Pencils Over Laptops: East Brunswick Students Return To Handwriting

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — East Brunswick students are putting down their laptops and picking up pencils more often as the district shifts away from classroom device use.

During the Board of Education meeting on Sept. 10, Superintendent Evelyn Mamman said that the district has intentionally cut back on screen time, with students now doing more handwritten work in English, math and science.

"The research is coming out. Once you know better, you do better," Mamman said. "And our kids now need that break away from ... constantly being on their devices."

Over the summer, the district's academics department reviewed how devices were being used, particularly in math, where students had relied heavily on Microsoft OneNote with styluses, Amman said. This year's incoming seventh graders did not receive styluses.

According to Mamman, teacher have led the push for this change.

"Honestly, the greatest proponents of this change has been the teachers," Mamman said. "They've been excited and getting kids to handwrite."

The adjustment may take some students longer than others.

"I don't know that they want to handwrite all the time. Like some of them, it's going to take them a little bit," she said. "But for the ones who don't know, they just like, OK, this is how we do it now. It's been great."

Board member Antoinette Evola said teachers at back-to-school night were enthusiastic about the change, in part because it addresses concerns about artificial intelligence.

"One of the reasons they really were excited about it is they don't have to worry about AI anymore. The writing's going to be done in front of them," Evola said. "All of the writing in English will be done in the classroom, and then they will edit it with their teacher in the classroom."

"So yeah, we're going back to 1985," she added.

District officials stressed that technology is not disappearing from classrooms. Students still take state assessments, the PSAT and the SAT on devices, and BOE president Marianne Tanious said the district wants them to be comfortable with those tools.

"It's not about the device; it's about how it's being used," she said. "Technology is not the evil that everybody thinks that it is."

The district is instead focused on finding the right balance and avoiding passive screen use, she said.

Another BOE member said the same approach applies to AI, noting that a policy the board recently adopted guides how students are taught to use it.

"Making sure the kids understand how to use it responsibly, and so therefore we're teaching them the guidelines of what to do with it,"they said.

Students in seventh through 12th grade use district-issued laptops, while younger students use Chromebooks.

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