support and implement effective all-day phone-free policies for K-12 schools. PFSM aims to provide youth the freedom to excel academically and develop socially without the pressures and harms of phones and social media during the school day. Learn more at www.phonefreeschoolsmovement.org.