{"id":183629,"date":"2026-05-04T17:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/183629\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:39:08","slug":"lower-merion-is-reconsidering-issuing-computers-to-elementary-schoolers-as-parents-demand-to-opt-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/183629\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower Merion is reconsidering issuing computers to elementary schoolers as parents demand to opt out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n

Lower Merion<\/a> School District administrators are reconsidering whether to give each elementary school student a personal tablet or computer, as the district faces parental demands to opt children out of school-issued devices.<\/p>\n

In a message to families<\/a> Friday, Superintendent Frank Ranelli said the district would \u201creview the need to assign individual devices\u201d to its youngest students ahead of the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n

The district is also considering \u201cspecific parameters\u201d for device use at different grade levels, Ranelli said, and programs to monitor kids\u2019 usage, including an app parents could use to review what their children accessed on their devices at school. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur administrators and staff value partnership with parents and guardians, as we all strive to achieve a balanced digital culture to benefit our students and prepare them for the future,\u201d Ranelli said. He said he would provide an update before the end of the current school year.<\/p>\n

The possible changes come as backlash to educational technology spreads nationally, with parents worried about how much time kids are spending on screens in school, and accusing districts of ceding too much control of education to technology companies.<\/p>\n

In Lower Merion, parents have voiced concerns about distractions during class<\/a>, the ability to access inappropriate content, and math and reading apps they believe are inferior to teacher-led instruction. More than 600 have signed a petition demanding the ability to opt out of assigned school devices, according to the petition\u2019s creator.<\/p>\n

But Ranelli has repeatedly told parents they cannot opt out<\/a>, and administrators have indicated they are moving to change district regulations that say principals must accommodate parents who do so.<\/p>\n

Parents who want to opt out have been organizing ahead of a May 11 school board policy committee meeting, where the board is expected to take up the issue.<\/p>\n

Yair Lev, a Lower Merion parent who organized the opt-out petition<\/a>, said the district\u2019s message outlining potential technology changes reflected \u201cthe strength of the grassroots movement\u201d challenging the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy to see that the district is responding,\u201d Lev said. But, he said, parents still want the right to opt out of one-to-one devices \u2014 to have their kids only access shared computers from a technology cart or in a designated lab.<\/p>\n

Ranelli\u2019s message didn\u2019t specify to what extent devices would still be used in elementary instruction, if the district stopped assigning kids individual computers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely think that using these devices is degrading that quality, deep connection\u201d between students and teachers, Lev said, calling it \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d that the district may change its policy to bar opt outs.<\/p>\n

Some parents, including Lev, recently sent letters seeking to opt out of devices effective immediately. Lev \u2014 who had already opted his kindergartener out of an iPad at the start of the school year \u2014 said parents received identical letters from different principals, rejecting the requests.<\/p>\n

Eleanor Stanford\u2019s son, a junior at Lower Merion High School, handed in his computer Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe talked to all his teachers,\u201d Stanford said. \u201cThey\u2019re willing to work with him.\u201d She said administrators hadn\u2019t yet responded to a letter her son wrote, formally opting out.<\/p>\n

Stanford called Ranelli\u2019s message Friday a \u201cpositive sign,\u201d indicating the district is taking the parental opposition seriously.<\/p>\n

But \u201cI don\u2019t think it goes far enough,\u201d Stanford said. She noted that Ranelli hadn\u2019t committed to certain changes, and questioned whether giving parents a monitoring app was a solution to kids\u2019 misuse of devices.<\/p>\n

Theresa Doggett, who has a child in elementary school in Lower Merion and two in district middle schools, had been waiting to see how the district would respond to concerns parents raised at a community meeting in March. She was \u201cpleased\u201d by Ranelli\u2019s message, she said.<\/p>\n

Doggett hasn\u2019t been worried about how computers are used in elementary school. Once her kids got to middle school and started carrying their computers around, however, she was concerned about \u201crecreational\u201d technology usage, such as emailing friends during class or accessing all kinds of websites.<\/p>\n

Since the meeting, Doggett said, the district appears to have barred access to more sites, including games kids were creating and sharing with each other. She\u2019s also heard friends say their kids are no longer allowed to play on their computers during homeroom.<\/p>\n

Doggett, who doesn\u2019t want to opt out of devices for her kids, said she\u2019s satisfied with the direction the district is taking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to see things improve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Inquirer<\/p>\n

Inquirer Lower Merion<\/p>\n

A weekly newsletter<\/p>\n

Want to get Inquirer Lower Merion straight to your inbox every week? Sign up here for our guide to the news, stories, and events shaping life in your community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Lower Merion School District administrators are reconsidering whether to give each elementary school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[183,185,184,186,81855],"class_list":["post-183629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-lower-merion-computers-chromebooks-policy-changes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}