Residents urge action on student cell-phone policies and raise concerns about Challenge Day facilitators

During public comment at the Jan. 16 Summit Board of Education meeting several residents raised two recurring themes: (1) concerns about student privacy and facilitator qualifications in social-emotional learning programming such as Challenge Day, and (2) community interest in limiting student smartphone use in schools.

Rob Devries of 153 Maple Street asked about data privacy and protocols for students who disclose private family information during SEL activities. "What type of protocols are in place to protect families if and when students share obvious private family information with a teacher or group of other students?" he asked. The board said staff would follow up with details.

Several parents and community members urged the district to support or amplify a local chapter of the national group Wait Until 8th, which encourages families to delay issuing smartphones to children until the end of eighth grade. Tracy Kleinman, a parent who helped start the Summit chapter, said the group has collected more than 350 parental pledges locally and asked the board what the district is doing on cell-phone policy. "We started a Summit chapter of the organization, Wait Until 8th...our goal ultimately is to shift the cultural norm and to prevent people from just kind of giving their kid a cell phone at the end of 5th grade," Kleinman said.

Formerly elected official and educator Mike McTiernan described municipal efforts to create phone-free events and urged schools to empower principals and PTOs to promote similar norms. "We've embraced this at the municipality level...I would really encourage...empowering principals to promote this with their local PTOs and PTAs," McTiernan said.

Parents also raised concerns about Challenge Day, a daylong SEL program used in district schools. Kevin Smallwood, who said his daughter was selected to participate, described being troubled by questions he saw listed in Challenge Day FAQs and by facilitator qualifications. "It sounds more of like a group therapy session...I'm concerned at how it is actually administered," Smallwood said, and asked the district to review the qualifications of external facilitators who run the program. Smallwood referenced facilitator names from materials he later received: Michael Anthony Lowe and Pam Dunn.

Board president Walida Justice said the district would provide follow-up information to speakers on both privacy protocols for SEL activities and the district's review of facilitator qualifications. The board did not take immediate action during the meeting on cell-phone policy or Challenge Day but several members said they would refer questions to administration for follow-up and further reporting.

No changes to existing district policy were adopted at the meeting; community members asked the board for more information and for a dialogue with principals and parent organizations about cell-phone norms and vendor oversight.