The Board of Education grappled with the district’s far-ranging draft instructional technology plan for 2026–2030 after a presentation by Director of Instructional Technology Stefanie Griffin at its March 4 meeting.
The plan, developed over five months in meetings with different school stakeholders, aims to “develop AI-readiness, including critical thinking about AI, and its ethical and safe use. The plan also identifies actions to ensure technology use is purposeful and strategic, supporting our students’ learning and wellness.”
Those were the lofty goals expressed in the PUSD draft document, but parents said they want something more immediate: to dial back the use of tech — namely Chromebooks — in classrooms.
2026-2030
“Learn to use tech, but not use tech to learn”
While applauding the district’s commitment to developing a thoughtful tech plan, parents who spoke during public comment asked the district to fast-track a tech audit, of Chromebook usage in particular, before the beginning of the next school year.
PUSD adopted Chromebooks back in 2014-2015 for a few grades in middle and high school. The pandemic cemented their usage and now students in grades 4-12 have one-to-one access to a chromebook; in sixth grade and above students take the devices home and to school, according to the district website.
Parental concerns about the laptops described at the board meeting ranged from student distraction, game-playing, and length of time on the device. (Although Chromebooks are a staple of middle and high school learning, every classroom still has a set of physical textbooks in the classrooms, Griffin said.)
Over 60 families, according to one speaker, submitted a letter to PUSD requesting a reduction in tech time in classrooms.
The Piedmont pushback mirrors a national trend: A Hechinger Report story published by The New York Times on March 10 highlighted parents around the country who are pushing school districts to set limits on the use of tech devices in schools, with varying results.
Piedmont Unplugged, a parent-led community group that seeks to delay smartphone and social media use among children and teens, successfully lobbied the school district to adopt a “no phones on campus except for lunch” policy last year.
Audit incoming
This was not an action item, but Board President Ruchi Medhekar directed Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Hawn to expedite the audit as a first step. Hawn, for her part, acknowledged the broad community interest in this topic and said she was heartened to hear from parents that they supported the review. In her 2025-2026 State of the District report, Hawn recommended that the district reconsider the extensive use of technology in every K-12 class.
“We have a lot of questions that are hard to get the answer to,” said Medhekar who said the draft was a good first pass and that an audit will help get the board the data they need to understand how technology is being used in Piedmont schools.