Action News also spoke with Pooja Garg, of Wynnewood, who has a middle school student in the district. She said her main concern is the lack of filters on the devices.
“It’s a free-for-all environment to some extent right now,” she said. “On the Chromebook, there really aren’t any filters. They can access absolutely anything on the internet.”
Right now, parents say they are waiting to hear back from school district officials.
When Action News reached out to school officials for comment, we were referred to remarks made by the superintendent at a policy meeting on Monday, April 13.
During the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Frank Ranelli spoke about his biggest takeaways from the community meeting held with parents in March.
“We’re concerned about screen time, so we’ll work with our teachers more and more to lessen that,” he said. “To make sure there’s more interaction, make sure there’s more playtime, make sure there’s more pen and paper.”
Dr. Ranelli said the district can also work with parents to restrict the use of electronic devices at home.
“Parents would be able to impose more filters, and students wouldn’t be able to go on YouTube when they walked in the house,” he explained.
District policy currently states parents can opt their children out of receiving a district-issued device. However, during last week’s policy meeting, the superintendent said that it is not possible.
“We do not have that opportunity for you to do that. Our curriculum is delivered the way it’s delivered, and part of that curriculum is done with electronic devices,” Dr. Ranelli said.
“Again, we’ll limit as much as we can and have time for more interaction. But we can’t have a room for 20, 30 kids who want to opt out, and the rest of the school is operating differently,” he added.
A CDC study published last year stated teenagers with four or more hours of daily screen time were more likely to experience sleep issues, depression and anxiety, among other issues.