Re-evaluate Technology Use in Prospect Heights District 23
Re-evaluate Technology Use in Prospect Heights District 23
The Issue
Note: Please sign only if you are a current or incoming D23 parent, guardian or care-giver.
To: Prospect Heights School District 23 Board and Administration
As parents we want our children to think clearly, read deeply, write persuasively, and develop the habits of mind needed to contribute meaningfully to the wider world. Core to our beliefs is that the neuroscience of learning requires effort, focus and time - school issued devices create the illusion of "learning" through ease, engagement and entertainment - this is NOT learning. We believe human connection, conversation, and play matter more than screen time. We believe that technology has a place in education, but it should never replace real and effective teaching.
We are concerned with technology use in D23. Students are required to use district-issued devices far too often throughout the school day - measured in hours, especially when the device is an iPad. The district has numerous EdTech products, yet has no meaningful way to measure how much screen time students are actually accumulating. We are asking for screen use to be measured, capped and for all EdTech products to be re-evaluated for their learning purpose and effectiveness.
Research is clear: reading comprehension is worse on screens than on paper. Handwritten notes produce better recall and more durable learning than typed ones. Handwriting builds fine motor skills linked to stronger reading development. Most EdTech products - particularly those involving passive consumption - are not educationally beneficial. They are marketed as engagement tools when in fact, they are engineered for addiction, producing learning that is slower, shallower and less transferable. Reliance on screen learning leads to lower academic achievement, attention and focus issues, cognitive decline, increased anxiety, vision problems, and delays in executive functioning.
These devices are also not safe. Students are exposed to inappropriate content through YouTube, sidebar ads and the screens of distracted classmates. Games - some containing highly inappropriate content - are a constant distraction. The district can block a game one week only for a new link-based version to appear the next. We do not blame the teachers - their job is to teach, not police device compliance. We do not blame the children. Handing adolescents with limited impulse control an iPad and expecting them to use it only as intended is naive. Devices in the hands of most people, including adults are primarily seen as a mix of multitasking and entertaining, not sustained thinking. Additionally, tech companies collect children’s data for profit. If the district cannot protect students from unsafe content and data harvesting, these devices should not be used or even required.
We want:
Teachers to deliver lessons - not play YouTube videos
Students to read and write to their teachers - not to AI chatbots
Research done with printed materials - not across multiple apps
Notes taken by hand on paper - not in Google Docs
First drafts written on paper - not auto-corrected in Google Docs
Flashcards for recall - not gamified badge-and-points apps
Devices stored at school in carts or labs - not sitting on students' desks
Students to use effort - not AI
We welcome technology education - STEM, coding, digital art. We support purposeful technology for students with IEPs and 504 plans. We understand that state testing requires digital use, but we also know that these tests do not require digital classrooms and that more screen use does not improve test performance. But we did not agree to education through technology.
We are asking District 23 Board and Administration to implement a policy with the following considerations:
1) Pause all adoptions and implementations of new EdTech and generative AI tools and require all EdTech products to meet independent standards for efficacy, and to prove that any benefits outweigh potential risks. Question to consider:
- Does the EdTech tool have a clear learning goal that couldn't be achieved without it? Is it supported with independent research? For example, i-Ready has NO independent research to prove it efficacy and yet students are required to use it for both math and reading. The school spends thousands of dollars on EdTech without knowing if these tools help our students. The research shows that digital learning hurts student cognitive development.
- Does the technology reshape our kids to serve the tool? Parents have identified wasteful time students are required to digitally submit math answers to fit Schoology's format, instead of a student’s submitting their analog work and having a teacher see their learning process.
2) Create clear pathways for parents and students who wish to opt out of device-based instruction, without penalty or reprisal, providing low-tech alternatives.
- Keep iPads at school and use ONLY when necessary for purposeful instruction.
- Eliminate all device use for TK - 2.
- Limit 1:1 device uses for 3 - 8, to when it is instructionally necessary and considered best practice.
- Require explicit parental consent for each app that collects data, per FTC guidelines on COPPA.
3)Transparency in technology use in schools both on devices and in teacher led instruction.
- Prohibit all student device use during passing periods, lunch, and recess, including EDP. (We are done having iPads substitute for real connections among students and staff).
- Block student access to YouTube, as well as all gaming, video-streaming and social media on student devices.
- Prohibit screen time from being used as a reward, incentive, or behavioral reinforcement for students. Require all apps used for instruction or on school issued devices to be ad-free.
- Disable student access to any generative AI tools, apps, websites, and software on all school-issued devices until this technology has been independently proven safe, legal, and effective, and until age-appropriate guidelines are established.
4) Restore and prioritize analog learning - handwriting, printed homework, books for reading, paper drafts, posters and live instruction must remain preferential in all curriculum and instruction decisions made by teachers and administrators in D23.
Adolescence only happens once. Please sign today to help ensure our children's education is not sacrificed to an EdTech experiment.
For updates on this issue and more please join our Facebook Group D23 Parent Coalition for Healthy Learning. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DgAidEmLG/
Resources and Additional Reading:
Horvath, J. C. (2026). The digital delusion: How classroom technology harms our kids’ learning—and how to help them thrive again. Jared Cooney Horvath.
https://thedigitaldelusion.substack.com/
https://www.schoolsbeyondscreens.com/
https://thescreentimeconsultant.com/resources/essays/the-6-myths-of-edtech
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/sweden-went-all-in-on-screens-in
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/schools-phone-screens-technology-research-c268bda5
288
The Issue
Note: Please sign only if you are a current or incoming D23 parent, guardian or care-giver.
To: Prospect Heights School District 23 Board and Administration
As parents we want our children to think clearly, read deeply, write persuasively, and develop the habits of mind needed to contribute meaningfully to the wider world. Core to our beliefs is that the neuroscience of learning requires effort, focus and time - school issued devices create the illusion of "learning" through ease, engagement and entertainment - this is NOT learning. We believe human connection, conversation, and play matter more than screen time. We believe that technology has a place in education, but it should never replace real and effective teaching.
We are concerned with technology use in D23. Students are required to use district-issued devices far too often throughout the school day - measured in hours, especially when the device is an iPad. The district has numerous EdTech products, yet has no meaningful way to measure how much screen time students are actually accumulating. We are asking for screen use to be measured, capped and for all EdTech products to be re-evaluated for their learning purpose and effectiveness.
Research is clear: reading comprehension is worse on screens than on paper. Handwritten notes produce better recall and more durable learning than typed ones. Handwriting builds fine motor skills linked to stronger reading development. Most EdTech products - particularly those involving passive consumption - are not educationally beneficial. They are marketed as engagement tools when in fact, they are engineered for addiction, producing learning that is slower, shallower and less transferable. Reliance on screen learning leads to lower academic achievement, attention and focus issues, cognitive decline, increased anxiety, vision problems, and delays in executive functioning.
These devices are also not safe. Students are exposed to inappropriate content through YouTube, sidebar ads and the screens of distracted classmates. Games - some containing highly inappropriate content - are a constant distraction. The district can block a game one week only for a new link-based version to appear the next. We do not blame the teachers - their job is to teach, not police device compliance. We do not blame the children. Handing adolescents with limited impulse control an iPad and expecting them to use it only as intended is naive. Devices in the hands of most people, including adults are primarily seen as a mix of multitasking and entertaining, not sustained thinking. Additionally, tech companies collect children’s data for profit. If the district cannot protect students from unsafe content and data harvesting, these devices should not be used or even required.
We want:
Teachers to deliver lessons - not play YouTube videos
Students to read and write to their teachers - not to AI chatbots
Research done with printed materials - not across multiple apps
Notes taken by hand on paper - not in Google Docs
First drafts written on paper - not auto-corrected in Google Docs
Flashcards for recall - not gamified badge-and-points apps
Devices stored at school in carts or labs - not sitting on students' desks
Students to use effort - not AI
We welcome technology education - STEM, coding, digital art. We support purposeful technology for students with IEPs and 504 plans. We understand that state testing requires digital use, but we also know that these tests do not require digital classrooms and that more screen use does not improve test performance. But we did not agree to education through technology.
We are asking District 23 Board and Administration to implement a policy with the following considerations:
1) Pause all adoptions and implementations of new EdTech and generative AI tools and require all EdTech products to meet independent standards for efficacy, and to prove that any benefits outweigh potential risks. Question to consider:
- Does the EdTech tool have a clear learning goal that couldn't be achieved without it? Is it supported with independent research? For example, i-Ready has NO independent research to prove it efficacy and yet students are required to use it for both math and reading. The school spends thousands of dollars on EdTech without knowing if these tools help our students. The research shows that digital learning hurts student cognitive development.
- Does the technology reshape our kids to serve the tool? Parents have identified wasteful time students are required to digitally submit math answers to fit Schoology's format, instead of a student’s submitting their analog work and having a teacher see their learning process.
2) Create clear pathways for parents and students who wish to opt out of device-based instruction, without penalty or reprisal, providing low-tech alternatives.
- Keep iPads at school and use ONLY when necessary for purposeful instruction.
- Eliminate all device use for TK - 2.
- Limit 1:1 device uses for 3 - 8, to when it is instructionally necessary and considered best practice.
- Require explicit parental consent for each app that collects data, per FTC guidelines on COPPA.
3)Transparency in technology use in schools both on devices and in teacher led instruction.
- Prohibit all student device use during passing periods, lunch, and recess, including EDP. (We are done having iPads substitute for real connections among students and staff).
- Block student access to YouTube, as well as all gaming, video-streaming and social media on student devices.
- Prohibit screen time from being used as a reward, incentive, or behavioral reinforcement for students. Require all apps used for instruction or on school issued devices to be ad-free.
- Disable student access to any generative AI tools, apps, websites, and software on all school-issued devices until this technology has been independently proven safe, legal, and effective, and until age-appropriate guidelines are established.
4) Restore and prioritize analog learning - handwriting, printed homework, books for reading, paper drafts, posters and live instruction must remain preferential in all curriculum and instruction decisions made by teachers and administrators in D23.
Adolescence only happens once. Please sign today to help ensure our children's education is not sacrificed to an EdTech experiment.
For updates on this issue and more please join our Facebook Group D23 Parent Coalition for Healthy Learning. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DgAidEmLG/
Resources and Additional Reading:
Horvath, J. C. (2026). The digital delusion: How classroom technology harms our kids’ learning—and how to help them thrive again. Jared Cooney Horvath.
https://thedigitaldelusion.substack.com/
https://www.schoolsbeyondscreens.com/
https://thescreentimeconsultant.com/resources/essays/the-6-myths-of-edtech
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/sweden-went-all-in-on-screens-in
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/schools-phone-screens-technology-research-c268bda5
288
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on May 10, 2026