On July 18th SEPTA’s Co-Presidents and Advocacy Committee sent the letter below to Dr. Duran and the School Board regarding APS’s new restrictions on students’ personal device use in schools.
Re: New Restrictions on Students’ Personal Device Use
Dear School Board Members and Dr. Durán:
We are writing on behalf of the Arlington Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) regarding Arlington Public Schools’ plan to adopt new rules governing students’ use of personal devices (smartphones and smartwatches) for the start of the 2024-2025 school year. SEPTA supports the educational experience of students with disabilities across Arlington Public Schools (APS), who comprise approximately 15% of our school division population.
We are particularly concerned about the impact that restricting students’ ability to use personal deviceswould have on students with disabilities. Without a process for public engagement, APS appears to be rushing to implement new restrictions without understanding the effect on students with varying needs, including those with disabilities. We certainly understand that personal devices in classrooms can present challenges for teachers and students, and that a policy is needed so students do not misuse devices duringinstructional time. But a blunt policy that prohibits students from using personal devices in schools or classrooms could have negative consequences.
Personal devices can have both positive and negative uses in school. We ask you to draft a balanced and inclusive policy that takes both aspects into account. Personal devices are tools that can remove barriers and help students with disabilities to succeed. Students with disabilities are using cell phones and smartwatches in school in a number of constructive ways for support with executive functioning, mental health, and self-regulation. This is particularly true for older students who can take on more self-management of their needs as they mature. For example, we have heard from families whose children use and rely on cell phones and/or smart watches in school to manage time, take pictures of the board, track assignments, set reminders, complete homework, check their schedule, communicate with teachers, coordinate group projects with peers, record administration of medication, use apps for calming or self-regulation, listen to music for calming or focus, or simply to provide reassurance that they have a way to reach out to a parent or other trusted adult.
APS-issued devices or landlines are not necessarily a substitute for students’ personal devices. Not all ofthese features are available on APS-issued devices. Even when they are, students often choose to use their phones or smartwatches instead. Personal devices can be more readily available, more convenient, easier to use, and less obtrusive (especially as compared to the laptops APS issues to high school students). As students mature, they should be given increasing agency to self-select the tools that work best for them to manage their needs. For some students, this is a personal device.
We hope we share the common understanding that APS must prepare students for the next step after high school. This is often a heightened concern for parents of students with disabilities. We live in a digital world. Smartphones and smartwatches are ubiquitous. They are here to stay. We fail to see how blocking access to personal devices in school would ultimately benefit the students who struggle with managing them. APS would be treating the symptom versus the underlying problem, and would leave students unprepared to manage their personal devices after they leave high school, whether it be in college, the workforce, or the community.
Instead, we believe APS has a responsibility to help students learn to use phones productively in order to prepare them for their next step after APS. This type of skill building at a formative time is particularly criticalfor students with disabilities, who may experience more challenges than the typical student with impulsivity and distractibility, and who may need more support and practice to develop these skills, including, where appropriate, IEP goals.
Students with disabilities comprise a significant portion of the APS population. When developing a system-wide policy, APS must consider and include their needs too, given students with disabilities are generaleducation students first. This means developing an inclusive policy that covers the needs of students with disabilities as much as possible within the general systemic policy, rather than adopting an approach that only considers disabled students’ needs as a separate matter to be handled as an exception to the general policy. Such an approach would not only be inconsistent with APS’s stated priorities of inclusivity andequity, it would also entail more challenges in execution, as explained below.
While we urge APS to develop a general policy that is as inclusive as possible, APS also must provide accommodations to students with disabilities when they need greater access to their personal devices than the general policy allows. APS must handle accommodations appropriately through IEP and 504 processes, with parental participation, for a yet-to-be-determined number of students.
The timeframe APS has chosen will make this incredibly challenging, if not impossible. IEPs and Section 504 plans for the coming school year were not written to account for new personal device rules. APS must now develop and implement a process to put accommodations in place for all students who need them, and it must somehow complete this before the new rules take effect next month.
There are also communication issues. Parents are likely unaware of the need to request a new accommodation in order for their children to keep accessing devices they have used without issue in the past. Schools and programs must ensure personal device accommodations are communicated to all staff who may encounter each student throughout their day so no one will prevent a student with an accommodation fromusing a device.
Failure to appropriately provide personal device accommodations could create an urgent situation forstudents who rely on their phones to overcome barriers and manage disability-related needs. It could also put APS out of legal compliance. Of course, the more inclusive the policy, the fewer students will likely need accommodations.
Finally, we want to know if APS has a plan for how it will enforce new personal device restrictions without adding to the known problems APS already experiences with disproportionate discipline of certain student populations, including students with disabilities.
For the above reasons, we urge APS to develop a balanced and inclusive policy that allows students to use personal devices in school for educational and supportive purposes, as age-appropriate.
Thank you for the work you do on behalf of students and for your dedication to inclusive education for students with disabilities.
Sincerely,
Sascha Foertsch and Laura Swanson Co-Presidents, SEPTA
Wendy Pizer Advocacy Chair, SEPTA
cc:
Dr. Gerald Mann, Jr., Chief Academic Officer
Kimberley Graves, Chief of School Support
Brian Stockton, Chief of Staff
Dr. Julie Crawford, Chief of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Student Support
Chrissy Smith, Esq., Legal Counsel
Emily Haslebacher, Esq., Assistant Counsel for Special Education
Steven Marku, Director, Policy & Legislative Affairs
Dr. Kelly Krug, Director of Special Education – Elementary
Dr. Kenneth Brown, Director of Special Education – Secondary
Claire Nokes, President, Arlington County Council of PTAs (CCPTA)
My son has adhd, generalized anxiety, and sensory processing disorder. The prevalence of screens in school has been an unmitigated disaster for him, between both Ed tech and personal devices. He is very triggered by screens (spd), what little focus he has at school (in a huge classroom) gets destroyed by all the apps (adhd), and his overall functioning is much worse with so many screens around. He is completely different (very functional/happy) with NORMAL sensory input and environments, ie with people who are looking at and speaking to each other. I feel very shocked and dismayed that an organization expressly here to protect kids with disabilities would take such a pro-screen stance. There are obviously ways to work in exceptions for children who may have a unique need, through the policy itself and IEPs, but it is unequivocal that kids with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by the many negative effects of screens, and therefore stand to learn even better, be even happier, and even safer than the average kid if they could be afforded the right to a screen-free education. If parents think that “phone skills” are importance for their child to thrive after APS as you say, that is their right to teach their children outside of school. But it should not be their right to destroy the school experience for everyone. The harms are known, and it is a total red herring to try and claim this is a critical time to learn “phones skills”. It’s a critical time to learn math, reading, critical thinking, social skills, peer to peer communication—all things that phones are destroying in schools across the country. And SEPTA should be an informed group taking steps to improve education for kids with disabilities, not peddling misinformation and playing on parent fears that will only further the destruction these devices are having.
I am the parent of two children with disabilities and IEPs, and just as much as you feel that screens are harmful for your child is how much I feel devices are helpful for mine and their particular disabilities. I applaud SEPTA for advocating for us parents who are feeling very vulnerable about our children’s ability to navigate school without their phones. As a parent, you have every right to withhold a personal communication device from your child during school hours; accordingly, I should also be able to maintain the right for my children to have theirs.
It’s clear that technology is not helpful to your child, and that is ok and understandable. You have the right to ask that your child does not rely heavily on technology at school, and of course you can withhold purchasing technology for them at home. As a parent of a child with an IEP with a processing deficit and ADHD, we have found that technology has positively impacted his ability to hold himself accountable and manage his workload responsibly and individually as he nears the end of his high school years. This should never be a one size fits all approach.
APS should not be rushing to restrict cell phones across the board without considering students with varying needs at different grade levels, and those with disabilities. This isn’t a one size fits all problem and should not have a one size fits all solution. Many students with IEPs or 504s use cell phones in a positive manner, especially as they are nearing the end of high school and should be learning how to use technology responsibly. My child has an IEP and has had great success using apps to help with executive functioning and organizational skills, and reminders that keep him on track daily. Nothing will change the fact that currently and in the future, cell phones are how we communicate with one another. I agree that cell phones at all levels should be off and out of sight during all instruction (unless the teacher desires otherwise). An approach that allows students (including those with disabilities), to use their phones as needed for educational purposes and during non-instruction time would ensure a more inclusive policy. In addition, if parents don’t want their children to have cell phones, they can simply not buy them one. If parents don’t want their children on social media, don’t let them download social media. We as parents have a responsibility to set the groundwork of using technology responsibly and appropriately, and setting boundaries early can support teachers in the long run.