Parents Press For Broader Student Technology Limits In Westfield

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield parents urged the Board of Education to expand restrictions on student technology, request a district meeting and launch a broader audit of classroom tools and screen use.

At the Tuesday Board of Education meeting, Danielle McCay, speaking for Parents for Mindful Tech in Westfield Schools, said the group previously spoke at the June board meeting and submitted a community letter.

She said that letter had about 300 signatures in June and now has 432.

McCay said the group emailed the board on Aug. 17 with two linked documents, including a draft gap analysis of current district technology policy and an executive summary of the group's June 16 requests.

The group appreciated two recent district changes: removing YouTube for elementary students and ending one-to-one devices for the youngest learners, shared McCay.

"Whether these changes came about as a result of our requests or if they were ideas that already had been set in motion, we are grateful that parents and the district are aligned in understanding the need for change. These new policies are a tremendous step towards creating digital guardrails for all students," said McCay.

The group asked the board to consider four immediate steps.

• To remove YouTube for intermediate students
• Remove generative AI for elementary and intermediate students
• Implement an allow list for K-8 web browsing
• Establish a committee to begin a technology audit of screen time by grade level and classroom apps

As part of that request, McCay asked the board to update its content filtering to align with what parents are consenting to.

"Elementary students will only access the internet under teacher or aid supervision limited to predetermined or bookmarked sites. Unsupervised surfing is not permitted," she said.

"Grades six to eight will have filtered internet access blocking non-instructional sites. Students are not allowed to surf the net without supervision," said McCay.

Melissa Morano, also speaking for the parent group, urged the board to use an open-source framework called the edtech triangle for a district technology audit.

She described it as "the first research-based model designed specifically for evaluating classroom technology" and said it sorts digital tools into four tiers based on research tied to student achievement and child development.

Morano said districts in California, Maryland and Virginia already use the model, and said neighboring New Providence adopted it as the basis for its "balance by design strategic plan."

She said an audit would help the district inventory software licenses and identify low-value or redundant tools.

After public comment, Board President Rob Benacchio said some of the issues raised fall under district management responsibilities and others involve policy and curriculum that could be discussed by board committees.

Benacchio said the requests would be taken "under consideration" and called the start of the school year "a great time" to begin including them in committee discussions where appropriate.

"I think most people here see tech education as important, but also ensuring the safety of our students as a partnership," said Benacchio. "You made a solid point that, as you know, as much as the district works hard to keep content the way it should be. As fast as we find some restriction, someone else is working to get around it. And it doesn't necessarily mean the students either. A lot of these are the companies that are doing this stuff."

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