Atlanta Public Schools to hold town hall on classroom screen time

The district, which already has a policy banning personal devices, will place limits on the amount of time students spend using screens during the school day.

Students at Carver Early College School of Technology attend art class on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. APS is holding a town hall Tuesday evening to get input on how often students should use technology, such as laptops and tablets, in class. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

By Martha Dalton

1 hour ago

Atlanta Public Schools will hold a town hall Tuesday evening to hear from community members about placing limits on the amount of time students spend on screens in classrooms.

The APS code of conduct has long prohibited the use of personal electronic devices during the school day. Georgia legislators have matched that policy by passing a statewide bell-to-bell device ban for K-12 students.

The next frontier, it seems, is scrutinizing how much time students spend on screens provided by their school or district in class. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts rushed to get laptops and tablets in the hands of each student so they would be able to complete assignments and attend virtual school.

But parents and teachers are now concerned that students are over-relying on screens to deliver information. That includes Alfred “Shivy” Brooks, an APS parent and board member who is hosting the town hall. Brooks also teaches economics, personal finance and government at Drew High School in Clayton County.

“Students come into a classroom like mine, where I really don’t use (Google) Chromebooks in my classroom, unless kids are working on like a group project to do a presentation or something like that … and the first thing my students do is open up their Chromebook as soon as they sit down and start going into that world,” Brooks said.

Atlanta Public Schools District 7 At-Large board member Alfred “Shivy” Brooks, pictured in 2024 at APS headquarters in downtown Atlanta, is hosting Tuesday's town hall about screen time. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

About half of U.S. states ban students from using personal cellphones in school.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the U.S., recently passed a sweeping resolution placing limits on classroom screen time. Starting in August, LAUSD’s plan bans all classroom screen time for preschool through first grade and places limits on how much time older grades can spend using screens in class each week.

A draft of the APS policy, which the district plans to pilot during the 2026-27 school year, limits screen time to an hour per day for pre-K through second grades; increases that limit to two hours for third through fifth grades; and says technology shouldn’t comprise more than half of classroom instruction for grades six through 12.

Tuesday’s town hall starts at 6 p.m. and will be held at the APS Student and Family Support Hub at 601 Dr. Thomas Cole Jr. Way SW, Atlanta 30314.