High school Spanish teacher urges district to restrict YouTube and unsupervised device access for elementary and middle students

Rebecca Gordon Jones, a Spanish teacher at Lindbergh High School and a Dressel parent, addressed the board on May 15 urging a district-level policy to limit student access to YouTube and similar online content on district-issued devices for elementary and middle school students.

Jones described her daughter's struggles with anxiety and said family-level restrictions (removing YouTube at home, limiting devices) were insufficient when school-issued tablets were taken home. She told the board she has seen students "more tired, harder to engage, and more anxious" and asked the district to "consider a policy that reflects the growing research and data and limit student access to YouTube and other highly addictive online content throughout middle school and elementary." Jones clarified her request would not prevent teachers from using videos in-class: "Teachers can share videos as a class, embed videos and presentations, and use Edpuzzle, for example."

The comment was delivered during the citizen communication portion of the meeting; no formal board action or staff directive was recorded in response at that time. Board members did not vote on a policy change during the meeting. The speaker asked the board to consider policy changes informed by research; any formal review or action would require a referral to staff or a committee and follow-up at a future meeting.