One Lower Hudson Valley school district said it doesn't want its youngest students using iPads by themselves. A teacher’s union couldn’t agree more.
Joyce Portnoy was with her granddaughter, a first-grader at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School, getting ice cream.
“Do you like using Grandma’s iPad? Yes?” Portnoy asked. Her granddaughter nodded.
Tompkins is the only elementary school in the tiny Croton-Harmon Union Free School District in Croton-on-Hudson, an hour north of New York City. The school district is trying something different this school year when it comes to technology. Younger students are no longer using iPads alone. From kindergarten through 4th grade, iPads are stored away, no longer near student desks. They'll be available only a few times a year and during teacher-led activities.
Portnoy said as a former teacher, she thinks technology in schools is complicated.
“I’m mixed. I feel that for young children up till about 3rd or 4th grade it’s not necessary. But above that I do think they need to learn certain tasks and I think her parents would agree,” she said.
Portnoy said screens should only be used for educational purposes, and not used as a babysitter.
The New York Times reported 81% of elementary school teachers across the United States they surveyed last year said that at their schools, students receive devices in class by kindergarten.
Jill Anderson, is a Westchester elementary school teacher. She teaches outside of the district, but her daughter goes to school in the Croton-Harmon district. Anderson said because of her experience as a teacher, she taught a workshop about technology in schools, and soon found herself leading a group, the Croton Community Collective, which has hundreds of members.
“This story, like most wonderful stories, start with parents. And we had a bunch of parents in the community that were really concerned about smartphones and social media and when to give those devices to their children or not,” Anderson said.
They were able to work with the district to implement the policy for students this year. The district did not comment.
“What I think the biggest problem that happened in general is that we shifted from technology education to educational technology,” Anderson said. “I've been teaching for over 20 years and we started with a computer lab.”
She’s said there’s been a fundamental shift from when technology had very compartmentalized use during a limited time, to now, when it is often integrated into everything.
“That fundamentally changes everything. It changes the classroom. It changes the learning activities. It changes where the teacher is,” she said.
Anderson said she thinks the shift took place during the pandemic, when many teachers had to use screens while kids were stuck at home. But she thinks technology use has not shifted back.
Anderson said when kids use screens one-on-one in her classroom, she ends up spending half her time trying to work with students, and at the same time making sure other children using screens are not getting distracted by their devices.
“I've seen kids where they're on an ed-tech platform and instead of doing the work, they're changing the background of the computer. They're changing the avatar. They're playing. There's typing programs where they're just using one finger to push the button quickly to get the reward,” Anderson said. “They are on a website that they shouldn't be on.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul told Spectrum News last year that New York's cellphone ban from grades kindergarten to 12th grade has been a success. She said you can hear children laughing and talking in the hallways of schools.
Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers union, or NYSUT, said many parents and teachers also asking questions.
“Is technology in our classrooms being used as the tool that it was intended to be? Or is the technology really driving education?” Person said. She said just removing personal devices, like cellphones is not enough.
Person said teachers would complain to the union, “‘I’m being forced to put my babies, my five and six-year-olds on a screen, when I know what’s best for them is to have a pencil and a paper, to do artwork, and play, and move.’”
This year NYSUT issued a resolution calling for no one-to-one screens or devices for kids in second grade and under. The union also called for limiting the use of AI and chatbots for higher grades.
Anderson said that when children learn from their teachers, the human interaction is invaluable.
“Yesterday I was sitting with a student who was struggling and we were able to work out a sentence together. And then I wanted her to expand it. And when she finally got it, I went over and I checked back in with her and she did such a great job. I just raved. I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I can't believe look how great you did. This is amazing’. You should have seen her smile,” Anderson said.
While some kids will certainly miss their screen time, one second grader, whose parents asked not to share her name, actually said she likes the new policy.
“I just like writing on paper better than having screens. Like, I like to color. I like to draw. I like to write. I like to do math and stuff,” she said.
