An audit on screen time and its impact on learning requested by the School Committee in December is on track to be released in mid-May and may inform a committee decision on limiting in-school screen use for the district’s youngest learners. A particular question is whether screen usage in elementary years should be restricted throughout the school day. A motion introduced at an April 7 meeting of the school committee was set to pause non-essential screen usage in younger classrooms until the release of the report, but was ultimately deferred to Superintendent Dave Murphy pending the audit’s release.
The report will be released in May. Murphy called it a “high quality summary” of the impact of usage across the district’s 17 schools.
The motion to pause non-essential screen use, co-sponsored by Vice-chair Caitlin Dube and Member Luisa de Paula Santos, would have applied to Kindergarten, first grade and second grade classrooms. It included exceptions for continued use of technological curriculum materials and assistive materials for students on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
Dube spoke in support of the motion, citing a January report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that found strong correlation between levels of non-educational screen time and cognitive and social-emotional delays in kids below age five. “It’s important to act with urgency for kids who are this young,” Dube said about the district’s elementary students.
Dube also tied screen-time restrictions to closing literacy gaps. Some Cambridge schools, such as Tobin Montessori, already have more restrictive screen-use policies, she noted, and the motion would standardize them across the district. While Dube did not specify the regulations implemented at Tobin Montessori, most traditional Montessori schools emphasize less than two hours of screen time a day for younger learners.
During the meeting, some committee members urged against restricting screen time without data from the superintendent. Member Hudson said the data would inform the committee as to settings where screens can be used to enrich younger education.
Hudson co-sponsored a motion at the December 2 meeting requesting that the administration quantify screen use across grades and provide a policy recommendation. The motion was passed under the previous school committee, co-sponsored also by Members Richard Harding and David Weinstein.
Requests for a report come at a time of more scrutiny against technology use in the district, and schools across the nation. For example, students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin are about to complete their first school year with bell-to-bell cell phone restrictions. The committee has discussed the use of artificial intelligence in classrooms, but has yet to issue a district-wide policy. And on April 8, the Massachusetts legislature banned social media usage for children under 14.
In addition to deferring a motion on screen-time to the administration, other decisions to come out of the April 7 meeting of the school committee include:
- The district’s budget for Fiscal Year 2027 passed 4-2-1, with Dube, Harding, Weinstein and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui voting yes, Hudson and Member Arjun Jaikumar voting no, and Santos voting present.
- The committee has established a standing School Council Working Group of representatives of caregivers and educators from councils throughout the district. The working group will collaborate with the Communications and Community Relations subcommittee. The working group was established temporarily in 2021 to draft a School Council Handbook. Tuesday’s motion is intended to connect council members with committee members, after criticism arose that many of the recommendations of the working group were not adopted into the 2023 manual, Member Luisa de Paula Santos said.
- The Harmony Academy, an independent Islamic private school for preschoolers and Kindergarteners, gained committee approval to expand instruction to later elementary grades, per Massachusetts law that requires the vote of the school committee on grade reconfiguration at local private schools.
- The superintendent will coordinate with the Cambridge Public Health Department’s Epidemiology Division to schedule a roundtable in Fall 2026 to discuss results from a Youth Risk Behavior Survey, an anonymous, voluntary survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control that collects data about student mental health, drug use and well-being.
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