Daily screen-time limits approved for Mesa school district classrooms

Mesa Public School Board member Marcie Hutchinson raised the most concerns when it came to the board’s technology policy procedures in classrooms.

Technology Policy 3-403 went into its second reading on Sept. 10 and it created some questions that did not come up during the board’s last meeting on how the policy might actually affect students in the classrooms.

Though Hutchinson said she is good with the policy itself, she said she is “worried” about prescribing minutes of screen time in classrooms each day.

Hutchinson said she had been a high school teacher for years and recognizes how difficult this could be for teachers, project-based learning and online research.

“I fear that by limiting the number of minutes per day that we are hampering the learning that could take place and the research that could happen,” Hutchinson said.

She said she is “really worried” about the probability of a student being on their computer too long and using it for educational purposes and their access getting denied for exceeding the screen time limits.

“The policy I understand,” Hutchinson said. “But it’s the procedures that I have questions with.”

Routine daily screen time shall adhere to the following maximum thresholds, according to an MPS document:

• Kindergarten through Grade 2 (Ages 5–8): Not to exceed 20 minutes average per day — maximum 30 minutes in any given day.
• Grades 3–6: Not to exceed 45 minutes average per day — maximum 75 minutes in any given day.
• Grades 7–8: Not to exceed 120 minutes average per day — maximum 150 minutes in any given day.
• Grades 9–12: Not to exceed 150 minutes average per day — maximum 180 minutes in any given day.

At the board’s last meeting on Aug. 27, the policy to reduce the screen time in classrooms was proposed by board member Rachel Walden. She said they are reducing technology use in the classroom and keep any technology use strictly educational.

“My original policy I had looked at was doing just that,” Walden said. “Saying well do we need to actually say you can’t have more than this many minutes on screen time or not.”

Walden said that the policy is “very intentional” in a way that reiterates the fact that screen time during the school day is for educational purposes and not screen time to do non-educational activities.

During this meeting, the board did not vote on the policy but the board members were in favor of Walden’s proposal, including board member Hutchinson.

In rebuttal to Hutchinson’s concerns about the time limit procedure, Superintendent Matt Strom said, “When you give kids a device, they spend often more time off task than they do on task.”

Strom, being a former high school teacher for over 13 years, said he would rather be in a situation where there is a time limit on technology, rather than having to monitor what each and every student is doing on their devices at once.

He did address that he is in favor of bringing the feedback of students, teachers and parents about the procedure that will be in place in the spring when the board will touch on the policy again.

Chief of Academics Tracy Yslas did reassure the board, in response to Strom’s comments, that the language used in the policy toward the procedure does not include courses such as coding, state standardized testing or assessments and credit recovery.

After the board’s discussion and clarification of the matter, the board voted 5-0 to move forward with the policy and will create a time limit on how much screen time students may use during the school day.

Lydia Hackley is a student studying at the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines, https://www.yourvalley.net/civility-checklist/.