By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
Come the start of a new school year this fall, all sixth- through 12th-grade students in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District will have their own Chromebook computers.
But with the school board’s decision to buy the popular laptops as part the proposed $80,717,425 budget for 2016-17, some board members are expressing concerns that students may be spending too much time looking at computer and smartphone screens, inside and outside of school.
According to physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston, the average American child spends 6.5 hours a day looking at screens.
A documentary movie by Ms. Ruston titled “Screenagers” was introduced to Hopewell Valley school board members when a trailer of the film was shown during Monday’s board work session.
For Ms. Ruston, who lives in the greater New York City area, the impetus for making “Screenagers” came after keeping track of the hours her own children engaged in screen watching.
“She wondered about the impact of all this time and about the friction occurring in homes and schools around negotiating screen time — friction she knew all too well,” reads a synopsis of the movie published on the documentary’s official website screenagersmovie.com. “Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, ’Screeangers’ reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.”
After watching the movie trailer, Lisa Wolff, president of school board, asked her fellow board members what they thought of it. Ms. Wolff said she had already seen the documentary in its entirety.
School board member Adam Sawicki responded saying that some incidents at Timberlane Middle School “are not too different than some of the things we saw in the video.”
“It’s stuff that we need to talk more about with our kids,” he said, explaining his opinion that dealing with students’ excessive screen watching has a lot to do with parent awareness.
Mr. Sawicki suggested that when Chromebooks are handed out to students in the fall, “maybe have that conversation with parents and kids.”
Parents of fifth-graders, Ms. Wolff said, might want to watch the Screenagers documentary since their children would be receiving the new laptops that run Google’s Chrome operating system starting in the sixth grade.
For the past two years now, some students in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District had already been given Chromebooks. Eighth- and ninth-graders received theirs this year (2015-16).
Originally, the goal was to have Chromebooks in the hands of all middle and high school students within the next several years. The student enrollment at Timberlane Middle School is projected to be 847 in 2016-17, while a student population of 1,206 is expected at Hopewell Valley Central High School during the same year.
Cost is one reason for completing the roll out all at once next year.
“We’re actually saving $250,000 by moving to the Chromebooks in grades six to 12,” said Ms. Wolff, explaining that the price would be higher maintaining and servicing both the new computers and the older ones currently still being used by students. “Supporting two platforms would cost us more.”
On Monday, April 25, the Board of Education will vote on whether to adopt the proposed 2016-17 school budget that includes financing the new technology for students. A public hearing on the budget will be held prior to the vote.
