{"id":288633,"date":"2026-09-18T03:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288633\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:06:14","slug":"lower-merion-schools-begin-new-chromebook-policy-as-district-leaders-face-federal-lawsuit-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288633\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower Merion schools begin new Chromebook policy as district leaders face federal lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Lower Merion School District is beginning a new technology policy for students as district leaders face a federal lawsuit aimed at reinstating part of the old policy to opt out of using school-issued internet-connected devices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The parents who are suing are accusing district leaders of allowing what they&#8217;re calling &#8220;a digital free-for-all&#8221; with the use of laptops in and out of the classroom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The district says it&#8217;s going for a balanced learning experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The new technology policy gradually introduces the use of Chromebooks into the classroom as students get older, followed by integrating use for homework.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">About 8,500 kids go to school in the Lower Merion School District, where the board adopted the new tech policy last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RELATED: <a data-ylk=\"slk:Chromebook controversy: Lower Merion parents ask to opt children out of using devices 24\/7;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/6abc.com\/post\/chromebook-controversy-lower-merion-pa-parents-ask-opt-children-using-devices-247\/18930127\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Chromebook controversy: Lower Merion parents ask to opt children out of using devices 24\/7<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The process of getting there involved several school board meetings, which were heated at times by those who believe devices are being used too much for learning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Starting Tuesday, for the first day of school, a laptop or iPad isn&#8217;t assigned until 5th grade, according to the district policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Parents can choose if they want their kids to bring it home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By 7th grade, the district says students are encouraged, but not required, to bring Chromebooks home as necessary for assignments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Back in June, the school board <a data-ylk=\"slk:repealed a longstanding policy;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/6abc.com\/post\/chromebook-controversy-continues-lower-merion-school-board-votes-change-tech-policy\/19306037\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">repealed a longstanding policy<\/a> that allowed parents to refuse internet-connected devices for their kids all together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A group of 10 parents are suing in federal court after filing the lawsuit on August 31, asking a judge to restore that policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Their argument is that exposure to school-issued technology in and out of the classroom supports addictive habits, and that they want the option again of choosing a more traditional learning style.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The Lower Merion School District is aware of a lawsuit filed by some parents, not all of whom have students enrolled in LMSD schools, alleging the School Board&#8217;s decision to repeal a School Board Policy represents a violation of their civil rights. The District denies the allegations and will respond further through the judicial process,&#8221; district officials said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lower Merion School District is beginning a new technology policy for students as district leaders face a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[119970,119971,119969,183,185,184,2738,186,96489],"class_list":["post-288633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-district-leaders","tag-internet-connected-devices","tag-longstanding-policy","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-school-district","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-technology-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288633","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=288633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}