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District schedules personal-device and screen-time surveys; staff to present results to full board
Summary
District staff presented revised personal-device and screen-time surveys; the committee agreed to send the personal-device (cell phone) survey by the 23rd, close it around May 4–5, and present results to the full board on the 12th; a follow-up screen-time/software survey is slated for May 13–24. The committee discussed question wording, translation and parental opt-out options for certain websites.
District staff described two separate surveys designed to inform potential policy on cell phones and broader screen-time and software usage. The committee agreed the personal-device survey should go out first and the screen-time/software survey should follow to allow staff time to analyze results.
Members stressed that subjective response options such as "often" or "sometimes" should be replaced with measurable units (daily/weekly/hours) so answers are comparable. Staff said the elementary questionnaire will use daily framing while middle and high school questions may use weekly or quarterly reporting to better capture secondary schedules.
The committee discussed translation accuracy for Spanish versions and agreed to have district translators or bilingual staff review the translated questions before distribution. A community suggestion to add a parent-selectable opt-out for specific websites (YouTube was cited) was incorporated as an answer option so the survey can produce actionable data rather than only open-ended comments.
On teacher-facing questions, members noted that monitoring tools (Securly and Clever) produce automated logs that can be skewed by background processes and vary by vendor; the committee supported adding teacher self-report items about average Chromebook time per week to supplement automated data.
Staff outlined the schedule: send the personal-device survey by Thursday the 23rd, allow roughly a 10-day response window (closing around Monday the 4th or Tuesday the 5th), and bring analyzed results to the full board meeting on the 12th. The screen-time and software survey was proposed for May 13–24. Staff also cautioned that major software contracts (examples cited: Lexia and Happy Numbers) commonly renew on July 1, which constrains procurement timelines if the district considers switching vendors.
The committee did not adopt new policy at this meeting; members asked staff to finalize the survey wording, confirm translation accuracy, and proceed with the agreed schedule so results can guide any later policy deliberations at the board level.
