Transcript
A (0:00)
One of the board members, one of the things she said is, I think this is a really powerful example to kids that sometimes grown ups make mistakes and we don't do the right thing and then we fix it when we get better information. There were a lot of people who didn't know better when we first pushed all this tech into schools. And now we know better and so we're gonna fix it.
B (0:21)
We. Welcome to Scrolling to Death. I'm super excited to be putting out a special mini episode today with my guest, Leela Byock. Leila is a mom in Los Angeles and she is the founder of Schools Beyond Screens, a parent teacher coalition who is fighting back against the overuse of screens at school. This group accomplished something huge just this week. On Tuesday, April 21, the LAUSD school board voted unanimously for a new policy. And they're going to work with Leela and parents and teachers to implement this policy around what's best for kids, not best for the profits of ed tech companies. I had a quick conversation with Leila to tell us what this policy entails. And keep in mind, this is step one. There's a lot more work to be done. But what is incredible is that Leila is making this process available to parents, teachers and administrators all across the country. Let's get into my chat with Leela Bayak. Leila, I think it was about seven months ago I interviewed you on Scrolling to Death about your issues with your son's use of school issued devices. And I remember you told me that your hope was to get LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District to change their policies. And as of yesterday, April 21st, you did it. You did it.
A (1:49)
I'm still reeling. I kind of can't believe it's. It's real. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Unified School Board unanimously passed a resolution called Using Technology with Intention, which basically directs the school district to put in place a fundamentally new tech policy for the coming school year. So this is happening very, very quickly. Among many other things, it eliminates the use of digital devices by students in TK, kindergarten and first grade. It prohibits student led use of YouTube and other video streaming platforms.
B (2:34)
That's huge. It's so huge.
A (2:36)
I know.
B (2:37)
Oh my gosh.
A (2:37)
It provides maximum daily and weekly screen time limits by grade level. And it prohibits student digital devices during lunch, recess and passing periods. Those are just a few of the things in this resolution. I really encourage everyone to read it because there's a lot more kind of nitty gritty, you know, I'm really, really excited about the fact that the district has been listening to us. They've heard us, the thousands of members of schools Beyond Screens who have been, you know, pushing this issue repeatedly over the course of the last year. And they're really willing to work with us as partners in developing this policy for the coming school year. So we're just, we could not be more excited. This is step one. Some of the things that we're going to be asking for in the policy is to expand the ban on the use of digital devices up to second grade. So TK through second grade, no devices. Right now the policy says the district is encouraged to pursue a cart model for devices for third grade, fifth grade. And we wanted that to be a requirement rather than encouraged. The resolution does not actually prohibit the use of non instructional gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox, which is, we think is a little odd. It says that, you know, the district is encouraged to consider doing that. So obviously we want to, you know, see that enshrined in policy. Yeah, we want to extend the ban on devices during periods to include high schoolers as well. We think that, you know, middle and high schoolers are often left out of the conversation around, you know, developmentally appropriate screen use in school. There's a lot of focus on the younger grades, as there should be. But our older students still have developing brains, they're still children. And they deserve, you know, for schools to be a sanctuary from the distraction and, you know, all the problems of digital devices in the addiction.