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Parents and students urge district to curb Chromebook reliance; board commits to technology review group
Summary
Parents, students and researchers told the Albany County School District #1 board that routine Chromebook use is harming attention, handwriting and deep reading; the board said it will schedule a district technology review and invite community participation.
At the district's June 9 board meeting, parents and students urged Albany County School District #1 to revisit how classroom technology is used, saying routine Chromebook and screen reliance has reduced handwriting, deep reading and peer interaction.
"Technology can be a valuable tool but its impact depends on how it is used," said Teddy Friedman, speaking during the public‑comment period as a parent and organizer. Friedman described examples from several local families in which library time and assessment wait periods were filled with screens instead of reading aloud or peer activities.
Students echoed the concern. "During lessons I saw classmates playing online games and visiting websites not related to school work," said Ward Rinders, an eighth‑grade student at Laramie Middle School. "It can be distracting and reduces participation in class discussions." Avery Schultz, who graduated from LHS in 2025, said access to an online library exposed younger siblings to sexually explicit material she considered developmentally inappropriate.
The group asked the board to reexamine the district's ACSD1 student Responsible Use/Acceptable Use guidelines (last updated in 2021) and proposed a formal working group to: review the guidelines, audit how students access content on district laptops, examine K–12 research on device impacts, and evaluate other districts' model policies. "We recommend forming a working group to review and evaluate the ACSD1 student responsible use guidelines," a parent representative said.
The commenters also cited broader research. Dr. Joe Schroer, introduced at the microphone as an educational researcher, told trustees that technology alone does not reliably improve outcomes and urged educators to prioritize active learning methods over device‑first routines.
Board members and the superintendent acknowledged the issue and said a thorough review is coming. Superintendent Dr. Goldart said a district technology work session is already planned for October 7; trustees asked that community volunteers and teachers be included in the discussion. "If you got volunteers, let's bring them in," Trustee Gosar said.
The board did not take immediate policy action at the meeting, but trustees and staff said school‑level cellphone and device policies will be brought forward for review and that the district will convene stakeholders to craft a district technology review and proposed policy updates. Principals were asked to provide school‑level cellphone regulations to the board by the August meeting so the board can review them before the school year.
