DOE First Deputy Chancellor Giunta begins testimony on learning philosophy and cell phone policy

All right, good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Chair Dinowitz, Chair Krishnan, and members of the Committees on Education and Oversight and Investigations.

My name is Danielle Junta, and I'm the first Deputy Chancellor of New York City Public Schools.

Overseeing superintendents and key offices including academics and instruction, district planning, enrollment, new school development and design, policy and evaluation, and our Office of Student Pathways.

I'm joined today by Scott Strickland, our Deputy Chief Information Officer, and Laura Lai, a Senior Policy Advisor, as well as other New York City Public School colleagues who you just listed.

Thank you for your continued advocacy and engagement on this important topic.

We've met with many of you through this process and I've appreciated your feedback and commitment to New York City students.

As educators, we want all of our children to learn.

We know that our children learn best when they connect with their teachers,

and their peers, and when they experience productive struggle.

In other words, we agree, our students need to learn how to learn, and that is the guiding ethos in all we do.

Last year, that same ethos, along with Governor Hochul's leadership on this issue, led us to our cell phone and electronic device policy.

Which is a full ban on personal

internet-enabled devices in the classroom.

A personal internet-enabled device includes any electronic device not issued by a school or a New York City public school program that can connect to the internet, allowing the user to access content online.

We saw firsthand the success of this policy in shaping productive, engaged classrooms.

Students were no longer distracted and could connect with each other in class and at lunch.