Student classroom screen time will be cut way back under a resolution approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Education, a hard turn from years-long initiatives that provided each student with their own school-issued computer while continually expanding their use.

The move responds to growing parent opposition to heavy screen time and puts L.A. Unified on the leading edge of the anti-screen movement in California — just as the district was when it banned students’ use of cellphones at school.

Experts have linked excessive screen time to academic, physical and emotional harm, with the research focusing mainly on screen time outside of schoolwork — time students spend on phones and computers absorbed in gaming and scrolling through videos and social media.

Tuesday’s action not only authorized a ban or limitations on student access to YouTube and gaming platforms Roblox and Fortnite, but it also focused heavily on screen time racked up with actual schoolwork.

“A child sitting in front of a screen for hours is not getting better education simply because the content is online,” said school board member Nick Melvoin, the original author of the resolution.

The vote was 6 to 0. School board President Scott Schmerelson recused himself because he owns technology stocks.

Under the board motion, students will be kept away entirely from screens until the second grade, and after that, screen time will be tracked and limited.

The resolution also directs administrators to guide teachers toward more “paper and pen assignments.”

Melvoin said he anticipates key elements to be in effect by the fall, including the screen ban until second grade. Acting Supt. Andres Chait said school staff members have already been at work on developing the policy in expectation of the board’s direction.

The Los Angeles Unified School District joins educators and lawmakers in more than a dozen other states that are weighing legislation or have already taken action.

In March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill requiring the state education board to “create a model policy on balanced technology use in the classroom” by December that takes into consideration “developmental appropriateness” and that “prohibits instructional technology practices that undermine student safety, privacy or well-being.”

For kindergarten through third grade, for example, the new Utah law prohibits taking home a school computer. In addition, all screen time is banned except for academic instruction in computer science and for state assessments. Alabama lawmakers also have enacted screen time limitations.

A small number of school districts have acted on their own, with some in Connecticut blocking or limiting students’ YouTube access. In California, San Marcos has blocked YouTube access for elementary students. Starting this year, Fresno elementary students returned their take‑home laptops, with computer access shifting to in class only.

How we got here

For years, L.A. Unified, like other large urban districts, was playing catch-up in technology. An early major donor of computers was businessman Richard Riordan, who served two terms as L.A.’s mayor.

In 2013, then-Supt. John Deasy was determined to provide every student with an iPad, but that costly project fell apart. Even so, the spread of technology continued — generally with Chromebooks going to older students and iPads for the youngest.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to yearlong campus closures starting in March 2020. Suddenly, technology for all was essential. All students took home computers; many were provided with internet access.

The emerging pushback against technology is a necessary rebalancing in the wake of the pandemic, Melvoin said.

Board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin agreed.

“This isn’t a pendulum swing backward,” Franklin said. “It is expanding our knowledge, because when you know better, you do better.”

The issue was raised repeatedly by a small group of tech-skeptical parents whose numbers have grown rapidly.

“It wasn’t clear at first how parents seeing the harms of tech products firsthand would find common ground with district leadership promoting the use of these products,” said Bridie Lee, a parent at Ivanhoe Elementary in Silver Lake. “We spent a lot of time sharing mountains of research on these issues and encouraging parents to share their experiences.”

Board member Karla Griego singled out the parents for praise.

“It was you who brought it forth,” she said. “You are the reason why we are here today.”

Details of the resolution

The board resolution states: “While access to and developing skills in technology are critical in a digital world, excessive screen time can be associated with vision problems, increased anxiety and depression, addictive behavior, reduced attention span, difficulty managing emotions, lower academic achievement, and weaker cognition.”

Much policy work remains to be done. The resolution, for instance, directs staff to “provide expected and maximum daily and weekly screen time limits for students delineated by grade level. (e.g., no more than one hour total a day or 5 total hours per week for 3-5th graders).”

The resolution stops short of suggesting precisely what those limits should be. Melvoin acknowledged that valuable education resources can be found on popular social media and YouTube.

“I want to respect teachers as professionals, and there’s a lot of great instructional content on YouTube,” Melvoin said in an interview. “But there are three concerns I have with YouTube for students. One is it’s just more time on a screen. Two is the ads, and three is the auto play, and kind of the algorithm and the rabbit hole you can go down.”

A new focus on tracking screen time also is an element of the plan.

An L.A. Unified spokesperson said recently that elementary school students average between 31 and 50 minutes of screen time a day in the classroom, adding that the district works with schools to ensure they are using technology responsibly and effectively. The use of one-to-one devices is left to the discretion of each school.

Melvoin questions whether the district is currently able to track a student’s total screen time across all platforms.

There’s also a back-to-the-future aspect of the policy.

The resolution could mean resurrecting less-accessible computer labs to replace the current standard of a computer for every student. Computer labs were eliminated years ago for being out of date and educationally inadequate for a student’s daily academic needs.

In this pushback against devices, the district would “encourage schools to utilize laptop carts and/or computer labs for second through fifth grade.”

Moreover, the resolution would “prohibit elementary and middle school student device use during passing periods, lunch, and recess with limited exceptions for teacher-approved school work.”

Also in the board motion is a call for a cost-benefit analysis, a “comprehensive itemized report of contracts related to classroom technology — broken down by central office purchased and school purchased — including but not limited to the purchase, maintenance, and upkeep of one-to-one digital devices, software, digital tools, and applications.”

The list of harms noted in the resolution is long, with cited sources including the American Academy of Pediatrics and a federal study that found that, as of December 2023, “one-half of teenagers ages 12-17 had four hours or more of daily screen time.”

The resolution also notes: “Addiction-like use of short-form video content — including YouTube and social media platforms — are correlated with higher levels of social anxiety among adolescents. The earlier age of first use and higher frequency of usage are significantly associated with increased emotional and behavioral issues and most negatively impacts middle school students.”