Dear Lower Merion School District (LMSD) Board and District Leadership,
We are signing this petition because we have deep and growing concerns about the widespread use of 1:1 school issued devices (iPads, Chromebooks, and MacBooks) across K to 12 in LMSD. We are asking for a clear and viable pathway for families who want to opt out of 1:1 school issued devices as a routine part of daily instruction.
We truly appreciate the March 23, 2026 community meeting on devices in our schools, where the overwhelming turnout and testimony made the depth of concern across LMSD impossible to ignore. Parents, educators, professionals, and students spoke about distraction, reduced focus, constant tab switching, students messaging and emailing during class, cyberbullying, the lack of guardrails and resulting exposure to inappropriate online content and games during the school day, weaker socialization, teacher burnout, excessive screen time, privacy concerns, the impact on classroom behavior and attention, the growing role of AI in children’s academic lives, and many other concerns.
A major theme that emerged at the meeting was simple and urgent: where is the clear evidence that 1:1 educational technology is actually better for most children than traditional, teacher led, pen and paper learning? As 1:1 devices have spread across schools, national academic outcomes have remained flat or declined, while families and educators in LMSD are seeing the harms of heavy screen use more and more clearly in real time.
Our LMSD educators are speaking out NOW, and we must listen to them! In the week before the community meeting alone, five LMSD educators confidentially shared serious concerns about educational technology, concerns that were later compiled in this document. And we know for a fact that many more teachers across the district share these same concerns but do not feel safe speaking publicly.
In the very same week as our LMSD community meeting on screens, juries found Meta and YouTube liable for harming young users, with thousands of similar cases still pending. These findings are not abstract or far away from LMSD! We hear reports from within our own district that dangerous content is being accessed on school issued devices during the school day, on buses, and at home. These reports include children across grades and LMSD schools accessing and playing “Five Nights at Epstein’s,” a deeply disturbing online game built around Jeffrey Epstein, sex trafficking themes, and obscene content. Parents on LMSD Facebook pages, including middle school parents, also report that students can access TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, shared Google Docs, and multiple games on their school issued devices. This is a serious and ongoing student safety failure, and it cannot be brushed aside!
Instruction in digital skills like typing, media literacy, safe searching, and how to use technology is critical. That is very different from making 1:1 screens, apps, and devices the main way children are taught reading, writing, math, STEM, social studies, and other core subjects! Those subjects should be grounded far more in direct instruction, pen and paper work, sustained reading, problem solving, and real human interaction.
We, the undersigned parents, educators, and community members of LMSD, respectfully ask the district to enforce Policy and Administrative Regulations 137, including Attachment D, and to create a clear and viable opt out pathway for families who do not want their children using 1:1 school issued devices as a routine part of daily instruction. This right already exists in district policy, and families who exercise it deserve an equal educational pathway.
Policy 137 makes clear that if a parent or student declines to participate in the 1:1 Electronic Device Initiative by refusing to sign the device agreement, the building principal is responsible for making accommodations so that the student’s education is not adversely affected.
Specifically, we are asking LMSD to:
• Enforce Administrative Regulation 137, including Attachment D, for any family that declines participation in the 1:1 Electronic Device Initiative
• Create a clear districtwide process for families to opt out of 1:1 devices from K to 12
• Offer an equal and meaningful lower tech or device reduced educational option for interested students
• Hold a follow up community meeting to discuss next steps, including how LMSD can support families seeking to opt out of 1:1 devices
We appreciate the district for opening this conversation. We know the board is made up of hard working volunteers who care deeply about our children and our community. We now ask LMSD to take the next step: enforce its own policy, respect parent choice, and create a real opt out pathway for families seeking a more traditional, lower tech education for their children.
Signed,
Parents, educators, and community members of Lower Merion School District
