Students led the San Mateo-Foster City School District's first Technology Use Advisory meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Sunnybrae Elementary.
Members of the Empowering Student Voices (ESV) Council facilitated the gathering, guiding families, educators and community members through small-group discussions about how screens affect learning, according to a district post published Wednesday, Oct. 21.
"Please follow our directions and help us make room for every voice," Bruce, a Bowditch Middle School student, told the room as he opened the session, according to the district.
After two preparation sessions at the district office, students took responsibility for presentations, small-group discussions and recording participants’ comments. They asked participants to examine when technology benefits students and when it gets in the way.
According to the district, participants examined materials from organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, Stanford and the California Department of Education. Student facilitators encouraged them to evaluate the scope and limitations of the research.
The district summarized the discussions as favoring decisions based on how a tool is used, whether it suits a child’s age and which other activities it might replace.
The district also pointed to changes already introduced this fall: shared Chromebook carts replaced individually assigned devices for transitional kindergarten through second grade, while kindergarten through fifth-grade math instruction began prioritizing printed materials.
The district described its approach as "intentional use, not elimination."
Superintendent Diego Ochoa announced the Technology Use Task Force (TUTF) in an August letter to families, calling for teachers, staff, students and parents to help shape recommendations grounded in research and data.
The task force's work spans seven months, with recommendations for the Board of Trustees to consider for implementation beginning in 2027-28, according to the district's task force webpage.
The district said written feedback from the Oct. 20 meeting would inform the task force’s work, which continues Nov. 9. It also directed families to the task force webpage for the research discussed at the meeting and accompanying summaries.
