Preparing students for a technology-infused future requires us to model responsible digital citizenship, ensuring that students learn to navigate the online world with integrity, purpose, and responsibility. By prioritizing active use of technology over passive consumption, we equip students with the critical skills they need to engage meaningfully and effectively in a digital society. 

Our Classroom Technology Goals

• Enhance Academics: Support meaningful learning that meets NYS standards.
• Boost Engagement: Increase active learning that enhances the student experience
• Prioritize Wellness: Encourage intentional use while cutting out digital distractions.
• Remove Barriers: Create access to content and skills taught in the classroom

“Screen Time at School” Guidance

The American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidance on screen time at school with the focus on active versus passive use of technology:

• Active Use: Prioritizes critical thinking, problem solving, and actively acquiring knowledge and skills through hands-on activities like coding, immersive simulations, media production, and design.
• Passive Use: Includes activities that lack opportunities for reflection, creativity, or active participation, such as filling out standard digital worksheets or watching a video.

Benefits of Inclusive Classroom Technology

Educational technology can make learning more accessible and inclusive.

• Broad Accessibility: Devices can provide essential augmented learning tools for students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or visual and hearing impairments. 
• Literacy Support: Audiobooks enable students with reading difficulties to follow along with text, improving reading comprehension.
• Fine Motor Assistance: Voice-to-text tools support students who struggle with note-taking or physical fine motor control.
• Targeted Skill Development: Specialized educational software offers adaptive practice for math and reading, specifically tailored for individual students’ learning profile.

Instructional Expectations for Technology Use in Classrooms

To ensure our practices align with our pedagogical goals, teachers should adhere to the following guidelines regarding the use of Promethean boards and classroom displays:

• Interactive Learning: Promethean boards are used for active instructional practices. They are tools for co-creating visuals, facilitating student-driven presentations, and interactive modeling. Teachers and students use the touch-screen panel together to solve problems, draw diagrams, and explore virtual lessons.
• Purposeful Media: Videos are only shown when they directly support the lesson goals and help explain new concepts. Boards should not be used to show non-instructional TV shows, cartoons, or miscellaneous YouTube videos during transition times such as snack, indoor recess, or bus dismissal. Consider using quiet games, books, read aloud, or discussion prompts during these times.
• Intentionality: Any video content used during the school day must be explicitly instructional and tied to learning objectives. [Board policy #8275: Use of Video Media for Instruction]

Soundfield Systems in Classrooms

To provide inclusive and accessible learning environments for all, Soundfield systems are used in classrooms to amplify teacher and peer voices, making instruction and discussions accessible to all students. 

• Crystal Clear Audio: Teachers use a microphone to ensure every student, regardless of where they sit, can hear instructions clearly and comfortably.
• Inclusive Communication: Classrooms with two teachers use multiple microphones so that collaborative teaching is easy for all students to follow.

Document Camera “Ladibug” Use in Classrooms

To provide a highly visual and accessible learning experience, our classrooms use document cameras (Ladibugs) to project physical items and materials directly onto classroom displays. These tools ensure that every student has a front-row view of demonstrations, supporting students who benefit from visual reinforcement and allowing the entire class to engage with materials simultaneously. 

 

• Sharing Stories: This camera acts like a digital magnifying glass, projecting books and pictures so the whole class can see the fine details together.
• Step-by-Step Guidance: Teachers can show exactly how to complete a project or solve a math problem by hand in real-time.
• Learning Resources: It can be used to create helpful "how-to" videos that students can refer back to when they need a reminder of a lesson.

Chromebook Use in the Classroom

We implement age-appropriate curriculum tools that utilize technology in thoughtful and intentional ways to ensure students experience learning through hands-on, meaning-making experiences that include interactive reading, writing, mathematics listening, and speaking. 

• Creative Production: Utilizing Chromebooks to build original media, design presentations, and create digital projects that foster innovation and synthesis.
• Immersive Skill Acquisition: Running coding platforms and interactive simulations that require students to actively solve problems and test hypotheses.
• Collaborative Critical Thinking: Engaging in shared research, collaborative writing, and peer-to-peer discussion to deepen subject understanding and build active knowledge.

Grades K-2

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, Grades K-2 will return to a shared cart or two per grade level. If the need for a remote day arises due to a shortage of weather days to be closed, K-2 students will have a paper packet to complete, instead of remote learning on a 1:1 device.

Grades 3-5

• Grades 3-5 will have assigned Chromebooks to take home each day. Parents may opt to have the Chromebook stay in school, if the student has access to another device for computer based homework. The choice to leave the Chromebook in school must be renewed each year.

Grades 6-12

• All students grades 6-12 will be assigned a 1:1 Chromebook. This Chromebook must go home each day and is the only device allowed to be used in school.
• All grades 6-12 teachers should provide students with a Google classroom environment where assignments and resources are posted in an organized manner

School Device Practices

We take a proactive approach to monitoring and safeguarding student technology used to support learning, online safety, and healthy technology habits. Our District practices include:

• No devices are used during K–8 lunch or recess.
• Faculty will not use screen time as a class reward or incentive for behavior.
• Personal devices/cell phones are not used, bell to bell.
• Pre-kindergarten - grade 2 students are not assigned individual devices.
• Devices in grades K–2 remain at school and are available as a shared cart per grade level.

Online Applications

To support our curriculum and enhance the learning experience, we integrate purposeful online applications into the classroom. These tools are selected to foster active engagement, allowing students to practice core skills, explore digital resources, and engage in meaningful, teacher-guided academic activities that align with our instructional goals. Examples of these online apps include:

*Generative AI tools - separate guidance under development

District Digital Safety Measures

• Students may only use district-issued devices.
• Teachers can monitor, restrict, and guide device and app use during instruction.
• We only use Ed-Law 2D compliant, district-approved apps and instructional software on our devices and in our classrooms.
• K–5 students receive targeted digital citizenship instruction through library classes.
• The District uses multiple layers of digital safety and cybersecurity protections to help create a secure learning environment for students and staff:
  • Internet safety and content filters, including blocking non-instructional content
  • Student safety monitoring systems that generate alerts 
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) compliant cybersecurity and data privacy policies