The Virginia Beach School Board adopted a policy eliminating classroom Chromebook use for its youngest learners, limiting access for first graders and keeping devices from going home with second graders.
Monday night’s 7-4 vote came after nearly two hours of conversation from public speakers and board members. The adopted policy, authored by board member Matt Cummings, was a substitute for the original proposal, written by Vice Chair Carolyn Weems, that would have barred classroom access to Chromebooks for pre-K through first grade.
Board Chair Kathleen Brown, Weems and members Mark Bohenstiel and Rose Dwyer voted against the policy.
Brown said she did not support it because she felt the district’s policy review committee had already made compromises.
Cummings told his fellow board members he was hesitant about having a classroom set of Chromebooks for first graders, but after hearing from educators, he changed his mind.
“I thought that this was a good compromise between a lot of the diverse viewpoints on the school board,” he said. “I do see value in the personalization of programs.”
The change goes into effect in the fall. First-grade classrooms would have access to 10 devices that teachers could use for supplemental learning in small-group settings.
Second graders would have 1-to-1 access to Chromebooks, but the computers would stay in the classroom, except when the district thought it would need to pivot to remote learning, such as during a severe weather event. Third- through fifth-grade students would be 1-to-1 on devices and take them home.
The policy would not apply to libraries, English language learners and students who need a device because of a learning need.
Discussions about how much screen time students should be exposed to at school are becoming more prevalent as research shows that too much can lead to sleep problems, lower grades, isolation, mood problems and poor self-image, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Comments expressed Monday night and in previous meetings by Virginia Beach parents, educators and the school board indicated that virtually everyone was concerned about students’ screen time. The debate boiled down to how much and when students should use devices at school.
Heather Sipe, a Virginia Beach teacher and president of the teachers’ union, recommended during public comment that if the goal was to limit screen time for young learners, Chromebooks for elementary students should stay at school except when remote learning was needed.
“Full elimination is not the answer,” she said. “Reduction should take priority over full elimination.”
She also said barring students from these devices would create challenges for teachers who use computer programs to collect benchmark and achievement data, and to meet state standards surrounding computer science and digital learning.
Board members said during the discussion that they are interested in revisiting the policy, especially to determine if restrictions would need to be rolled out to older students.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds WHRO’s license.
