Elementary school students also will see a change in how they use laptops in schools. The district began providing devices to all students shortly after closing to students in March 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. That 1-to-1 program will remain, but students in kindergarten through fifth grade now will keep their devices at school. Families can opt in to letting their children take a device home.
The purchase of the laptops is being funded by Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, a capital projects fund supported by an existing sales tax.
The Chromebooks are expected to have a four-year life cycle. Laptops were last widely purchased for students in an agreement approved in March 2021.
Students in sixth through 12th grade still will be allowed to take their school-issued devices home with them. The exception is at Southeast Middle School where sixth-graders will keep Chromebooks at school but can opt-in to taking devices home — a decision made with the help of feedback from families and staff.
Other school districts in Eastern Iowa have similar policies. In the College Community School District, school-issued devices for students in kindergarten through sixth grade stay at school outside of school hours. Students in grades seven through 12 can take their devices home with them.
COMMUINITY FEEDBACK
Four parents and community members spoke during the public comment period of a school board meeting to voice concerns about screen use among elementary students.
Ashley Dorn, who teaches undergraduate classes at the University of Iowa, said she sees students "become increasingly dependent on screens." As parent of a second-grader in the Iowa City district, Dorn said she doesn't want elementary students to receive educational content or spend their free time on the computer.
Dorn said in her experience, when students rely on screens they have lower comprehension and poorer performance. "Our ability to comprehend and remember is best when learning from print, speaking and human interaction," she said.
Sandy Hong, a pediatrician in Iowa City, said it's "developmentally unsound to give kindergarten through fifth-graders their own devices."
Using small screens "can exacerbate near nearsightedness," Hong said. In her practice as a pediatrician, she's also seen an increase in isolation, anxiety and depression among her patients correlated with an increase in the use of technology.
Hong also spoke about the importance of schools teaching digital literacy and digital citizenship. She compared giving a laptop to a young child with giving them keys to drive a car. Kids don't begin learning to drive until 14, however, when they have gained maturity. The same should be true of computer and Internet use, Hong said.
HOW LONG ARE STUDENTS SPENDING ON COMPUTERS?
The district can track the length of time students use their Chromebooks — on and off campus — how long they spend online and what websites they're browsing, said Adam Kurth, the district's finance director.
Over a 28-day period between March and April that didn't include spring break, Kurth said students used their Chromebooks on average for almost 27 minutes a day, including weekends. When divided between school days, that usage is about 42 minutes in a five-day period.
High school students are using their Chromebooks the most often, with an average of 48 minutes a day over the entire period.
Kurth also pulled data from three schools — a high school, middle school and elementary school — as an example of what students are using their Chromebooks for.
Among those three schools, top three applications used were Google Suite — which includes email and the word processor Docs — the learning management system used by the district called Canvas, and YouTube, Kurth said.
School board member Mitch Lingo questioned why 1-to-1 devices are needed in the district if elementary students are using them only for some 20 minutes a day.
Patrick Snyder, curriculum coordinator, stressed the importance of every student having a school-issued device. Before the district provided devices to all elementary students, teachers "competed" to get the devices into their classrooms, he said.
Required state testing also is done on computers, and it was a "strain" to ship computers around to schools to ensure all students had the opportunity to take the test, said Kurth, who previously served as the district's technology director.
SCHOOL BOARD ASKS FOR 'SAFE USE' OF DEVICES
Following a presentation to the board Tuesday about changes to the use of school-issued devices, Iowa City school board members asked that parents be kept updated on how much time their children are spending on their computers in the classroom, especially at the elementary school level.
They also asked for teachers to receive training on safe use of devices, including how far back from a screen students should sit.
"It's been brought to my attention that reading on Chromebooks is probably not a good idea," school board member Jayne Finch said. "However, things like keyboarding or Internet searches, those types of things would be appropriate. ... I do wonder what sort of training teachers have received on (educational) technology and how much time they're allowing for screen time in the classroom and if they're allowing students to use it during free time."
Lingo asked for someone to be added to the District Technology Committee who is "tech questioning" and also someone from the medical field.
In January, the Iowa City school district enacted a cellphone policy requiring students' phones and earbuds or headphones be silenced and placed in a backpack, purse, hanging pouch in the classroom or in a student's locker during class. The policy aims to improve students' concentration, decrease cyber bullying and address some of the concerns about students' mental health.
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