voiced concerns<\/a> that technology may be doing more harm than good, especially for young students, hurting their attention span, social skills and even eyesight. Several parents spoke in favor Tuesday of the technology restrictions.<\/p>\n\u201cYoung children learn best from responsive teachers, play, movement, conversation, books, handwriting, creative activities, and hands-on exploration,\u201d Davie parent Kiersten Hope, a leader of a group called Schools Beyond Screens, told the School Board. \u201cDevices may serve a limited purpose, but they should not displace human relationships and developmentally appropriate experiences that form the foundation of early learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not everyone supported the restrictions. Several principals spoke at Tuesday\u2019s meeting voicing support for using i-Ready and other technology in elementary grades, saying these resources help get students ready for computerized tests and help with their learning skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we think about limiting that type of a resource or taking away that time, it definitely decreases their ability to take those assessments,\u201d Cormic Priester, principal of Rock Island Elementary in Fort Lauderdale, told the School Board. \u201cWhen you are teaching something, you need to let them practice the way they\u2019re going to play the game.\u00a0We don\u2019t play football with hockey sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board member Debbi Hixon voted against the screen-time restrictions, saying she believes the district\u2019s use of technology has helped it achieve an A grade for three straight years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not popular to say this, but I will. The teachers are phenomenal, and the teachers really get us there, but we had the same teachers three years ago, and we couldn\u2019t quite make that A, and we made some adjustments,\u201d Hixon said. \u201cWe gave them some professional development and helped them with the software, and now we\u2019re seeing more proficiency in our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board member Adam Cervera disagreed. He held up a paper notebook and a pack of pencils to say he wants to see those used more than technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to make sure that we\u2019re very clear that it\u2019s the people in the classroom that bring us the A ratings, not these computer programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cervera also raised concerns about one program, in particular, i-Ready. The School District also voted Tuesday on whether to renew a contract with i-Ready provider Curriculum Associates, for use of the program in grades 2-5.<\/p>\n
Cervera shared that the company is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that Curriculum Associates \u201ccreates detailed data profiles of students that are used to predict and influence their behavior and guide decision-making about them. It further uses that information for commercial purposes, including developing, marketing, and delivering its own products,\u201d and shares that data with third parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never suggest that they\u2019ve been found liable at this point, but here\u2019s my takeaway from this lawsuit. If 5% of the allegations are true in this complaint, we need to be running from the hills from this company,\u201d Cervera, a lawyer, told the board.<\/p>\n
Following questions from district officials, Curriculum Associates CEO Kelly Sia sent a letter on July 23 to the School Board defending the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cLawsuits of this kind have become more common across the education technology sector, including against several of our peers in the industry,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe claims being made against Curriculum Associates are meritless, and we are defending ourselves vigorously.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cwe do not sell student data, do not use student information for advertising\u00a0and do not build commercial profiles of students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sia also wrote, \u201cIf the outcome of this lawsuit negatively impacts our ability to serve your district, we will refund the annualized value of your current i-Ready contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board voted 6-2 to approve the new contract, with Cervera and Nora Rupert voting no, and Lori Alhadeff being absent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broward\u2019s youngest students could soon be spending less time in front of screens at district schools. The Broward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[113,249,251,250,266,115,109,32797],"class_list":["post-356982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-education","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-social","tag-south-florida-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}