Family & Education

‘An existential issue’: MoCo school board, parent advocates encourage examination of student screen time

School board member proposes technology use audit

By

Ashlyn Campbell

June 16, 2026 9:47 a.m.

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Ashley Bowers was shocked when her son, a Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) first grader, described using Google to search for horror video games during school hours. Then she found that she could access websites and photos on such topics as sex and mature video games on his school issued computer.  

“It’s just horrifying,” Bowers told Bethesda Today. “Any elementary school student having access to Google AI answers, I think, is shocking. There are so many websites that [are] completely inappropriate, and I can’t think of any educational value to have Cosmopolitan magazine be accessible.” Bowers concerns about access to inappropriate content, along with other parents concerns about the impact of screen time on education, spurred a recent resolution from the school board to examine just how much screen time MCPS students are getting.  

“For us, this is an existential issue,” Betsy Tao, chair of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA) technology committee, told Bethesda Today last week.  “This is not just about a handful of kids. This is about all kids, and not just about kids in schools, but about really where our country’s going.”  

Parent advocacy  

Tao is among a group of parents who have been advocating for the stricter regulation of screen time for months. In January, MCCPTA  released a report on a survey of MCPS caregivers, students, teachers and administrators. More than 70% of the roughly 1,000 respondents thought there was too much overall use of Chromebooks and more than 70% of respondents also had concerns about the way Chromebooks were used.  

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For Tao and MCPS parent Marissa Walker who assisted with the report, the concerns boil down to two things: general learning distractions and access to inappropriate content.  

“It’s actually like taking that piece of paper for homework … and putting it inside a comic book and a Playboy, and at an arcade, and with the TV on, and with their friends gossiping loudly and passing notes around them,” Walker told Bethesda Today.  

According to the report, many parents and caregivers said that they witnessed their students using Chromebooks for things such as gaming, internet browsing, non-academic videos and talking with their peers.  

Even when some topics or websites are banned, Walker said kids see the ban as a challenge.  

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“When it gets to be many, many people are engaging with something harmful, it’s because there’s a systemic problem,” Walker said. “Especially when you’re talking about children, the idea is not personal responsibility or badness. We should be providing them a safe environment for learning. That’s so baseline what schools are meant to do.” 

After the report, the MCCPTA passed a resolution in January urging MCPS to conduct a “tech audit” where some teachers and students track tech use for a set period to get an honest picture of tech use. It also called for MCPS to develop guidelines around use of Artificial Intelligence and formalize a process for families to request non-screen alternatives. 

The school board passed a policy in May addressing use of AI, but Tao said it “fails as a piece of policy” because it doesn’t provide guidance for drafting regulations for MCPS. So, Tao discussed proposing another resolution with board member Julie Yang.  

“The work that we’ve been doing to ask questions in a different way gets at recognizing the downsides of tech,” Tao said.  

MoCo school board resolution 

On June 4, Yang proposed a resolution for a technology audit to examine student screen time and use of digital tools. The resolution calls for a report that quantifies daily and weekly screen time for elementary and middle school students during the school day. It also calls for assessing whether there are opportunities to reduce screen time and the effectiveness of content filters. The new resolution will sit with the school board until a vote on June 25 to move forward with the proposal.  

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Yang told Bethesda Today that she wants to ensure that the district is intentional about how technology is used.  

“We also want to know, actually, whether technology is improving learning, and whether we have the right balance between the screen time or hands-on learning,” Yang said.  

The resolution follows advocacy from around the country pushing for limits on screen time.  

On May 20, the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General recommended that schools limit screen time for students and pushed for more physical textbooks and other curriculum. Then on May 27, Randi Weingarten, president of the teachers union the American Federation of Teachers, said students are “drowning in tech” and called for limits on technology in schools.  

“I am not calling for an AI ban or a Chromebook bonfire,” she said, according to NBC News. “What I am calling for is getting the balance right to harness the benefits of technology while mitigating the harms.” 

Several districts and states across the country have also created policy limiting screen time including Los Angeles, Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia, according to NPR. 

While Tao said she was grateful the resolution acknowledges some harms of technology and advocates for a tech audit, she said she was hopeful the district utilizes IT tools to do a robust audit, rather than just asking school administrators. 

“The resolution does not ask for more beyond that which other school districts do, so that’s work we will continue to have to do in our advocacy,” Tao said in a Thursday email to Bethesda Today. “Also, I would have liked to see AI addressed in this resolution, given that there is no evidence that AI is helpful for learning and quite a bit of evidence to the contrary, and yet it’s all over school devices.”  

Walker wants MCPS parents to know that they see their struggle when trying to regulate their student’s screen time.  

“Parents of all walks like know there’s a problem, and try very hard to limit screens in their own home,” Walker said. “The one Achilles’ heel is the MCPS Chromebooks.”  

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine