At Wednesday’s Oakland Unified School District board meeting, directors tackled the contentious question of student screen time, taking up a resolution that would prohibit students from using Chromebooks or personal laptops outside of instructional time. The resolution would also prevent the district from adopting software or programs that rely on game-like reward systems, direct the superintendent to create guidelines for the next school year laying out what is appropriate screen time for students, and provide professional development to principals.
For now, their decision is to take a beat. The board said it needs time to address questions of equity and to bring in student perspectives.
District 1 Director Rachel Latta introduced the resolution and advocated for it as a natural follow-up to the district’s new cellphone ban, which requires students to lock away their phones for the duration of the school day…