LAUSD limits screen time

Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, voted April 21 to require campus screen-time limits for students starting in the 2026-27 school year. (lausd.org) The 6-0 vote, with board President Scott Schmerelson recusing himself, directs district staff to bring a detailed policy back in June. Board member Nick Melvoin wrote the resolution. (nbcnews.com) The resolution calls for no student device use in early education through first grade, grade-by-grade daily and weekly limits for older students, and a ban on student-led YouTube and other video-streaming use on district devices. It also tells the district to review classroom technology contracts and spell out how parents can opt children out of school technology use. (edsource.org) Los Angeles Unified said schools would be pushed away from one-device-per-student routines in grades 2 through 5 and toward laptop carts or computer labs instead. The draft policy is also expected to bar elementary and middle school students from using devices during passing periods, lunch and recess. (k12dive.com) The shift comes six years after March 2020, when schools sent students home with laptops and tablets to keep classes running during the Covid pandemic. Melvoin said the district now has to “recalibrate” after emergency device use became a daily habit in classrooms. (cbsnews.com) Parent pressure helped drive the vote. NBC News reported that Schools Beyond Screens, a local parent group that says it has 2,000 members, spent months pressing board members after families said children were playing games, watching YouTube and losing focus on school-issued devices. (nbcnews.com) District officials and supporters tied the new limits to research cited in the resolution, including links between excessive screen use and lower attention, weaker academic performance, anxiety, depression and sleep disruption. The resolution says the June policy must be based on research and outside expert guidance by grade and subject. (nbclosangeles.com) Los Angeles Unified already tightened student device rules once in the past year. Its districtwide cellphone ban took effect Feb. 18, 2025, more than a year before California’s statewide deadline for districts to limit smartphone use by July 1, 2026. (edsource.org) If the board signs off on the full plan in June, Los Angeles Unified will start the next school year with a new rule for classroom tech: younger children off screens, older students on a clock. (nbcnews.com)