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The Lower Merion<\/a> School District moved to advance a new policy Monday that broadly defines how technology should be used in schools, while facing opposition from parents demanding to opt their children out<\/a> of school-issued devices.<\/p>\n At a packed school board policy committee meeting Monday, district officials reiterated that parents could not opt out \u2014 at times drawing shouts from the crowd.<\/p>\n But they suggested that they might impose specific limits on screen time in school.<\/p>\n Administrators \u201dneed to work with teachers and staff to find out what is comfortable,” said Superintendent Frank Ranelli. \u201cThis is a first step for us, and we have that on our minds as well.\u201d<\/p>\n But parents who say the district is overusing technology said it wasn\u2019t moving quickly enough to curb practices impeding learning and kids\u2019 development \u2014 pointing to school districts like Los Angeles, which made headlines last month for passing screen time limits<\/a>, and states like Utah, which has banned screens for grades K-3, with exceptions for computer science and testing.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Parental backlash to screen time in schools is spreading across the Philly region: \u2018It\u2019s not going to get better unless we get loud\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n They also described harms their kids were experiencing at school and at home while on their school-issued computers, which they felt they had little ability to control.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that I can\u2019t opt out to stop giving him a little bit of a drug, when he\u2019s a drug addict, doesn\u2019t make any sense to me,\u201d said Adam Washington, who described battling with his 15-year-old son at night over the laptop.<\/p>\n Washington, whose son has an individualized education plan for special needs, said it was \u201cextremely hard for me to believe\u201d that Lower Merion didn\u2019t have the resources to educate without computers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe screen is killing him. It is killing him, and me, together, with our relationship,\u201d Washington said.<\/p>\n Deena Pack said her daughter, who has ADHD, tuned out of her classes by watching TV on her laptop.<\/p>\n \u201cRather than really engage in her government class, she\u2019s watching a Netflix movie,\u201d said Pack, who discovered her daughter had been accessing numerous streaming sites, like Hulu, Paramount Plus, and HBO.<\/p>\n Officials said the district has blocked more websites since a March community meeting where parents described numerous examples of technology misuse<\/a> in school.<\/p>\n But parents also say the ways the district is intentionally using technology are misguided, questioning why the district requires kids to spend time on math and reading apps on computers.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s ever been able to sit up and say, this is why your daughter has to spend 20 minutes a day learning math through a Chromebook,\u201d said Sam Handlin, who said there wasn\u2019t a \u201cconvincing argument\u201d for the district\u2019s current use of technology.<\/p>\n Asima Ahmed, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said she emailed the district when her daughter was 8 months old \u201cto ask whether it was possibly true that kindergartners get iPads.\u201d She was directed to the district\u2019s website, she said, and couldn\u2019t get an answer on how often the tablets were used.<\/p>\n Describing pictures posted online of young students using iPads for various classroom activities, Ahmed called it \u201cdystopian in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Lower Merion outlines technology use for different grade levels<\/p>\n The district has said it is reconsidering whether to issue elementary students one-to-one devices<\/a>. The policy<\/a> introduced Monday, meanwhile, says the use of technology in grades K-1 should be \u201cminimal and highly structured,\u201d used for \u201cdifferentiation, feedback, and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n In grades 2-4, the policy says there should be \u201climited but increasing use\u201d of technology \u201cfor research, creation, and practice,\u201d while starting in 5th grade, \u201cincreasing academic responsibility and evidence of daily classroom use for collaboration, research, and organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Draft administrative regulations that would guide schools in carrying out the policy were also presented Monday, though officials said they were continuing to develop them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to come up with reasonable expectations that we can understand with the best science,\u201d said board president Kerry Sautner.<\/p>\n Administrative regulations connected to the current technology policy say principals must accommodate families who opt out of one-to-one devices for their kids. Hundreds of families have signed a petition seeking to preserve the opt-out option, though administrators say it isn\u2019t possible to offer students a device-free pathway.<\/p>\n An ongoing fight over opting out<\/p>\n Some parents Monday also pushed back on the prospect of opt-outs.<\/p>\n Seth Ruderman said parents seeking to opt out \u2014 who have organized under a \u201cPencils over Pixels\u201d slogan \u2014 had identified a genuine problem. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want my kid on an iPad all day either,\u201d said Ruderman, who said the district\u2019s curriculum needs to be examined.<\/p>\n But he questioned the practicality of opting out: Would kids be in separate classrooms? If five kids in a grade opt out, would they be required to have their own teacher?<\/p>\n \u201cOpting out is not a solution,\u201d Ruderman said, but avoids \u201cthe hard work\u201d of improving the district\u2019s programs.<\/p>\n Sarah Eckert, an education professor at Eastern University, said there was a \u201clegitimate, desperate need for more monitoring\u201d of kids\u2019 device use in middle and high school.<\/p>\n But allowing opt outs risks creating a segregated educational system, Eckert said. She said the parental push as \u201cwasting administrative energy and community capital\u201d that distracted from addressing inadequate technology oversight.<\/p>\n