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Parents and educators urge pause or opt‑out for CourseMojo, raise concerns about Chromebook time
Summary
Public commenters at the Nov. 10 Malden School Committee meeting urged reduced Chromebook use and asked the district to pause CourseMojo, arguing it undermines student–teacher interaction and harms language development for multilingual learners; families asked for an opt‑out option.
Parents and educators urged the Malden School Committee on Nov. 10 to reduce student screen time and pause the district’s use of CourseMojo, saying the program weakens student–teacher interaction and can hinder language development for multilingual learners.
Dr. Elizabeth Paulsen Tonogbanua, speaking on behalf of families of 7th‑grade students, said CourseMojo reduces opportunities for direct instruction and peer interaction and reported that some students told families the program felt like a “waste of time.” She asked the district to pause implementation and allow parents to opt their children out of the program.
Parent Rashna Irani described concerns at Forestdale, where students bring Chromebooks home and spend substantial portions of the day working on devices. Irani said she has seen handwriting and language development stall for one child and described students who play video games before school and sometimes bypass restrictions intended to block those sites.
Penny Kalman, a Malden Public Schools educator, urged leaders to recognize how much influence their words carry when discussing staff and personnel concerns.
District leaders did not announce immediate changes to CourseMojo or an opt‑out process during the meeting. Superintendent Sippel acknowledged the limits of current assessment tools and said the district is exploring alternatives for benchmarking ELA, math and science, but no action specific to CourseMojo was taken on Nov. 10.
The committee did not vote on CourseMojo at the Nov. 10 meeting; the public comment raised concerns the committee may address in future policy or curriculum discussions.
