BYO Technology to School—For YouTube?

With the Bernards Township school district's initiative going full swing in the new year, some parents complained Monday to the that the student-owned technology devices are not quite being used as planned.

"A lot of parents say disruptions are taking place in classrooms with Smartphones," said Reena Pichamuthu, adding she has heard of problems from "so many parents."

Among issues she said she has heard about is cheating going on in class with use of the phones. Pichamuthu suggested each teacher should have the right to decide whether such technology devices are working in individual classrooms.

"I am against phones," she added.

The district launched its Bring Your Own Technology in the middle of this school year, with school officials noting that most students already own some sort of wireless-enabled device that they should be able to bring from home in lieu of having the school pay for them.

Brian Heineman, the district's supervisor of science and technology, last fall recommended the new policy on the basis that it would cost about $500 per student to provide mobile technology when most students in grades 6 to 12 already own smart phones, iPads or similar devices.

The district's director of curriculum, Sean Siet, said at Monday's board meeting that school officials are in the process of developing a survey to ask teachers to convey how the use of Bring Your Own Technology is going in classrooms.

"We will reassess based on the survey," he told the board.

Parent Laura Begg—who raised the subject at the board meeting—noted what she said she considers several drawbacks.

"Inviting technology with Internet access from home has obvious issues," she said, mentioning inequities of technology among students, and also the possibility of theft or breakage of personally owned devices.

But Begg said she considers the main issue to be that the policy overrides parental discretion over whether their children should have Internet-enabled personal technology.

She said she specifically doesn't support the use of technology for middle school students. She said allowing an 11-year-old sixth-grader bring techology to school creates peer pressure and also endorses the belief that a student that age should have access to such technology. Begg said her own children don't have Smartphones because she would prefer them to have Internet access on a computer, "where I can see it."

Begg said students already have been using the phones to take photos in school, text and call up YouTube videos while in the classroom. Her comments gained applause at the meeting.

The school's stated policy on BYOT is that personal technology may not be used for purposes that are found to be disruptive in school.

Of the concerns raised last fall was that students who don't own such technology would be at a disadvantage.

"If personal technology is used as an aid to classroom instruction, students without access to those devices will not be penalized," the policy states.

Heineman suggested in his previous presentation that sharing, collaborative class projects or allowing students without such technology to use technology devices already owned by the school would address the issue of "haves and have nots."

The district's more recently devised a written Bring Your Own Technology policy, which parents have been asked to sign, also states that students would bring their own personal technology into school at their own risk.

"No searches or investigations will be conducted for lost or stolen devices," the policy said. "The district does not guarantee access to district provided internet access on personal devices. A student is solely responsible for all charges incurred by usage at anytime."

Whether or not they have their own devices, students are expected to handle their technology following the same rules of inappropriate behavior and content as if they were using the district's technology, the policy states.

Students who use their devices in an inappropriate manner are solely responsible for the consequences of that behavior, the policy states.

The district technology staff will not provide students with support for how to use their own devices, the policy said.

Begg also objected to the name of BYOT, which she said shouldn't be used by a school district trying to be anti-alcohol.