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Teachers, ed‑tech staff urge pause to Verizon iPad rollout over privacy and process concerns
Summary
Educators and ed‑tech staff testified at the Salinas Union High board meeting asking the district to pause a Verizon grant implementation they say was approved without meaningful local input and contains troubling media/data‑use language that could allow perpetual use of student images and data.
Educators and district ed‑tech staff called on the Salinas Union High School District board to pause a planned Verizon iPad deployment, saying the grant was accepted without adequate input from the teachers and technology staff who will implement it.
"This grant was accepted without input from the educators responsible for implementing it," said Gabby Davila, an ed‑tech and CTE teacher, who said staff have raised concerns since October through bargaining and other channels without receiving adequate answers. Davila said implementation details and release forms were buried in the vendor materials and had not been reviewed collaboratively.
Kat Connor Moore, a social‑studies teacher, and other speakers pressed the board on the claimed $4,000,000 savings tied to the deal and asked how any budgetary benefit would be used while the district faces staffing uncertainty. "Where is this $4,000,000 going? Because this district is considering layoffs," Moore said.
Ed‑tech staff raised data‑use and consent concerns. "Both the Digital Promise and Verizon... the general release and the media release... they both basically say that the Digital Promise and Verizon can change our and our students' voices, our and our students' images, or the content of anything any of us say to suit their agenda without our knowledge, without our permission, in perpetuity," Jen Gilsdorf said, reading language from grant paperwork.
Speakers also criticized the district's survey and the way results were summarized. A commenter with data experience said the board had been shown an AI summary rather than raw responses and that aggregated results can obscure important differences by stakeholder group: "Taking apart the different groups, we have students at 64% in preference of iPad, parents at 53%, and teachers at 40%. I don't see overwhelmingly in favor in those numbers."
District labor leaders who later addressed the board called for meaningful collaboration and clearer answers about the partnership and its technical/legal terms. In response, board and administration leaders acknowledged the concerns and said staff would continue to engage with labor partners and stakeholders while clarifying contract and release language. The board did not take action on the Verizon item during the meeting.
The board has not yet adopted the Verizon contract; public commenters asked that the board require a revised survey, fuller legal review of releases, and formal inclusion of site ed‑tech teams in implementation planning before proceeding.
