BI group advocates for less tech use in schools

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Across the country, concerns surrounding technology use in schools have risen. On Bainbridge Island, Intentional Tech BI is a group of community members who have come together to advocate for less frequent use of technology in classrooms throughout the Bainbridge Island School District.

Bainbridge Island locals Jordan and Annie Cumming saw the community’s need, and now co-lead Intentional Tech BI. “Other parents had been raising the same questions and concerns we had, and friends and neighbors encouraged us to put something out there and see if it resonated,” said Jordan. “We are not anti-tech, we love our teachers, and we deeply appreciate the challenges our administrators navigate on a daily basis.”

Intentional Tech BI currently has over 400 supporters in a district of roughly 3,500 students. “The response has been good to see,” said Jordan. “It validated what we’ve been thinking; it’s a broader issue.”

BISD superintendent Amii Thompson invited the community to a meeting May 14, directly preceding the regular school board meeting, to engage on technology use at BISD.

Going into the meeting, comprehensive technology reform was Intentional Tech BI’s main goal, Jordan shared. “An intentional technology resolution built in partnership with the district would be a great outcome and can be delivered independent of the strategic plan,” he said.

Intentional Tech put together 12 questions they wished the board to address. The list was compiled using November 2025 community survey data and peer-reviewed research.

Thompson led the meeting May 14 in an open-discussion format. The room was full, Jordan told the Review, with the majority of attendees bringing along their children.

“For most parents, it ended up being pretty frustrating,” said Jordan. “There was a lot of disconnect between what parents were saying and what the district was saying. The answers to our questions are just raising more questions. We cannot seem to agree on the underlying problem.”

Thompson proposed to create a technical advisory council made up of community members to continue ongoing work in BISD to make improvements surrounding technology and screen-time use.

The Cummings have two daughters, one in first grade and one who will be in kindergarten next year. “When we started in kindergarten, we were surprised to see the big smartboard and tablets in the classroom. We asked a couple questions, and tech use kept expanding,” said Jordan. “Others had the same exact feelings across the district. One thing that’s been really interesting to me about this is a lot of people we have connected with have opted out of the public school system because of this issue. Their kids are either already in private school or in public school now and making the change, because students are losing their love of learning by having to use technology.”

Schools that Bainbridge families are turning to include The Island School, Montessori Country School, and Hyla, which all advertise as low-tech schools. “So many people want to support the public school system, that’s what they believe in,” said Jordan. “But they feel like they are being pushed away from it.”

Community Concerns

Jordan isn’t the only one who has experienced struggles with technology at BISD schools. Others have come together at recent school board meetings to share their experiences as well.

Sarah Dubitzsky, a mother of two-year-old twins and step-mom to a 2024 Bainbridge High School graduate, is also a licensed independent clinical social worker, specializing in youth mental health. “Recently, I learned that students in our district are issued tablets as early as kindergarten. As both a clinician and a mother, this stopped me in my tracks,” she shared at the April 30 school board meeting. “Given the abundance of empirical research on the impact of excessive screen use, I fail to understand the current policies and procedures that the district has in place. As a mother, it is my responsibility to protect my children and to ensure that they are growing and learning in environments that support their development.”

Another Islander shared as well at the meeting, diving into the health impacts of screen time use. “When I take my child to the pediatrician, I am asked a simple question: Does my child have one hour or less of screen time a day? I used to answer that confidently, but since my child has been enrolled in BISD, I no longer can. My six-year-old uses screens daily across multiple classrooms,” said Molly Storrs.

Similarly, James Kyle, father of a third-grader and a fifth-grader enrolled at BISD, shared concerns related to research on excessive screen time in young children. “We’ve watched their technology use increase in the schools,” he said. “As technology use has grown…so has something else, which is the research coming in showing us the impact this technology use has. The trajectory of the effect of technology has been in one direction, in the negative. The worst of those has been the one-to-one laptop programs, throwing the highest negative effect on students’ education outcomes over time, accounting for as much as a full standard deviation in their performance compared to traditional means.”

At the May 14 school board meeting, over 20 concerned Islanders returned to share public comment on their concerns surrounding technology use within BISD classrooms. Local Ryan Kilpatrick’s daughter does not attend BISD schools, mainly due to the excessive use of technology within the district, he shared. “Not all families are able to make this choice, and that is exactly why what happens in our elementary classrooms matters so much,” he said. “All children should have the opportunity to be educated in screen-free classrooms. One argument I keep hearing is that putting iPads in front of young children prepares them for the future. This is a misguided assumption. In a rapidly changing world, what is most important is we get the fundamentals right. That we teach children to read deeply, to write by hand, to focus and to think critically. Please, pass a resolution on classroom technology that commits the district to the right direction.”

The school board briefly responded after numerous public comments on the issue, stating that these came about fairly quickly and that the board is trying to be responsive and make changes.

National Tech Concerns

Similar parent-led efforts to more intentional classroom technology use are growing across Washington state as well. Seattle Public Schools currently has a comparable campaign to Intentional Tech BI with around 900 supporters in a district of roughly 49,000 students.

Nationally, Schools Beyond Screens has a directory of similar efforts, pushing for more intentional or less screentime in learning settings. Almost all of the efforts with Schools Beyond Screens show recent actions, with technology changes within schools being enacted or approved in March or later this year.

Since January, Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia have passed legislation to reevaluate technology’s role in educational instruction. More than 10 other states are considering similar restrictions this spring.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is looking to make a major pushback on technology use, with a vote to limit screen time and a June deadline for LAUSD administrators to craft an official policy.

BISD’s Strategic Plan

BISD is transitioning from its 2020-2025 Improvement Plan to a new five-year Strategic Plan, aiming to guide district resources and educational goals, with a heavy emphasis on integrating technology to support learning.

This includes a one-to-one device program, where students are provided with Chromebooks for both use at school and home, but it is one of the largest concerns for BISD parents. There is also a Digital Safety Campaign outlined in the plan, which is a student-created media campaign focused on the safe and responsible use of technology.

Content filtering is also a part of the plan, which is district-enforced content filters that remain active on take-home devices, restricting access to unauthorized sites even when off-campus. Lastly, support and infrastructure with the Technology Department at BISD provides a dedicated staff help desk and department home page for parents, students and staff to handle device maintenance and issues.

Intentional Tech BI has requested that BISD take action on limiting screen time or creating space for more intentional technology use within classrooms, separate from its Strategic Plan, which the school board will vote on at its May 28 meeting.

“There is definitely some tension,” said Jordan. “At the start, we were very focused on the Strategic Plan, and integrating technology use in that plan; now we are less focused on that, and now we are asking for an independent resolution on technology.”