Why districts can no longer ignore the ed tech pushback

“As the push to curb screen time and ed tech in schools gains momentum, district leaders need to be alert and proactive in communicating about the issue with their communities, said Barbara Hunter, executive director of the National School Public Relations Association. With the spotlight on ed tech, Hunter said, now is an opportune moment for districts to show how technology is benefiting students in the classroom. But that requires strategic communication, she added. “This is something that districts need to obviously have on their radar,” Hunter said. “I feel like these screen time restrictions are just a one-size-fits-all, and it’s really important for communities to understand what kids are doing in their classrooms as it relates to ed tech.” In fact, the growing ed tech pushback is becoming increasingly difficult for education leaders to ignore as state bills have advanced this year to ban or limit technology use in schools . Flaming the fire, the nation’s second largest school system — Los Angeles Unified School District — approved a resolution on April 21 to create a policy limiting or banning technology based on grade level starting in the 2026-27 school year. Gathering feedback The first step any district should take is to gather community feedback and gauge opinions on ed tech use in schools — because “they need to see where their communities stand,” Hunter said. The information collected should also be broken down into feedback on ed tech use at the elementary, middle and high school levels, she said. “There could be a disconnect between what’s happening in the state legislatures and how communities are really feeling about it,” Hunter said. Once districts have that data, Hunter said, they should create an engagement plan to show community members and even state legislators what is happening in their classrooms with ed tech. They could, for example, make videos showcasing exciting classroom assignments involving technology, host technology nights, or develop a district technology advisory committee. One example of a school’s “powerful” and exciting use of technology, Hunter said, can be seen at Texas’ Texarkana Independent School District where elementary students used 3D printers and ed tech to create prosthetic limbs for people in Uganda. Hunter also pointed to a toolkit developed last year by the Consortium for School Networking to help educators navigate parents’ concerns about screen time in schools. One part of the toolkit aims to prepare schools to answer questions that families have around students’ technology use , such as: Why do you use screens in your classrooms? Why was my child given their own device for school? How often are students using computers in your class? How do I stop my child from overusing their screens at home? What is the right amount of screen time for a K-12 student? District transparency sought Parents concerned about ed tech in schools want more upfront communication and transparency from districts about students’ technology use, as well as the devices and apps they have access to, said Kate Brody, policy director at Schools Beyond Screens, the organization that led the screen time limit push in LAUSD. Beyond providing a list of technology being used in the classroom, Brody said, districts should also allow parents to opt their children in or out of using those tools and provide alternative options if needed. Schools Beyond Screens has grown into a national coalition and is increasingly working with parents from other states to help them push for technology policy limits in their districts, Brody said. The momentum is also gaining from lawsuits against big tech companies over student use of ed tech and social media — and as 1:1 device programs became more ubiquitous in recent years, Brody added. Proponents of ed tech limits often cite concerns, too, with the impact screen time has on youth mental health and well-being . Hunter said district transparency is “super important” around ed tech use in classrooms and how students’ data is being protected. But she said she’s not sure if the issue is that districts aren’t being transparent enough, or if they’re just not being intentional about showing how technology is used in their schools. A moment for AI, too? As artificial intelligence use becomes more commonplace in schools, Hunter said, districts can engage parents about the ways educators and students are using the tools. There’s also an opportunity for schools to address the fears and misunderstandings around AI use in schools, she said. Brody, however, said Schools Beyond Screens wants to see a moratorium on AI use in classrooms. But she acknowledged that it's more challenging to get education leaders behind such a policy. “Instead of making the same mistake we made with a lot of this ed tech, which was to move fast and then try to put guardrails on retroactively, we would like to do the opposite,” Brody said. Until guidelines are in place "for safe and effective use of AI in schools.” she said, districts should in fact implement AI moratoriums. But for districts currently using AI tools, Hunter said, it’s important for leaders to share how the technology is being used responsibly and in the best interest of students “to prepare them to be productive citizens, particularly digital citizens, in the future.”

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