One afternoon when Michelle Dirst picked up her son from elementary school, he was notably hyper.
He told her he didn’t do much in class that day, prompting Dirst to review a report detailing how much time he spent on his computer. Outside lunch, recess and specials, Dirst learned he was almost exclusively on the laptop. He had a significant number of tabs open, she said.
Dirst had asked to limit his tabs, and to ensure his laptop is put away if it’s not on his desk.
Dirst is one of the dozens of parents who joined the group FCPS Parents for Intentional Technology. It was founded in December with the goal of calling for consistency from school to school and using technology only when it would be most helpful.
“As a lot of people are saying, ‘We’ve taken the phones outside of schools,’ but you still have the devices that essentially are doing the same thing and are replacing the phones,” Dirst said.
The group, which has members scheduled to meet with Superintendent Michelle Reid later this month, is calling for a tech advisory committee to be established. It would feature both teachers and parents.
Some of Fairfax County’s youngest students use tablets in the classroom, and the older students use Chromebook laptops. The parents are urging the county to consider ending the 1-to-1 device policy for the youngest learners and are calling for consistently in tech use from school to school.
“There are benefits,” Dirst said. “I don’t deny that at all. But I think we need to do a better job of looking at the evidence base.”
Impact of technology in the classroom
Liz Basalyga, a math teacher at Katherine Johnson Middle School and member of the parents’ group, said textbooks and tests are online, and there’s a push for educators to use more technology.
The county invested in digital textbooks for students, “and a lot of us as teachers just are not using them,” she said.
As a result of the digital focus, Basalyga said, “students struggle with really basic things like reading instructions, and when we ask them to tackle multistep problems, they really flounder.”
Because the textbook is online, Basalyga said homework assignments are also accessed through a screen. If there’s a desire for a teacher to go screen-free for homework, teachers have to create it themselves.
“We’re no longer being intentional with technology,” she said. “We’re often just defaulting to technology when pencil and paper might be the best choice.”
In response to the group’s concerns, Fairfax County Public Schools said in a statement shared with WTOP that technology is one of the tools made available to teachers and isn’t used for the majority of instruction. For its youngest students, the division said it emphasizes limited and intentional technology use.
Technology, the statement said, “is not intended to replace core experiences such as teacher-directed instruction, discussion, student collaboration, hands-on learning, reading, writing, and social interaction.”
Parents, teachers want more
Separately, the group is urging the school system to list approved websites for students based on grade level. Students are finding ways to access games, such as “Five Nights at Epstein’s,” which parent Megan Durst said is based on the video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
The county said it uses a “multilayered approach to prevent inappropriate access to content rather than relying on a single filter or blocklist.”
But Basalyga said one of the programs used to monitor students’ device use and block websites crashes frequently, and kids are able to work around it.
“It’s alarming to hear that the kids are accessing that and finding ways to work around the restrictions that we have set in our county,” Durst told WTOP.
The group said it doesn’t take issue with students who are using technology as part of a 504 or individualized education program.
But for Dirst, the impact using an iPad in kindergarten had on her son was clear. He’d have meltdowns when she tried to take it away and asked for one for the holidays. Instead, she pushed outdoor play and a focus on motor skills.
“We’re seeing the achievement gap widen,” Dirst said. “And that’s also concerning, because we want to lift everybody up in the school, in the community, and make sure everybody is … given the chance to reach their potential.”
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