Hello Edison Parents

I am sure you all have noticed by now that our kids in Elementary and Middle schools within our schools are spending most of their school day on Chromebooks. A bunch of concerned parents from our school district think that it is not only too early to introduce technology to the kids, especially elementary school kids but is contrary to what a school should be. The more and more we discuss about this, our concern continues to grow. Here are few key things we noticed so far

1. Elementary including 2nd grade kids live on Chromebooks through out the school day. They are also asked to do their home works on Chromebooks.
2. Kids are already spending lot of time on phones and tablets when they are at home. Having the kids spend 3-4 hours a day on Chromebooks is not only counter productive but poses a risk to their well being.
3. There are no text books any more in the elementary school. Parents have no visibility on what is happening in the school and have no way to help them practice at home
4. Majority of the teaching is done thru online videos. The new Math Program they have (Ten Marks) is an online program and teachers play the video that explains the concept to the kids
5. Social studies is made as part of English with an idea that students will learn the subjects together, but it is not possible to teach 2 concepts together. Teachers end up focusing more on English with less importance to Social Studies, which makes it non-existent
6. Technology by nature reduces social interactions. Students should be encouraged to interact with other students and importantly with teachers. Staying immersed in Chromebooks and Google Apps is not helpful.
7. Kids have literally stopped learning to write. We should not be surprised if in a few years handwriting becomes one of those art classes.

We as tax payers have right to raise our concerns to the School district before it is too late. Please invite your friends who are in agreement with us to join this group and we will collectively come up with a plan to address this issue. We realize we will not be able to fully eliminate the use of Chromebooks in schools but the goal should be to significantly reduce it. To that end, we demand

1. Students should not be subjected to Chromebooks for more than 1 hour a day
2. Teachers should not rely purely on online videos and digital instruction material for teaching. Youtube videos and online tutorials are good aids but they should not be the primary source of teaching material

The goal of this petition is to secure enough votes for us to go in front of the school board and demand reduction in the time Chromebooks are used in schools.

Thanks

Concerned Parents !