The Lower Merion school board in June repealed a technology policy<\/a> that allowed parents to opt their children out of using district-issued laptops and iPads. In August, the board adopted a new technology policy<\/a> that doesn\u2019t have an opt-out option, despite continued outcry from parents. <\/p>\n The parents, who are part of a grassroots group called \u201cPencils over Pixels\u201d that objected to the policy change, say in the suit that their children \u201cencounter pornography, violent images, and violent or disturbing video games through their school devices.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the exposure to inappropriate materials, the suit says that by having AI chatbots readily available, the district\u2019s policy can \u201cimpede learning\u201d and \u201cencourage cheating.\u201d <\/p>\n While three of the seven families behind the lawsuit have children enrolled in Lower Merion School District schools, three have withdrawn their children from the district because of the policy. Another considered enrolling their children in Lower Merion schools, but decided not to because of the device-use requirement. <\/p>\n The families are being represented by the EdTech Law Center and Anapol Weiss, a Philadelphia-based law firm involved in multiple lawsuits against social media companies. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: A Philly girl was \u2018sextorted\u2019 by a man she met on Roblox. The gaming platform is facing other lawsuits.<\/a><\/p>\n Lower Merion is aware of the lawsuit, district spokesperson Amy Buckman said in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cThe District denies the allegations and will respond further through the judicial process,\u201d Buckman said. <\/p>\n The lawsuit says \u201cthe environment in many classrooms in the District has become like a casino. Students sometimes sit and repeatedly hit keys or the spacebar while playing repetitive online games, creating a classroom environment that is loud, chaotic, and overstimulating.\u201d <\/p>\n The heated public process<\/a> that resulted in the repeal of the policy was a facade, the suit says, accusing the board of making its decision behind closed doors months before the summer. According to the complaint, Lower Merion superintendent Frank Ranelli \u201cinstructed\u201d principals to refuse to accommodate technology opt-outs despite the \u201cplain language\u201d of the now-repealed policy before its repeal. <\/p>\n The fight over technology in Lower Merion has boiled over in recent months, as parents in favor of opting their children out of technology have found themselves increasingly at odds with the school board. Two parents were banned from school board meetings<\/a> for \u201cdisruptive\u201d behavior during meetings on the technology policy, a move legal experts said may infringe on the parents\u2019 constitutional rights. <\/p>\n Andrew Liddell, attorney with the EdTech Law Center, said in an interview that plaintiffs \u201callege profound violations of parents\u2019 rights and disruptions of family life caused by the district\u2019s policies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHere we have a school board, or at least seven members of the school board and a superintendent, who are determined to press forward with this policy that really does harm kids,\u201d Liddell said. <\/p>\n Under the policy<\/a>, kindergarten, first, and second graders will no longer receive personal iPads and laptops, and in-class technology time for the youngest grades will be limited to \u201cspecific educational purposes.\u201d Third and fourth graders will have \u201cteacher-directed\u201d access to devices within the classroom. Fifth and sixth graders will be issued individual devices, which will stay in the classroom unless parents want their kids to bring them home. <\/p>\n Seventh and eighth grade students will be permitted to take their devices to and from school but will not be penalized for not doing computer-based homework. By high school, students will be assigned individual devices to carry with them throughout the day and take home. <\/p>\n The complaint accuses the seven school board members who voted to repeal the opt-out policy of acting in \u201ccontravention of their proper role as public educators and leaders of the District\u201d and \u201cthwarting\u201d the ability of parents to protect their children. It asks a federal judge to issue an injunction that preserves the old policy by accommodating parents who wish to decline or limit their child\u2019s use of internet-connected devices. <\/p>\n \u201cA parent\u2019s right to make decisions regarding their children\u2019s care includes the right to make decisions to safeguard their health, safety, and privacy,\u201d the lawsuit says. <\/p>\n The lawsuit was filed as social media and technology companies are facing a reckoning over the impacts their products have on the well-being of children and youth. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, agreed this week to pay states up to $17.1 billion as part of a settlement over claims its platforms harmed kids. Pennsylvania is expected to receive more than $500 million from the payout<\/a>. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, Montgomery County sued Meta, ByteDance, Snap, and Google<\/a> on behalf of the county\u2019s 148 schools and more than 180,000 minor students, accusing the tech giants of negligence and creating a public nuisance.<\/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 This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min The Lower Merion School District violated the constitutional right of parents to choose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[183,185,184,186,115065],"class_list":["post-273546","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-schools-technology-policy-opt-out-lawsuit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273546","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=273546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Inquirer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787826848_703_I_circle_black.png\")
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