Sayville to load SportsU on secondary Chromebooks as interim fix to comply with state phone ban

The Sayville Union Free School District plans to install the SportsU athletics app on issued Chromebooks for middle and high school students as an interim method to allow off‑site event communications while complying with state Education Law 2803, which restricts internet‑enabled personal devices during the school day.

"The policy is a direct result of the new state education law 2803 mandating that all public schools restrict the use of personal electronic devices during the school day," the Superintendent (name not specified) told the board. The administration announced it will deploy SportsU to student Chromebooks so coaches can message teams and families about schedule or location changes and so families can use the app’s chat feature for pickup coordination.

Board members and attendees discussed the scope and controls. The Superintendent described the intent: "We don't want to take away from the concept of a distraction‑free school… but we also want to compromise and hear from our families" and said SportsU "will be downloaded on student Chromebooks" for use by athletics teams. Administration later clarified that the app would be installed on secondary Chromebooks and that team assignment within the app controls who can message whom; the administration cited ParentSquare as a forthcoming district option and said SportsU was intended as a "band‑aid" until broader messaging is available.

Several board members and parents questioned whether providing the app only to athletes would be equitable. One board member asked, "If the SportsU app is gonna be put on every computer, then how is it limited to just sports kids being able to use it to speak to their parent?" Administrators said team membership in the app determines message access and that staff were exploring ways to create non‑athletic team groups (for example, grade or club rosters) if needed.

Concerns included monitoring and misuse: board members noted the district will not monitor private messages and asked whether chat access could be time‑limited or restricted. The Superintendent and tech staff said the district’s primary goal is compliance with the law while providing a controlled channel for off‑site communications; administrators warned that opening student email to outside addresses would violate best practices and legal protections that the district is trying to follow. "It's not a good practice to open student email to the public or to the outside," one staff member said.

Administration stated the deployment target is secondary Chromebooks (the administration used both "7 through 12" and "6 through 12" in the discussion), and said details about team configuration and technical controls will be worked out with the new technology director and athletics director. The board requested follow‑up about technical capabilities, message retention/expiration options, monitoring, and whether alternative approaches such as ParentSquare or shared parent access to student email could meet the same needs without creating equity or privacy problems.

The discussion was informational; the transcript does not record a formal board vote. Administrators characterized SportsU as an interim tool to support off‑site communications while preserving a distraction‑free classroom environment.