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James Teal has had a lot of responsibilities as a school aide during his nearly three decades at Health Opportunities High School in the Bronx. And starting today, he'll add another one to the list: phone enforcer.

It's the first day of school for New York City's approximately 900,000 public school students. That means New York's smartphone ban is officially live.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers put the ban into the state budget last spring, saying it was time to end the epidemic of distraction in class and help kids get a break from social media during the school day.

The law left it to the schools to decide how to best enforce the ban. At Health Opportunities, that means Teal's days -- which include helping at lunch, monitoring the halls and helping in classrooms -- will now be bookended by collecting and distributing phones to students.

Some students have said they want to be separated from their phones so they can focus and socialize, including members of the teen Luddite Club who embrace flip phones and reject social media.

But many students say they're annoyed and frustrated.

Josiah George is starting out as a freshman at Food and Finance High School in Manhattan, where he said he doesn't know anyone.

"During the first day, I'm kind of thinking, 'Oh if I don't make any friends by lunch then I'm gonna be sitting by myself with no phone. Just sitting there," he said, adding that his phone makes him feel connected to his old friends, and "safe."

Speaking on "The Brian Lehrer Show" on Tuesday, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles Ramos said the transition to the ban may not be seamless but urged patience for students and educators.