Parents Challenge School’s Technology Policies

Parents are expressing dissatisfaction after their school district declined to allow opting out of technology use in the classroom.

In the Lower Merion School District, Kindergarten students work with tablets while second graders use Chromebooks, according to a report from AP News on May 14. The district has maintained that opting out is not an option, despite parents raising concerns over this issue.

One parent mentioned worries about the competition between these devices and their children’s attention. There’s also feedback from a student who indicated difficulties in getting into the right “mindset” for school, as reported by AP.

On the other hand, it seems that the affluent school district is contemplating policy adjustments in response to these concerns. This could involve stricter cellphone rules or restricting younger students from taking devices home, based on information from AP.

A movement named Pencils Over Pixels is gathering petitions aiming to change the school board’s stance before their upcoming meeting in June, as cited by KYW Newsradio on May 19.

The Pencils Over Pixels campaign and the Lower Merion School District have yet to respond to inquiries regarding the situation.

This initiative is focused on enhancing “student health” and promoting “human connection.” It advocates for implementing an “opt out” policy for technology in schools and a complete “bell-to-bell” limitation on cellphone usage, according to its website’s petition.

Additionally, the campaign is concerned about data privacy issues. The petition references a study from Internet Safety Labs conducted in 2022, which indicated that nearly three-quarters of educational technology apps profit from selling student data. The campaign calls for establishing a “Technology Advisory Committee” that operates independently of any tech-industry vendor.