Families should be able to see what Educational Technology tools their children use at school, why each was chosen, and whether it is working. We ask the district to share that information and to work with families on what comes next.
Concord families are doing their part at home. Students' answers show parents keeping a closer eye on phones and screens, devices leaving bedrooms, and kids getting more sleep. The asks below are how the school day catches up.
1:1 devices, digital learning tools, and AI are part of students' daily school experience, from elementary classrooms through CCHS.
There is no public list of the tools students use, what data they collect, or how much time students spend on them.
AI is being built into Educational Technology at a fast pace, often arriving in tools students already use through routine updates. Clear guardrails set now are easier than catching up later.
We’re asking our schools three questions about every tool our children use.
Student data, attention, and well-being are protected.
See the Safety priorities ↓ EfficacyTools show evidence that they improve learning outcomes.
See the Efficacy priorities ↓ AlignmentTechnology use reflects the district's own written goals and values.
See the Alignment priorities ↓We ask the district to publish an inventory of each student-facing EdTech tool, listing:
We also ask for a screen time report by grade, class, and application, updated each term.
Already common in Massachusetts: see the public lists from Arlington, Northampton, Andover, and Hudson.
We ask that generative AI features stay turned off for students until each one has been reviewed.
Many tools now add AI features through routine updates. Off by default means a new feature reaches students only after someone has looked at it.
We ask that student devices reach approved sites only, rather than blocking harmful sites one at a time.
We think the best preparation is the foundation AI can't supply: reading closely, writing clearly, doing math without help, and noticing when an answer doesn't add up. AI amplifies the skills a student already has, and those skills grow best with AI out of the loop, especially in the K-8 years. That's why we ask for AI off by default, reviewed one feature at a time. More from Tech-Wise Arlington
Before any student-facing tool is adopted, we ask the district to share:
We ask that gains in learning be confirmed by independent research, not by studies funded by the company selling the product.
We ask the district to publish a count of the student-facing applications in use at each grade level this fall, both paid and free, and to reduce that list by June 2027 to only those with a proven purpose and necessity.
New to terms like "ESSA evidence tier"? See the glossary of terms
We ask that, this year, the District (Community) Technology Committee under the Superintendent:
We also ask the district to offer families, starting now, a parent and caregiver app from its filtering vendor that shows each child's screen time on school devices.
We ask that technology decisions support the district’s goal to cut student stress in half from 2022 levels, as measured by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
We ask the School Committee to adopt a phone policy with secure storage at all schools, ahead of state legislation, and to enforce it consistently in every building.
"Partner with parents and community members to identify and engage with best practices for student technology, including social media use."
Concord Public Schools and Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, District Strategic Plan 2023-2028, initiative 4.4. Also in the districtwide Continuous Improvement plan, January 2025.
"Work with the IT department to investigate ways to strike more of a balance in use of and access to technology, and implement at least one practice at each level of schooling that moves us toward that goal."
District Strategic Plan 2023-2028, outcome 4.4.
Each Alignment priority builds on a goal the district or School Committee has already set in writing. We ask that technology choices follow those goals, and we’re ready to help make that happen.
The priorities above are what the coalition is asking of the district. These one-pagers are suggestions families can bring to their own child's school, whether in a conversation with a teacher, a note to the principal, or a chat amongst other parents and caregivers. Each one follows the same three priorities, shaped for that age group. They gather ideas and questions we've found useful in our own conversations with schools, so take whatever is helpful.
What we ask of the district, on behalf of Concord families
Ideas for families to use in their own advocacy, at their own school
Five asks for grades K-5, including allowed sites only, screens never used as a prize, and pencils and paper books first. Each comes with a sample message to a teacher or principal, plus a step-by-step guide to asking for age-appropriate guardrails on your child's school device.
Seven asks for grades 6-8, including no generative AI, phones locked away from first bell to last, and school devices staying at school. Each comes with a sample message to a teacher or principal, plus tips for home.
Four asks for grades 9-12, including AI only in district-reviewed tools, phones and watches stored from first bell to last, and screen time shared with families. Each comes with a sample message to a teacher or the CCHS principals, plus tips for home.
By personal devices, we mean anything internet-connected that students bring from home: mostly phones and smartwatches, but also wireless earbuds such as AirPods, and any other connected device. Concord's schools already limit phones. We ask for secure storage for all of these devices at every level, and at Concord-Carlisle High School, device-free time outside class too.
Phones are turned off and stay in students' backpacks for the whole school day. It's the right rule.
A storage requirement. A device in a backpack or on a wrist is still within reach: it can buzz, it can come out in the hallway or the bathroom, and teachers are left to enforce the rule one student at a time.
Phones need to be put away during class. At lunch, between classes, and in free periods, they're allowed.
Device-free time outside class, and storage to back it up. Those are the hours students have to talk with each other.
With storage, a device policy becomes a system instead of a daily negotiation. Teachers teach instead of policing, and the rule is the same in every classroom.
A phone nearby draws attention even when it's turned off and face down. Out of reach is different from out of sight.
Ward et al., Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2017In a 2026 national study of schools that adopted phone pouches, phone use at school fell 30% by the third year, and teachers satisfied with their school's phone policy rose from 26% to 75%. (Working paper.)
Stanford, Duke, Michigan, and Penn researchers, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2026Lunch, passing time, and free periods are where friendships start, where students meet people outside their usual group, and where a ninth grader gets to know a senior. When phones and watches fill those minutes, students can sit at the same table without being together.
Belonging is improving for students overall, but LGBTQIA+ students are being left behind. Non-binary students are now almost four times as likely as their classmates to say they don't belong at school. Belonging grows in exactly those free minutes, which is why we ask that device-free time at CCHS cover the whole school day, not only class.
Emerson Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2024 and 2026. These figures combine all participating districts, so that small groups can be counted. In 2026, students who lose focus in class checking their phone at least sometimes were also more likely to say they don't belong (15%). Concord's Data
The Massachusetts Senate and House have each passed a bill requiring every public school to keep personal devices, including phones, tablets, and smartwatches, away bell to bell, including lunch and time between classes. The two versions differ, so a conference committee (a small group of senators and representatives who negotiate one final bill) has been working on it since May. Lawmakers have until early January to reach a deal.
Sources: Bill history and Senate text, malegislature.gov; Boston Globe, September 7, 2026
An open campus where students can leave during lunch and free periods. Phones lock in a pouch for the school day; students heading off campus unlock on the way out and lock up again when they return. Administrators said the old class-only rule cut phone use without stopping it.
Cambridge Day, August 2025; January 2026Phones stay locked in pouches for the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods. Juniors and seniors with off-campus lunch privileges unlock their pouches before they leave and relock them when they return.
Park City School DistrictCopy this letter, add your name, and send it to the CCHS co-principals, Mr. Miller and Ms. Stahl; Superintendent Dr. Hunter; and the Concord-Carlisle Regional School Committee. Change anything you like. A sentence about your own student carries more weight than anything we could write.
"Open in my email" starts a new message in your own email program with the letter filled in. If nothing happens, use "Copy the letter" and paste it into a new email.
Bring the 1-pager to a meeting, see Concord's data, or add your voice at a school committee meeting. Every bit of constructive engagement helps.