District pilots Chromebook limits in lunchrooms, plans board policy on student device use
Loading...
Summary
District administrators said they will ban internet-enabled personal devices in unstructured time (hallways, lunch, recess) and reduce classroom screen time. A middle-school pilot removed Chromebooks from lunchrooms (initially Wednesdays; after spring break the district plans daily lunchroom restrictions) while elementary schools have already restricted unstructured device use. A formal board policy is expected later this year.
District administrators described plans to limit students' use of Internet-enabled devices during unstructured time and to reduce overall classroom screen time.
A district speaker (Speaker 2) said the district is taking a two-front approach: eliminating Internet-enabled devices during unstructured time (hallways, lunchrooms, recess) and calibrating in-class screen time to what is educationally appropriate. The speaker said many classroom platforms are Internet based and that Chromebooks remain an important instructional tool, but not the only mode of learning.
Pilots and timeline: the middle school piloted removing Chromebooks from lunchrooms on Wednesdays under a pilot led by "Mister Amato," and the district plans to expand that pilot so there will be no Chromebooks in the lunchroom every day after spring break. "Missus Kazuba" is preparing another pilot, the speaker said. At the elementary level principals already store Chromebooks during indoor recess, resulting in very limited unstructured device time for younger students.
Program balance: administrators said they will blend digital learning with paper-and-pencil, movement and whiteboard activities and will adopt a formal board policy later in the year; staff are working with faculty to define appropriate in-class device time. The speaker emphasized the district wants technology to be part of learning but not the only learning model.
Next steps: staff said families have begun to receive communications about the pilots and that the administration plans to bring a formal policy to the board for consideration later this year.
