Parents who expressed a growing concern over the use of iPads and Artificial Intelligence in Bend-La Pine Schools classrooms are celebrating a new policy creating sweeping checks on technology passed this week.
In an April 14 resolution, the Bend-La Pine Schools Board of Directors addressed educational technology, or “ed tech.” The resolution directs the district to review the use of all technology, websites and apps, create standards for tech use at different grade levels and remove “non-evidence-based” technology from devices. It also instructs the district to ensure screen time is limited to educational purposes only, that it promotes reading and writing that is non-screen-based “to the greatest extent possible” and enhances the use of parent and district controls over screen time.
The policy comes two months after a group of Bend-La Pine parents delivered a letter with 1,100 signatures to the school board, expressing a “growing concern” about the district’s reliance on iPads, apps and generative AI for education. They said the technology has gone too far, degrading learning quality and posing health and development risks for students.
It also echoes a nationwide debate over whether to limit or embrace technology in classrooms, amid an explosion of tools like generative AI and a relatively shallow body of research into how they might affect students’ education.
Brook Mues, a parent and founder of Well Wired, a group formed two years ago to advocate for technology regulation in Bend-La Pine Schools, said the coalition of parents is “absolutely thrilled” with the policy passed Tuesday.
“We’ve read other resolutions and policies from other districts and legislatures around the country, and honestly can say that this resolution passed by the school board is one of the best that we’ve seen in the country,” Mues told the Source on Thursday.
But the policy, Resolution 2013, doesn’t eliminate iPads or AI from Bend-La Pine classrooms, said Karen Rush, the district’s educational technology director. It continues the district’s shift away from “one-to-one” iPads — personally-issued devices for each student — for kindergarten through fifth grade to a communal classroom set that students don’t take home at night, Rush said.
The district first introduced iPads to classrooms more than a decade ago, but younger grades didn’t start using them until kids went back to school following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of the things we’ve heard and the research we’re seeing is having kids think about technology as a shared community resource as opposed to an individual resource,” Rush told the Source. “I think that’s something we really heard from the parents and agree with them that that’s a good way to go.”
Rush said the district is confident all the technology that’s been pushed into classrooms already meets the “evidence-based” criteria in the resolution. She said the district will perform annual checks to make sure technology still complies.
Cameron Fischer was the lone board member who voted against the policy, arguing the directives infringed on expertise of district staff without providing proper support.
Fischer said she wanted to convene the district’s technology workgroup to drill into exactly how the policy would be implemented.
“I get concerned about having a resolution and not having the wherewithal or the infrastructure to follow through,” Fischer said. “There’s a lot here.”
Lisa Birk, the district’s acting superintendent while Superintendent Steve Cook is on family leave, told the school board that district administration is on board with the new tech policy.
“All of these things I think we can make happen, I think our community is interested in,” Birk said.
‘We must act now’
Two years ago, a group of parents — including the Well Wired group — and healthcare providers first brought concerns about technology to the school board nearly two years ago. The suggestions included removing iPads from kindergarten through second grade, setting age-appropriate screen time limits and removing YouTube and game-like programs from screens. In a statement during the Tuesday meeting, Board Member Amy Tatom said many of those suggestions still hadn’t been implemented.
“We cannot risk the harms that come with unfettered tech access, nor can we stand to watch enrollment decrease because families are choosing an alternative to a screen-saturated education,” Tatom said. “I think we must act now.”
She added: “If we’ve been waiting two years for action and there has been no action; I think directing is appropriate.”
The district’s resolution links to seven recent studies — including those from the American Psychological Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics — on the link between screen time and AI on the social, emotional and physical health of children and young people.
A recent study by the Brookings Institute, a research-based think tank, found the risks of using generative AI in children’s education may overshadow the benefits.
Generative AI are programs that can create videos and images and respond to questions with human-like answers.
Another Stanford University analysis cited by the district found research has only scratched the surface of knowledge on how generative AI might affect students and teachers.
Studies also acknowledge potential benefits, like increased productivity and personalized education.
AI remains in classrooms
Bend-La Pine Schools first brough AI into classrooms several years ago with a tool called MagicSchool, a platform that helps teachers generate lesson plans and rubrics and gives students feedback on writing or help generate ideas. Meanwhile, the district has banned generative chatbots like Chat GPT and Google Gemini.
Guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education issued in 2023 state, “All students should have access to GenAI tools to ensure they have the opportunity to learn how to positively and expertly use it as they prepare for future college and career opportunities.”
Last year, Gov. Tina Kotek signed a $10 million agreement with computer chip company Nvidia to advance “AI literacy” in Oregon schools, a move that state education leaders said will prepare the next generation’s workforce how to use AI and other tech tools responsibly.
Rush, the district’s technology director, called Bend-La Pine’s approach to AI “pretty cautious.” The district has mostly left it up to teachers to decide how to use MagicSchool, while keeping it out of kindergarten through second grade classrooms.
“It’s a closed platform, we can highly control it,” Rush said, adding, “Teachers are finding it very helpful.”
Still, the platform hasn’t come without controversy. Earlier this year, MagicSchool pulled the human-like persona of a chatbot called “Raina” from its platform in school districts across the country amid widespread concern students might see it as a companion rather than a tool for learning.
While many teachers use MagicSchool, just 20% of Bend-La Pine students have used MagicSchool in classrooms, according to Rush.
“I think now we have enough data that we can start making some decisions about how we very intentionally use the program with students,” Rush said.
Rush said she feels the district’s new tech policy will help the district move forward with AI in the right way.
“AI is going to be a part of our students’ lives for their entire future,” Rush said. “We want to be able to step into the place of teaching them how to use it responsibly, how to understand the ethics and the concerns that arise. I feel like this policy really does allow us to move forward with that sort of intentional instruction piece.”
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