Chris Motika posed a question to a room of New Hampshire educators and parents Wednesday: Had classroom time on computer screens made students more digitally skilled and less socially connected? Heads nodded and hands went up. Moika, an administrator with the state Department of Education, asked why.
“I think people sometimes argue that technology helps connect, but we have a ton of kids that are unable to matriculate into college, that are unable to have conversations with adults, unable to advocate for themselves,” said Amanda Downing, the principal of Russell Elementary School in Rumney. “We have a real deficit in those skills.”
Downing is a member of the state Department of Education’s new task force charged with learning how screens are being used at school and addressing concerns over digital technology in classrooms. The group hopes to craft recommendations for schools and policy makers by its final meeting in September.
It follows a 2025 state law that prohibits the use of cellphones in New Hampshire classrooms.
The initiative is in line with a national “ed-tech backlash” movement, and other states are taking a similar approach. And on Thursday, the Trump administration released its own recommendations.
“I think that people have recognized that maybe [with] technology in certain cases there's just been too much of it in the classroom,” said Moika, who is leading the task force for the Department of Education. “Our goal is to make sure that whatever we recommend is something that's palatable to everyone… but is really focused in on trying to help and improve students learning.”
The questions generated in the conversation at Wednesday’s meeting indicated just how challenging that could be. How do you create a standard set of recommendations that also give local school officials discretion to adapt it to their needs? Should a policy recommend schools limit how much time students are on screens or instead the type of content they access digitally? And who enforces the policy inside schools?
“I certainly hope that we don't continue to make laws that put so much burden on the classroom teacher,” said Bedford Superintendent Michael Fournier.
Chris Sousa, principal of Epping Elementary School, had another concern.
“You can't just say we're going to do less of something without teaching the kids why and the dangers of that and what's happening with it,” Sousa said. “Digital citizenship has to start early and often.”
The 32-member task force includes parents, classroom teachers, school administrators, two lawmakers, and a student. The next meeting is Sept. 16.
