In the spring of 2025, we started asking the question: what is responsible and appropriate use of AI? We quickly found we had to answer a bigger question first. What is responsible and appropriate use of technology in the classroom?

A few months later, we invited any staff member who wanted to help answer this question to join a task force. Seventeen people met regularly through the 2025-26 school year. We read and discussed peer-reviewed research, professional literature, and expert commentary. Teachers on the task force told us what was happening in their classrooms, including that many had already started using less technology as they AI-proofed their lessons and saw the impact of screens on children. Our technology department shared data on what was happening on district-owned Chromebooks, both during the school day and when those devices went home. We also asked when technology needed to be used so our students are prepared for a wide range of postsecondary opportunities.

From the research, the task force learned that children in this country average about four hours of screen time a day, which is double the two-hour recommendation for school-age children. Studies link heavy screen use to lower academic achievement, disrupted sleep, weaker attention, and effects on mental and cardiovascular health. We also learned that writing by hand helps students retain information and solidify their learning.

So the task force made a decision. Our use of technology would be strategic and intentional. We would use it when a lesson needed it, not when it simply replaced paper. The group developed technology guidelines for preschool through 12th grade, and those guidelines went to the District Accountability and Advisory Committee (DAAC) and to the Board of Education in the spring of 2026. Both approved them unanimously.

Here is what the guidelines say.

Our preschool students will not use individual devices, because our youngest students need to be screen free. In kindergarten through fifth grade, students use shared or lab devices for no more than 30 to 60 minutes a day. We still teach technology classes, where computer and computer science skills are taught explicitly, but there are no individual devices in those grades, and any use must be tied to a specific instructional objective. Strategic and intentional.

From there the skills build. Sixth graders learn Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Forms. Seventh graders build research literacy and responsible digital habits. Eighth graders write their first full research paper, which pulls together the technology skills they have developed.

The task force originally landed on individual devices beginning in ninth grade. Our high school staff made a different decision, and I respect it. They chose not to move to a device for every student. Instead, teachers have Chromebook carts when a lesson genuinely calls for one, and students check out Chromebooks from the library when they need to. That keeps the decision with the teacher, and it keeps the purpose clear.

These guidelines govern student-facing devices. They do not limit teachers who use technology to deliver strong instruction, and they do not apply to our technology courses. In fact, grant funds allowed us to purchase three additional 3D printers for those courses this summer.

We also asked a harder question. Edtech subscriptions cost a lot of money and take a lot of instructional time, so the question is not whether technology can be used. The question is whether it produces results that earn its place in the school day. Our curriculum council reviewed every edtech subscription through a rubric to be sure it is needed and that it improves learning rather than only substituting for it.

We believe technology should be used when it makes something possible that could not happen without it. When a paper assignment and a Chromebook assignment accomplish the same thing, paper is the better choice. We want students annotating what they read, and we want them writing on paper so they build writing skills and receive specific, immediate feedback.

There is another reason we moved away from a device for every student. We want to build the skills of communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, and that means students working with peers sitting across the table. Talking through a disagreement is powerful practice. We want every student doing hands-on work with an adult who knows them. Those are the skills that college, career, and life ask for, and in-person school is where they are built.

Go Beetdiggers!