Parents urge Omaha Public Schools to curb iPad use, seek opt-out and policy review

Several parents used the public-comment period at the June 1 meeting of the Board of Education of Douglas County School District 1 (Omaha Public Schools) to press the district to limit classroom iPad use, provide an opt-out for families, and expand digital-literacy instruction for students and caregivers.

Elena O'Connell, a former OPS student and current parent, described a third grader who began to cry when an app repeatedly failed to recognize her reading. "She was repeating the same phrase correctly over and over again, but Amira would respond, 'Try that again.' She began to cry and said she hates doing Amira," O'Connell said, adding that completing digital learning minutes was tied to incentives such as Fun Friday and recess. O'Connell also told the board that OPS iPads have screen-time monitoring turned off and "it cannot be turned on without a network administrator," and she urged the board to "make bold changes to our tech policy and at the very least provide an opt out option for parents and families."

Leah Baker, another parent, said technology is interfering with teachers' ability to assess student work and urged a district-level solution: "We are not anti-technology. We are pro-children," she said, asking the board to study the issue, consult teachers and pass a resolution this summer to change classroom screen-time practices.

Speakers with clinical and instructional backgrounds raised related concerns about attention, social skills and the availability of research on classroom iPad effects. Angie Holiday Okumu, who identified herself as a child psychologist and neuroscientist, said she found "shockingly little research on the impact of iPad for technology use in the classroom on learning, school performance, attention, and social engagement" and worried that teachers cannot monitor every student's screen while teaching.

Parents described a range of classroom examples they say demonstrate harm or ineffective use: students forced to wait through long, animated sequences in apps to complete basic tasks; teachers not reviewing hand-written work because digital platforms handle grading; and art lessons delivered via YouTube rather than in-person instruction.

In response, Deanna Moy, OPS executive director of secondary education, described how district staff expect curated digital curriculum to be used in classrooms as a shared text and launch point for teacher-led instruction. Moy said the model is "the digital curriculum providing the common text and structure and a launch point for the learning but the literacy demands emerge through the teacher facilitation," and she outlined classroom practices such as teacher-modeled instruction, small-group discussion, graphic organizers and physical note-taking alongside digital passages.

Board members acknowledged the concerns and said the topic is on their radar. Mr. Talin said the policy committee has been watching technology use for a year or more and welcomed continued parent input, and Mr. Talin and other board members encouraged parents to keep providing information to staff and the board. The board did not adopt a new policy at the meeting but treated the remarks as part of an ongoing discussion; curriculum adoptions for elective materials were presented as informational items and staff said adoption votes were scheduled to come before the board at the June 1 agenda.

Next steps: parents requested an immediate opt-out option and a district resolution; the board's policy and curriculum committees will consider the concerns raised and carry the discussion forward in upcoming meetings.