Mercer Island students, board and staff debate device policy, ask for clearer tech support

Students at a Mercer Island School District Superintendent—s Student Advisory meeting on May 29 asked district leaders to clarify a recent change in the high school personal-device policy and to address problems with school-issued laptops.

The discussion focused on why the district adjusted its phone policy and how the district—s one-to-one laptop program will support classes that use resource-heavy software. "We're now in our second year of our one-to-one laptop program," said Andreas, a district operations staff member, describing ongoing surveys of staff, students and families and the district—s intent to use feedback from the pilot years to guide device replacement and classroom support. "The idea with it is to minimize some of those classroom distractions and help encourage…