Parents want tech banned from schools. Teachers respond that it’s an insane idea

For high school senior Aliyah Pack, getting distracted during school is the norm. Kids in her Pennsylvania school district use i Pads starting in kindergarten, switch to Chromebooks in second grade and get their own Mac Books in eighth grade. Aliyah has ADHD, and finds it difficult to concentrate when she’s learning from a screen. She’ll watch Netflix in class on her school laptop, hiding her earbuds behind her long, curly hair. “It’s very hard to get into the mindset of being in school,” Aliyah said. Aliyah’s mother saw her grades were falling and asked the school to take away her laptop. But she was told that wasn’t possible. Across the country, parents are voicing concerns about excessive screen time in schools and lobbying educators to go back to pencil and paper. In places like Lower Merion Township, where Aliyah goes to high school, some are taking it even further. Over 600 people in the affluent Philadelphia suburb have signed a petition asking to preserve parents’ ability to opt their children out of using digital devices during the school day. The public school district has pushed back, saying it’s not feasible to let hundreds of students opt out of technology that is essential to the curriculum. Disagreement over how tech is used in the classroom At a meeting Monday night, school board members said they were considering many ways to respond to parental concerns about technology, but allowing opt-outs was not one of them. “There is not an option for us to not have technology in schools,” said Lower Merion School Board member Anna Shurak. The board was meeting to discuss updates to the district’s technology policies, including repealing a policy that allows opt outs. Over 100 people showed up to protest, many wearing buttons that said “Screens Down, Pencils Up.” Many emphasized they’re not anti-tech — in fact, most parents agree that learning how to responsibly use computers is an essential life skill. They just don’t want tech to dominate the classroom.