'Parents are concerned.' Norwalk Public Schools hosts community forum on rapidly evolving AI and screentime policy
While the school district already has certain policies in place, parents say more needs to be done.
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The future of student learning and the use of AI in the classroom was a hot topic for education leaders Tuesday night in Norwalk.
While the school district already has certain policies in place, parents say more needs to be done.
"I want to see us take a beat," parent John Demarco says, "and think about what we're doing before we introduce something where we have no idea what the consequences are."
Demarco says he has a first grader in the school system and a 2-year-old who will eventually be there.
"I want to hear that Norwalk Public Schools has a plan and that it's backed by some data," Demarco says. "If not, I want to hear that they're going to slow it down."
Ralph Valenzisi, assistant superintendent of Digital Learning and Innovation, says the district already sets daily screen time limits by grade level, bans access to screens during recess, blocks access to certain sites like YouTube, and has a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for grades K-8.
He says the school district is collecting more data so that an official policy can be written.
"Parents are concerned... and rightfully so," Valenzisi says. "Everybody is confused at the moment on how we're going to approach the work with AI, so we need to make sure that we give ourselves some grace and actually put things in place to make sure that we can actually learn as everybody else is learning."
The district says it hopes to have a more complete policy on the books by March of 2027.
