Skip to main contentThe Portland School Board’s policy committee on Tuesday discussed a draft of a districtwide screen time policy that if approved would, in some cases, significantly reduce the amount of time students in grades K–8 spend in front of screens.
The draft policy up for discussion is one driven by advocates from Portland’s chapter of Schools Beyond Screens, a national coalition to restrict smartphone use. The policy would ban students between kindergarten and second grade from using screens during the school day, while restricting students in grades 3 through 8 to using screens only in “centralized” locations, like a computer lab.
The policy suggests elementary schoolers with access to screens spend no more than 20 minutes on them each day, middle schoolers not exceed 45 minutes per subject each week, and high schoolers not exceed an hour per subject each week. The policy expands Portland Public Schools’ cellphone policy by applying screen time limits to all types of devices, and also looks to limit the use of apps to ones the district approves, restricting access to noninstructional platforms.
The policy committee’s discussion of such a proposal is just the beginning of board efforts to regulate screen time at the district; a work plan indicates the board could develop a policy through November.
Regulating screen time appears to be a top priority for the School Board’s seven members. The three members of the policy committee—Patte Sullivan, Virginia La Forte, and Stephanie Engelsman—all largely approved of the policy put forth by the parent advocacy group. Board members were particularly interested in ensuring that parent advocates coordinate with educators across the district to ensure the policy doesn’t disrupt teachers’ ability to instruct.
“I’m glad that we’re here doing this,” said Engelsman, the chair of the committee. “I know the entire board is excited to do something.”
District officials had little to say on the draft policy on Tuesday, noting they’d received a draft just the week prior and hadn’t done a detailed review of it yet. A more thorough discussion is slated for October.
Part of the draft policy worth flagging surrounds accountability and tracking of student screen time across the district. Last spring, district leaders had a limited-at-best understanding of how frequently students were resorting to screens at their schools. The policy asks that, when a screen time policy is implemented, PPS provide an annual report to the board detailing screen time data compared to policy goals, platforms it has in use, and any digital or artificial intelligence curriculum.
As WW reported in July, district officials expect elementary school students use screens for about five hours each month, maximum. That wasn’t the reality for at least a few students, some of whom used screens for up to four hours a day in their classrooms.
The policy committee on Tuesday also discussed the development of an AI curriculum, though there were few concrete details. Board members emphasized the need to regulate AI at the high school level specifically. More details about the current state of AI will be available in an audit related to the matter that board members requested in June. That audit should be available in October, La Forte said.
