{"id":202706,"date":"2025-09-05T16:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202706\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:03:14","slug":"gov-kathy-hochul-introduces-frankie-focus-new-mascot-touting-school-cell-phone-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202706\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Kathy Hochul introduces Frankie Focus, new mascot touting school cell phone ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

As New York City public school students\u00a0returned to class Thursday<\/a>, Gov. Kathy Hochul had a surprise for them to help usher in the new\u00a0statewide ban on cellphones during school hours<\/a>: A new mascot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hochul appeared at MS 582 in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn and debuted Frankie Focus, a bright green, furry bespectacled mascot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"hochul-back-to-school-dw-mk-reroll-hi-res-still.jpg<\/p>\n

Frankie Focus waves to the crowd on Sept. 4, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

“I want you all to have a fabulous year as we send a message all across the state that we are going to make sure that when we are in school, we are learning. We are no longer distracted. And I’ve got a friend here, one of my best friends who I want you to get to know, Frankie Focus. He’s introduced here today for the very first time. He doesn’t say a lot, he’s kind of quiet – that’s all right, that’s all right – but he’s very focused on learning in school, focused on the teachers, focused on making friends, and focused on doing a great job as a student here at MS 582,” Hochul said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hochul touted the impact and importance of the\u00a0bell to bell<\/a>\u00a0cellphone ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am so excited about this policy, because for too long students have sat in schools with their cellphone in their hand, distracted, looking at TikTok dance videos,” Hochul said.<\/p>\n

\"hochul-back-to-school-dw-mk-reroll-hi-res-still-1.jpg<\/p>\n

Frankie Focus, New York’s new mascot emphasizing the importance of the bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

How the ban is implemented varies from school to school. Some are using\u00a0lockable pouches<\/a>, while others are storing them in lockers, cubbies or elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials say there are plans should a child need to be notified due to some sort of family emergency. Students will also be able to make emergency calls themselves, if necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that when a parent calls the school, someone picks up the phone, so make sure that we have all those communication systems in place,” New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said last month.<\/p>\n

Jesse Zanger<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesse Zanger is the managing editor of CBSNewYork.com. Jesse has previously worked for the Fox News Channel and Spectrum News NY1. He covers regional news around the Tri-State Area, with a particular focus on breaking news and extreme weather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As New York City public school students\u00a0returned to class Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul had a surprise for them…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,57806,5371,405,403,59409,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-202706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-cellphones","10":"tag-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-city-public-schools","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115152539266676954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}