Mr. Zaleski played Santa for the fifth straight year with the hope of helping every student in need receive a gift during the holiday season. As a 31-year member of Riverhead’s highway department, Mr. Zaleski said he is happy to use his longtime municipal status as a platform to give back to those in need. He was reelected highway superintendent this November.

“It’s really a good thing,” Mr. Zaleski said. “And I’m very humbled, because every year it grows more and more.”

His son Ryan attended school in Riverhead, and Roanoke Avenue Elementary principal Thomas Payton left an indelible mark on Mr. Zaleski as an attentive school administrator. 

“Mr. Payton would literally wait for my son and walk him in to school every day,” Mr. Zaleski said. “So I never forgot something like that.”

The principal keeps a list of local children in need throughout Riverhead’s grade schools—including Aquebogue, Riley Avenue, Roanoke Avenue and Phillips Avenue—and helps distribute the toys throughout the district. 

“[They] make sure all of the children in need get something,” Mr. Zaleski said. 

Roanoke Avenue Elementary School assistant principal Andrea Lopez told the Riverhead News-Review the school is “extremely grateful” for Mr. Zaleski’s generosity. When dropping off toys Monday afternoon, Ms. Lopez couldn’t help but notice the big smile on Mr. Zaleski’s face.

“Receiving all of this for our families and our parents, it really makes their holiday,” she said. “It’s the most gracious thing that he could do. You know things are tight nowadays, and it lifts up the spirits of everybody and makes that bridge between our school and the community that much tighter.”

When collecting the toys, Mr. Zaleski asks that people donate a variety of toys for students in grades 1 through 4—dolls, trucks, board games, paint sets, you name it. This year, roughly 500 toys were donated by community members with the help of Riverhead Moose Lodge 1742, All Suffolk Car Clubs and Fink’s Country Farm.

The toy donation is accompanied by an annual 5K that Mr. Zaleski runs—something residents are likely familiar with from his years of running in town. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Zaleski ran a 5K to support healthcare workers and has run several others in support of local food banks since. 

Mr. Zaleski consistently goes above and beyond for his community, with over a decade of educational, interactive elementary school visits displaying highway department equipment like snow plows and dump trucks. His efforts earned him and the Riverhead Highway Department the Riverhead News-Review’s 2024 Public Servant of the Year award. 

“It’s just all ‘do good to feel good,’” Mr. Zaleski said of his efforts. “That’s basically my motto.”

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The executive budget provides $13.5 million to aid in the implementation of this proposal for device storage pouches, cubbies or other necessary infrastructure. 

More than 70% of teachers nationwide say that cellphones pose a “major distraction” for students in the classroom, according to a Pew Research Center study.

“We’re not developing the skills we need because kids are distracted with the cellphones,” Gov. Hochul said at a press conference last Tuesday. During class, she said teachers are competing for students’ attention with “viral dances … messages from their friends, sometimes threats [and] bullying.”

Students, parents, teachers, administrators, advocates and local leaders met with Gov. Hochul to “devise a solution” to the “complicated challenge” posed by smartphones in schools. The policy, to be implemented by the start of the 2025-26 school year, will require students to disconnect from their devices throughout the school day — including class time, at lunch and in the hallways.

Schools will have flexibility in implementing the policy next school year, she explained. Districts will have say over how they store the devices and how they will ensure compliance. 

Students who need devices for medical reasons, students who speak English as a second language and students with learning disabilities will be exceptions to the policy.

In the Riverhead Central School District, teachers and administrators are authorized to confiscate student cellphones that are being used in violation of the code of conduct. Teachers and administrators can request that phones not be permitted in class during the school day.

In a comment sent to Riverhead News-Review, the Riverhead district said it is in the process of revising its code of conduct to incorporate verbiage that will align with the governor’s proposed policy.

Students at Shoreham-Wading River High School must check in their personal devices when they enter each classroom and retrieve them after class. High school students are allowed to access their phones when they are not in an instructional period. 

For students in kindergarten through fifth grade, the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District prohibits personal devices from being brought to school. For grades 6 through 8, any personal devices that are brought to school must be stored in student lockers during school hours. 

The district said its current policy was developed in collaboration with family, students and staff. Shoreham Wading River Superintendent Gerard Poole said the policy “has successfully enhanced student engagement while reducing classroom distractions.”

“As New York State considers device-free legislation, our district hopes that the final policy will preserve local decision-making authority and continue to allow meaningful parent involvement in developing these plans,” Mr. Poole said.

School districts out on the North Fork weighed in on the issue as well.

Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent Shawn Petretti believes the concept of a cellphone ban by the governor is “well intended” and that detaching students from cellphones during school hours creates a “productive and safe learning environment.” He feels that policy regarding the implementation of such a ban should be discussed at the local level.

“I think local Boards of Education should be the ones designing and implementing policies for their districts,” Mr. Petretti said.

His district implemented its own policy regarding the use of personal devices this year. At the elementary level, students with personal devices should keep them turned off and out of sight. At the junior high, students are not allowed to have their phones out at any point during the school day. High school students can have phones throughout the day, but when they walk into a classroom, they are placed in a designated spot for the duration of the class period.

Mr. Petretti said that the policy has been well received by the school community. “Students do appreciate the ability to disconnect from their phones and focus on their academics during school time,” he said.

While the current policy in the district has received positive feedback, Mr. Petretti said he doesn’t “necessarily agree with a full ban where the secondary students would have to surrender their phones for the full day.” 

Students in the Greenport School District are allowed to have cellphones in school, with use allowed at teachers’ discretion. To minimize distraction, phones are required to be put away during class time unless permitted by the teacher. 

Greenport interim superintendent Ryan Case added that the district recognizes the importance of communication between parents and their children, particularly in emergency situations. 

“If the state issues a directive requiring changes to cellphone policies, we will review the guidance and implement a new policy accordingly while maintaining a focus on our students’ learning environment,” Mr. Case said. 

Southold School District Superintendent Anthony Mauro said the district is still reviewing the first draft of the state budget, including the device-free schools proposal. He said the district will plan to carry out any new initiative once the final version of the state budget is released and requirements are outlined. 

“There is certainly merit to unplugging during the school day, but I also feel there is merit to teaching students how to appropriately utilize technology, since it is such a big part of their lives,” Mr. Mauro noted. “Balance is the key to successfully integrating technology into our lives.”

In Oysterponds Union Free School District, Superintendent Justin Cobis said the Board of Education has not had a policy regarding cellphone bans in its kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms, as phones have never been an issue there. 

“I always err on the side of local control, and I always would err on the side of local districts deciding what is best for their constituents,” Mr. Cobis said. “That being said, we would always move forward and be in compliance with state issues such as this.”

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