Los Angeles Schools Set New Limits on Classroom Screens

The Los Angeles Unified School District approved a resolution last month that ends device distribution before second grade and sets daily and weekly screen-time caps for older students. The policy also blocks YouTube on school devices and prohibits device use during lunch and recess in elementary and middle schools.

Los Angeles middle-school teacher Anna Soffer said the Chromebook has become “a world of distraction” and that she must compete with online games during class. She is required to assign some work on laptops despite preferring paper tasks.

6 billion. Board member Nick Melvoin, who wrote the resolution, said few classrooms use screens in ways that clearly improve learning. Parents in the group Schools Beyond Screens pressed the board after finding that home screen limits were undermined by school assignments. One parent reported her eighth-grade daughter watching YouTube on the school bus and completing most homework online.

At least 14 states have introduced bills to restrict school screen time, according to Ballotpedia. The federal government released an advisory last week citing excessive youth screen use as a public-health issue. Schools nationwide expanded device distribution after the shift to remote learning in March 2020.

U.S. public schools reported providing devices to students who needed them, the National Center for Education Statistics said. Fresno Unified School District will stop sending laptops home with elementary students this fall partly to reduce $4 million in annual repair costs.

Simi Valley Unified has already moved devices to in-class carts after reports of games and inappropriate searches.