Hochul Links Roundtable on First Phones in Schools to Attack on Trump

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday condemned Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, but tied the political violence to one of her top legislative priorities for next year: combating the use of smartphones in schools.

The governor on Monday led the first in a series of roundtable discussions that will be held with teachers across the state to craft a proposal to limit smartphone use in schools, shortly after signing new social media rules for minors.

“We are here for one reason: to protect our children,” Hochul told a room of Capital Region educators, local elected officials and parents from Guilderland High School in Albany County.

FBI investigators continue to probe the motivations that led Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to open fire on the stage of Trump’s rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one person. Hochul said it highlights the growing problem of youth radicalization in the United States — and that something needs to be done.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, about 95% of 13- to 17-year-olds in the United States have access to smartphones.

Hochul says the use of smartphones and other devices should be limited in schools to improve the education and mental health of young people.

“How do they have access to all this? It is through the use of the mobile phone,” the governor said to open the discussion.

The statewide listening tour kicked off with superintendents from the Guilderland, Albany City, Shenendehowa and Schoharie school districts and state Assembly members John McDonald and Pat Fahy.

The governor linked the rise in mental health problems among teens to Saturday’s political violence and the racially motivated shooting that left 10 Black people dead at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022.

The political violence has raised questions about the inflammatory rhetoric of candidates on both sides.

“We should aspire to be a people of words, not bullets,” Hochul said. “Such acts of violence weaken us.”

Of Saturday’s shooting, Hochul added: “I felt a pang of disgust in my stomach.”

Hochul has asked the New York State Intelligence Center to monitor social media and other communication channels for threats of violence or retaliation. The state police counterintelligence unit is in contact with local law enforcement to check for any other suspicious activity.

The governor said people of all political affiliations should be able to peacefully express their views safely, but Hochul defended her rhetoric, saying she called for peaceful action when necessary, but never violence.

“None of my comments were, ‘Attack a candidate,’ or ‘Attack a president or our former president,’” Hochul said. “So there’s a big difference between expressing my deeply held views about what I see as the future of our country and the concern that I still have today about where we’re headed as a nation. And saying, ‘Get out in the streets and protest’? That’s what you should do!”

Participants in Monday’s roundtable said schools and elected officials have agreed to limit students’ ability to use smartphones or other devices in class to limit distractions.

Two years ago, the Schoharie Central School District adopted a policy banning students from owning cell phones, smart watches and headphones.

Schoharie Superintendent David Blanchard said the rule has forced students to interact and develop healthier strategies for resolving conflicts.

“I think common sense prevails and the best way to resolve a conflict is to talk to the person you’re having a conflict with,” Blanchard said. “So by banning smartphones in schools, you’re giving kids a chance to work through their problems, talk about them, and we’ve seen a very positive result: kids can now talk to each other.”