Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) held a regular board meeting this Tuesday. Points of contention during public comment and board member discussions centered around the use of tablets and other personal devices in Beverly Hills classrooms and an increase in class sizes at the newly constructed El Rodeo Elementary. 

The Board was set to vote on an item approving a $60,000 purchase of new iPads for Horace Mann Elementary and El Rodeo Elementary. Parents joined the meeting to object to the purchase, expressing concern about the effect of excess screen time on the developing minds of their students. 

Dr. Jane Tavyev Asher, Director of the Division of Child Neurology and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at Cedars Sinai spoke to her expertise. “There is a critical window of development for reading and writing in early elementary school and preschool,” Dr. Tavyev Asher said, adding that reading from a screen compared to a physical book or piece of paper causes “Completely different development of brain pathways” and that tablets hamper handwriting development. She argued that excess screen time can stunt students’ love of learning. 

Other speakers voiced similar concerns. Dr. Aaron Reitman recalled the district’s recent history. During the pandemic, he noted, BHUSD had no choice but to rely on screen-mediated instruction. He recommended the Board schedule a study session to further discuss the use of these technologies in school. 

A small child named Jordan also gave her two cents. The elementary school student spoke out against i-Ready, a tablet-based program that assesses students’ math and reading and then provides instruction. Jordan told the Board: “My whole class doesn’t like i-Ready. They try to make it fun, but it’s not fun.” 

Jordan wasn’t the only speaker with objections to the teaching tool. Rochelle, a parent of a 4th grader, criticized the district’s purchase of the program and the amount of time students had to spend on the tablet. “Where are we gonna put our money? Into technology, or human beings?” 

During the board discussion, a few board members expressed their distaste for screen time in school and questioned the district’s need for new iPads. Board Member Judy Manouchehri echoed parents’ opinions that iPads weren’t a necessity for the TK-second-grade students at the elementary schools. Assistant Superintendents Raphael Gusman and Dr. Dustin Seemann were on hand to answer questions and provide context for the proposed purchase. Dr. Seemann held that the iPads, while being especially useful for students in English Language services and special education, were not central to daily education at BHUSD. Seemann said the district’s youngest learners in particular had minimal interactions with screens. “We are still teaching handwriting. We’re one of the few districts that’s still teaching it,” Seemann said. “We still focus on play-based learning and building relationships.” 

Gusman told the Board that the iPad purchase was part of the district’s regular upkeep. The ratio of personal devices to students at BHUSD is already one-to-one – these new iPads would simply replace older models in the district. Speaking to community concerns, Gusman emphasized that the purchase itself didn’t foreclose the possibility of reconsidering the specific usage of iPads in schools. Board President Dr. Amanda Stern concurred, adding that the current conversation related more to curriculum than budget. Board Member Noah Margo said it was better to have the technology on hand when it was needed. “Our classrooms are not technology-based,” he said. He invited his fellow board members to visit BH schools and see how little devices were used in class. 

The board approved the iPad purchase, with Manouchehri as the only vote against it. 

Another issue raised at the board meeting was the expected class size increase at Hawthorne-El Rodeo Elementary. Hawthorne Elementary will be moving to the newly constructed El Rodeo Elementary next year. Parents were informed that a 4th-grade teacher would be leaving in the interim, causing the three remaining teachers to take on more students. The new student-to-teacher ratio for incoming 4th graders at El Rodeo will be 29:1, just under the maximum limit in California. Similar to their iPad objections, parents argued that larger class sizes would inhibit student social and academic development.

Parents and community members noted that the 4th-grade class in question was already known to have behavioral issues. Carol, a grandparent and former teacher, reminded the board that the incoming 4th graders were in kindergarten at the beginning of the pandemic. The pandemic set them back, she said, and class size increases would only worsen the problem. Sam, parent to an El Rodeo student, said the change from 19-20 students per teacher to 29 equaled a 38 percent increase in class sizes. Arguing that larger class sizes inversely affected test scores, he said that a 38 percent decrease in scores would turn “‘A’ students into ‘D Minus’ students at best.” 

Parents also expressed concern for students and teachers who would lose opportunities to connect. One parent offered to donate “More than their share” to hire another 4th-grade teacher and keep the school’s current class sizes manageable. The board did not discuss these concerns in their remarks later.

Photo by Thescarletpimpernelgentleman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.