Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Kindergarteners, first graders and second graders in Lower Merion<\/a> schools will no longer receive iPads and laptops, under a policy passed by the school board Monday scaling back on students\u2019 technology use.<\/p>\n The policy \u2014 which also specifies that third and fourth graders won\u2019t bring computers home and limits\u2019 fifth and sixth graders\u2019 use of computers at lunch and between classes \u2014 follows backlash from parents who have been confronting the board since spring<\/a> about the use of screens in schools. These parents fault the district for providing their kids with devices they say distract them in the classroom, expose them to dangerous content and fail to help them learn.<\/p>\n \u201cWe heard legitimate concerns and undertook an unusually significant amount of time to really make substantial change,\u201d Anna Shurak, the board\u2019s policy committee chair, said at Monday\u2019s meeting, noting that the district will also give teachers and parents new tools to monitor what kids are doing on their laptops.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we actually will see will be much different when students walk into school this fall,\u201d Shurak said.<\/p>\n The changes come amid increasingly heated debate in the affluent Montgomery County<\/a> district, as parents nationally demand more say in how their kids interact with technology in schools<\/a>. A Lower Merion parent group that petitioned this spring for the ability to reject one-to-one devices<\/a> \u2014a request refused by the district\u2019s superintendent \u2014 had urged the board not to adopt the new policy, arguing it didn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n After parents shouted at the board during a meeting earlier this month, it went into recess and moved the meeting online \u2014 and announced late last week that Monday\u2019s meeting would be online only, citing disruptions and \u201cthreatening comments posted on social media pages.\u201d The district has banned two parents from school board meetings for a year.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOver the past several months, Lower Merion school board members and our school district superintendent have been subject to threats, our meetings have sustained disruption over and over, and we have witnessed harassment during our public meetings,\u201d school board president Kerry Sautner said at the start of Monday\u2019s meeting, adding that \u201cour school team has had their home and families harassed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is unacceptable,\u201d Sautner said.<\/p>\n District spokesperson Amy Buckman said that comments posted on the Facebook page for Pencils Over Pixels, the parent group pushing for less technology use, \u201cincluded calls for both death and doxing of Lower Merion School District leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments \u201cwere viewable for approximately 48 hours (and maybe longer),\u201d Buckman said in an email.<\/p>\n