Parents & Teachers Speak Out

In the past few years, KBS has attended dozens of online safety workshops and consulted with hundreds of teachers and parents. Below are the comments received regarding personal technology in schools:

  • I oppose BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). As a former educator, I am confused and frankly disappointed that teachers and administrators at many schools in our district would not follow current research on the developmental effects of screen time on brain development in approaching teaching and learning, particularly in the elementary grades. I hope to see more authentic hands on, community based learning in all schools in the district.
  • My child’s teacher assigned her students to each upload a personal video of the child stating his personal goals for the year (with name, age, face). How do we know the platform the teacher chose will protect my child’s personal data. If Equifax can’t protect our data, how can we be sure FlipGrid or Google will?
  • I want to protect my children from all the ridiculous content out there. Anyone could show them anything on their phone during lunch and that’s not okay.
  • The benefits to limiting our kids’ exposure to screen time far outweigh the costs.
  • A health teacher’s assignment: “research a youtube video showing a form of aerobic exercise.” Do you know what you can find on youtube when you search for aerobic exercise? Next day, half naked twerk videos were shared all over school causing a huge distraction to learning.
  • Good schools in Silicon Valley have been following current research for a while now…kids learn better without devices. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/319288
  • I have heard stories of bullying, accidental (or not) exposure to porn and general wasting of teacher/class time which equates to tax payer dollars. I understand that schools can’t afford tech for all kids, but in my child’s middle school, BYOD is poorly managed, doing more harm than good.
  • My daughter is using social media all day long at school.  Policies are not being enforced.
  • I want the BYOD program removed for grades K-3.   I am the bad guy at home because I won’t let my first grader take a device to school. I want her to interact with friends and teachers at school, not a tablet.  She forgets to bring her lunchbox home, why would I trust a 7 yr old with a tablet?  I encourage schools to rethink the program
  • At my school and I’ve seen kids watch multiple Netflix videos on their phones in the back of class. The teacher says nothing because the student is quiet so she doesn’t have to discipline
  • It’s a huge safety issue as students are using devices to coordinate activities like meeting for a fight in an area of the school where there is little supervision. Or, non-students text students inside to have them open a back door to gain entry into building
  • Some students lose their phones for months for behavioral issues. I rarely know how many laptops I’ll need to plan a class assignment
  • My student couldn’t focus in class for awhile, because she received a death threat via a text message from unknown source. Apparently, there are apps that allow you to send texts from a ‘dummy’ number
  • Kids think it’s a joke to video record teachers and share embarrassing moments with friends
  • I check the battery/app usage on my son’s phone and he gets 2 hours of gaming time during each of his school days. That’s more than I allow at home
  • My son said he has several friends who are addicted to pornography and spend hours a day looking at it on their phones, or meet in groups in the school library to share videos with each other
  • She gets text messages all day on her phone, I honestly don’t know how she can concentrate on her work
  • Teachers began assigning work on apps. I felt pressured to purchase a $300 device and now I’m paying the price in more than monetary ways
  • The school didn’t teach me about the technology nor the risks of accessing harmful content, and now she’s addicted to social media. This has nearly torn apart our family. I’m so angry that educators aren’t more informed and don’t inform parents
  • The kids don’t exercise anymore. Just sit on bleachers texting/gaming
  • My child was exposed to graphic pornography on his bus by a peer’s phone, I asked the director to send a letter explaining what happened to each child’s parent.
  • Since these devices, I’ve seen a huge shift in my students…more disrespect and less empathy by far
  • Just learned that CIPA filters only filter out obscene images, not obscene audio and text. I know adolescent boys who listen to porn radio right on their school computers with their headsets, and the schools just let it happen.

If you are opposed to BYOD in schools, please sign our petition below and keep our kids safe!
https://www.change.org/p/wake-county-school-board-oppose-bring-your-own-device-byod-policy-in-wake-county-schools

If you are opposed to the National PTA accepting dirty money and partnering with social media companies like TikTok, sign this petition: https://www.change.org/p/national-pta-should-not-partner-with-tiktok