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NEW YORK – “He doesn’t say a lot, he’s kind of quiet … But he is very focused on learning in school.”

Meet Frankie Focus, New York’s new mascot for phone-free schools.

Frankie Focus

What we know:

Hundreds of thousands of New York City public school students headed back to classrooms for the first day of the new academic year, greeted by warm weather and new rules.

Beginning this school year, Governor Kathy Hochul is requiring statewide, bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones in K-12 schools.

To kick off both the new year and the ban, Hochul introduced the students of M.S. 582, The Magnet School for Multimedia, Technology, and Urban Planning in Brooklyn, to Frankie Focus.

“I’ve got a friend here, one of my best friends who I want you to get to know,” Hochul told a classroom of students.

Said friend has neon-green hair, bright orange eyebrows and thick-rimmed glasses.

The governor went on to speak about the new phone ban. 

“We’re doing this because we want to make sure that you can keep learning and in a distraction-free environment… You are going to be smarter because you’ll be paying attention more in school.”

The Source: This article includes information provided by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

New YorkKathy HochulNew York City Public Schools