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Parents urge transparency on Chromebooks and ed‑tech; district details filters, classroom monitoring and AI pilot
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Summary
Two parents urged Colonial School District to disclose which devices and apps students use, how much daily device time they receive, and opt‑out options; district staff described a new education‑focused filter, classroom‑monitoring tools and plans for an AI pilot with privacy agreements under review.
At the end of the meeting, two parents addressed the committee during public comment, pressing for greater transparency about district use of Chromebooks and educational technology.
Elise LaChapelle, who identified herself as a Colonial School District parent and co‑founder of a local chapter of Wait Until 8, asked the board for details on what devices and apps are used, how much daily time students spend on devices and whether parents who opt out are accommodated. "Parents want to know what devices are being used, for how much time each day are these devices actually being used? What apps are students using on these devices?" LaChapelle said, urging the district to share survey data and research.
Allison Russell, a parent at White Marsh Elementary, described using her child’s school Chromebook at home and finding uncensored search results and YouTube videos she considered inappropriate for a third grader. Russell said she was able to find material that she found alarming and that she was not contacted by school administrators about those searches. "I was pleased to find that, as we were talking about the firewall…But when I googled the Jeffrey Epstein files... I quickly realized that while there are minimum filters applied, it is simply not enough," she said.
District technology staff responded during the meeting by outlining recent and planned steps: the district recently replaced an older corporate‑oriented product with an education‑focused web filter and classroom management tool that includes content categories and the ability for teachers to view student screens when students are logged into Google. Staff said teachers can request review of a blocked site for instructional use and that the district is piloting AI tools at the secondary level while finalizing data‑processing and privacy agreements.
Administrators also noted that some digital resources are teacher‑facing (used by teachers to display content) and that teachers typically limit the amount of direct student device time in elementary grades. Parents asked for clearer published lists of supplemental resources and district policies; staff said web resources and lists of supplemental materials are available on the district website and will be shared with parents.
The meeting transcript does not record a formal board action in response to the public comments; parents asked the board to continue the conversation and for additional transparency about ed‑tech practices.
