Student And Parents Say Chromebook Use In Schools Is Excessive

Fred Reifsteck IV, who next week will be a seventh grader at Oconee County Middle School, does not like the policy of the Oconee County Board of Education that fully integrates Chromebook computers into classroom instruction.

“I would rather use books and paper and not Chromebooks,” Reifsteck told the members of the Board at their regular meeting on Monday.

Reifsteck was the first of three citizens who opted to speak to the Board on Monday, and each used the three minutes allocated to them to oppose the current level of use of the laptop computers in the school system’s instruction.

Julie Mauck, who has three children in Oconee County schools, said not all children learn the same way, and those children who do not learn well from the Chromebooks should have options.

Joyce Reifsteck, Fred’s mother, said research indicates that the amount of time a child spends looking at a computer screen is correlated with a number of negative outcomes, including increased aggression, depression, and anxiety.

She asked the Board to consider that research in evaluating the policy of using Chromebooks so extensively at the school.

As is the custom, Board members did not respond to the comments of the three speakers at the meeting. The Board has a policy of providing a Chromebook to every student in the school system.

In other action at a relatively brief meeting, the Board adopted modifications to its just-completed Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget reflecting $3.8 million in increased revenue and heard that the Oconee County School System has been rated Number 1 in the state by the web site SchoolDigger.

For more on the story, with a video of the Board of Education meeting on Monday, please go to Oconee County Observations.