The Blue-Ribbon Task Force on Student Screen Time held its 11th meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30 with the focus on finalizing recommendations regarding parental oversight of district-owned devices.  

The purpose of these task force meetings has been to develop guidance/recommendations, based in research, on the following topics: 

• Students' personal device use in school, 
• Screen time and mental health; and 
• Parental oversight of district-owned devices. 

The task force voted on the remaining set of recommendations which will be drafted into the final report presented to the board in November. This week, the task force voted to make the following recommendations: 

• Recommend parental access to school-owned devices that exactly mirrors their student’s view. 
• Recommend districts develop a system where parents can easily manage and request additional blocked sites. 
• Recommend districts allow parents to set stricter controls if desired on their student’s school-issued device. 
• Recommend school districts utilize device management systems that allow parental controls to be put in place on district-owned devices. 
• Recommend school districts work with parents to ensure they have full access to their child’s device when it is at home. 
• Recommend school districts allow families full oversight of what their children are accessing on the school-issued devices and for how long. 
• Recommend school districts host educational opportunities for parents on school-owned devices and related software, as well as share information on parental controls that can be implemented on personal devices. 

Other recommendations passed for parental oversight of district-owned devices include the following: 

• Recommend school districts manage devices in such a way that the default settings protect students without any parental supervision . 
• Recommend acceptable use policies be written in age-appropriate language for all grades. 
• Recommend school districts provide parents with clear instructions and access necessary to report problems with devices or content to IT. 
• Recommend districts emphasize the importance of maintaining a balance between digital and non-digital learning experiences, and not rely solely on technology-based instruction. 
• Recommend school districts develop policies that allow families to opt out of school-owned devices being sent home. 

Recommendations passed for screen time and mental health include the following: 

• Recommend districts provide digital citizenship education from non-industry resources that incorporate unbiased or independently funded research. 
• Recommend school districts share peer-reviewed research and discuss mental health dangers associated with unsupervised use of social media, gaming platforms and messaging with students, families and school staff. 
• Provide no recommendation on the topic of parents determining appropriate use. 
• Recommend districts develop a robust website and communication option that does not use social media to inform or communicate with students. 
  • Clarification: Recommend districts establish means of communication with parents, students, community that is not reliant upon social media, so that it's not the only means of communication. 
• Recommend educators have students take regular breaks from screens throughout the day. 

Recommendations for personal devices include the following: 

• Recommend  districts develop a process for teachers to report gaps in district-provided technology, so teachers do not supplement lack of or insufficient district-issued technology with use of personal devices. 
• Recommend  districts create a personal device policy for staff. 
• Provide no recommendation on the topic of personal property infringement. 
• Recommend elementary students store personal devices in a secure location not accessible to them during the school day. 
• Recommend middle schools implement a bell-to-bell policy for a phone-free school. 
• Recommend middle school students store personal devices in a secure location not accessible to them during the school day. 
• Recommend high schools implement a bell-to-bell policy for a phone-free school. 
• Recommend high school students store personal devices in a secure location not accessible to them during the school day. 
• Recommend districts develop robust safety and emergency procedures that are not dependent on students contacting authorities or family via personal devices or school-issued devices. 

Members of the Kansas State Board of Education will consider these recommendations during their November meeting, scheduled for Nov. 12-13, with final action possible in December. 

The next task force meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 7. To see the agenda and recordings of past meetings, click here.