Pencils Over Pixels<\/a>, a grassroots organization of parents, teachers, and community members, founded in response to the district\u2019s proposed policy<\/a> changes, encouraged participation at the meeting.<\/p>\n Buttons worn by community members<\/p>\n School Board President Kerry Sautner announced at the start of the meeting that the committee would allocate only 45 minutes to public comment and discussion and those who did speak were limited to three minutes. Speakers were called to the podium in groups of five and after they finished making comments, board members and district administrators addressed some of the questions.<\/p>\n Comments focused on the opt-out process, content filtering, software, privacy, and screen time. Two comments criticized the board for appearing to acquiesce to Superintendent Frank Ranelli. Matt Posey, a parent in the district, alleged the superintendent was actually directing the board and referenced a Right to Know request<\/a> submitted by parent Sunil Vulli that revealed an exchange between Superintendent Ranelli (in black below) and Board President Sautner (in red below)<\/p>\n During the meeting, Sautner stated that her \u201cGot it\u201d response did not necessarily convey agreement but rather understanding.<\/p>\n Posey disagreed with Sautner\u2019s characterization of her response.<\/p>\n \u201cWe repeatedly tried to work constructively with the board only to be met with performative outreach,\u201d said Posey. \u201cThe Right to Know records I read into public comment showed the decision to eliminate opt out originated with Superintendent Ranelli, and the board simply rubber-stamped it. School Board governance in Lower Merion is completely inverted; rather than holding the superintendent accountable to the voters who elected them, the board instead acts as his public relations firm. The explosion of support we\u2019ve received this week shows that families are tired of this facade and demand real accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n After 45 minutes of comments and discussion, the Board President announced that no further comments would be allowed and the committee would switch to discuss proposed changes to the draft. A woman in the audience spoke out and said the board was not engaging in collaboration. \u201cThe way you are responding is ridiculous and does not facilitate a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n As the board prepared to pivot, a community member walked up to the podium and attempted to make a comment. A district employee approached and stood next to him, and the superintendent called for a recess. Board President Sautner said, \u201ccut his mike,\u201d and then called for a recess.<\/p>\n The Board recessed and never returned to the meeting room, rather they scrambled to set up a zoom link and after technical difficulties finished the meeting remotely.<\/p>\n Parents were deeply troubled by the limitation of public comments.<\/p>\n \u201cShutting down the public comment period and abruptly ending Monday\u2019s meeting midway is an alarming reflection of this administration\u2019s transparency crisis,\u201d said parent Sunil Vulli. \u201cWe were never asking to force a choice on the district majority; we were simply asking for a reasonable, inclusive accommodation for families seeking a print based, analog path. While the district publicly marketed the repeal as a routine modernization update, their internal communications prove the superintendent explicitly ordered staff behind closed doors to ensure parents could not \u2018opt out\u2019 of the 1:1 screen loop. This systematic effort to block an inclusive accommodation is a severe breach of public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Parents also questioned the rationale of Board President Sautner leading the meeting.<\/p>\n The Policy Committee is co-chaired by Anna Shurak and Juanita Kerber; yet, Board President Sautner led and facilitated the policy meeting. While Co-Chair Shurak was participating remotely from Canada, Co-Chair Kerber was in attendance.<\/p>\n Director of School and Community Relations Amy Buckman responded to a request for comment justifying the board\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Board President, Dr. Sautner is an ex-officio member of all committees,\u201d wrote Buckman. \u201cShe was the Board Director with the most seniority in attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n Pencils Over Pixels Co-Founder Yair Lev disputes the district\u2019s explanation.<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than six months, Superintendent Ranelli, Board President Dr. Sautner, and Board Member Shurak have shut out meaningful community input while aggressively protecting the district\u2019s technology agenda,\u201d said Lev. \u201cIt was therefore deeply troubling, but consistent with this pattern, to see Dr. Sautner take over the Policy Committee meeting even though board member Kerber is a co-chair. It reinforces the concern that a small group of leaders is controlling the process while other voices \u2014 on the board and in the community \u2014 are marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n While the elimination of the opt out policy is central to Pencils Over Pixels mission, parents are focused on additional technology issues.<\/p>\n \u201cK\u201312 education occurs during a critical period of neurodevelopment when children\u2019s brains and bodies are particularly sensitive to environmental influences,\u201d said Dr. Erin Amini, a pediatrician and a mother to four children in the district. \u201cEmerging evidence associates prolonged technology and screen exposure with adverse mental and physical health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, attention and behavioral difficulties, body-image concerns, suicidal ideation, sleep disruption, obesity, myopia, and musculoskeletal\/postural changes. Given the amount of time children spend in school, educational technology policies should not only be grounded in academic outcomes, but also in pediatric health, neurodevelopment, and long-term wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the results of the policy committee vote, the Pencils Over Pixels community continues to advocate for a policy that includes opt out options in addition to addressing privacy, oversight, and excessive screen time concerns. The policy is on the board agenda for August 17, 2026, and it remains to be seen whether it will receive the requisite five votes to pass.<\/p>\n Michael Balkin, Pencils Over Pixels Co-Founder, summarized the group\u2019s frustration and dismay.<\/p>\n \u201cOur group was deeply disappointed by the results of last Monday\u2019s policy meeting,\u201d said Balkin. \u201cInternal emails suggest the board\u2019s decisions were predetermined and in direct conflict with LMSD\u2019s own mission statement. To us, this indicates that the board\u2019s past collaboration with our group was performative rather than a genuine effort to engage with concerned parents. The proposed replacement policies contain no concrete improvements like meaningful parental choice, independent oversight, approved-only internet access, device opt in, or strong limits on excessive screen use and gamified apps. If the board wants to restore public trust, it must now demonstrate it is acting in good faith. The national backlash against screens and internet-linked devices for learning purposes has only just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beth Ann Rosica\u2019s writings are a blend of news, opinion, and analysis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Last week, the Lower Merion School…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[227,183,185,184,2738,186,200,2311],"class_list":["post-262828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-education","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-school-district","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-montgomery-county","tag-must-read"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262828","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=262828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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