{"id":44838,"topic":"ai","source":"GovTech","title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","url":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","url_hash":"c7eb539083f9aa5d23ffc3a383b42d658ae2c408","author":"","summary":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI GovTech","content":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening.\nThe meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week. But the “hot topic” issue for the community, as vice president Jessica Hembree called it, led to a long discussion about AI and personal tech use.\nSuperintendent Michael Schumacher made clear two main points regarding tech use in school: Students do not have authorized access to generative AI on district devices or networks, and there should be no non-instructional use of technology in classrooms.\n“We’re committing to this, guys. We’re listening and we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Schumacher said.\nAmong other changes, the district is bringing in iPad carts to store devices away from students’ desks when students aren’t using them.\nBoard members also voted to increase the disciplinary consequences for students using devices inappropriately during class, referring students to the office instead of leaving the matter to individual teachers.\nThe policy also restated how students “must” leave personal communication devices at home, in vehicles or in their lockers.\nHembree said she was taken aback by one parent’s comment that their kindergartner spent four hours on an iPad in class.\n“If that’s happening in our district, we need to know that and we need to do something about it,” she said, followed by an eruption of applause.\nPARENT PUSHBACK\nStill, some advocates believe that the district should be doing more to restrict technology in education.\nKim Whitman, a district parent and advocate who helped found the Phones Free School Movement, said some of the board’s messages were encouraging, but she still has a lot of questions unanswered.\nUltimately, parents want data from the district that explains its tech-focused approach, as they’re worried the research is coming from unreliable sources, Whitman said.\nThey also want to understand exactly how much time students are spending on technology in the classroom, and are hoping to see data from the district.\n“I think we need to get more clear. So parents aren’t left in the dark, so teachers have clear guidance, and so students know what they’re expected [to do] every day when they come to school,” she said.\nWhitman said she’s concerned with how the district is going to handle transitioning into more limited tech use in classrooms after years of increasingly embracing device use.\n“The district gives the twenty-some kids in their class an addictive device with internet access and for years tells teachers to use the devices as much as possible,” she told The Star. “And now they are going to be told to only use them for instructional purposes. A teacher can’t flip that script on their own without major support from the district.”\nWhitman recommended classrooms use tubs or pencil pouches to hold onto devices like other districts have during class.\nShe’s not alone in her concerns. Other parents have been actively voicing their concerns at public comments and through local advocacy. At this week’s meeting, for example, parents hosted a paper drive to make it easier for teachers to print.\nMany others have joined an organization called Schools Beyond Screens, the first and only local chapter in Kansas that advocates for tech limits in school.\nRyan Van Pelt, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said he wants district leadership to be more innovative.\n“Innovation does not necessarily mean technological innovation,” he said in an email to district leaders. “One of the most innovative things in education right now arguably is rethinking the use of technology.”\nWHAT TO DO ABOUT AI\nThough board members voted on students’ personal device usage, they didn’t make any final decisions on the district’s AI policy this week.\nAaron Walter, who lives in Leawood with his wife and three children who attend Shawnee Mission schools, said the insurance company he works for has been grappling with AI and experiencing a lack of clarity on how to leverage AI at the professional level.\n“If there is that much disagreement for well-established businesses that have resources to deploy, to dedicate, to building and deploying AI, why should education be any different?” Walter said.\nDuring his public comment, Walter requested a moratorium on generative AI in schools. He said the board should wait on policies to gain enough information on how it should be used.\nWhile board member David Westbrook said a moratorium was unnecessary, many were in agreement with the crowd of concerned parents. Westbrook said the board now has an opportunity to act locally before the issue risks becoming polarizing at the state level.\n“The state Legislature has not yet completely taken that prerogative away from us by taking AI, making it into a lightning rod, and using it to charge the issue,” Westbrook said at the meeting. “This is not a time for politics. It’s time for leadership.”\nLeah Maugans has served on one of the district’s PTA boards for over three years, allowing her to have ongoing conversations with other parents, educators and officials about tech use.\n“We’re asking what technology can do for our students before we have decided what students should first have the opportunity to do for themselves,” she said at the meeting.\nShe said she understands the argument that technology is constantly evolving, making it difficult to establish a policy, but that’s even more of a reason to lean back on what people already know.\n“We already know the science of child development. We already know what children need to develop into capable adults,” she said. “I think the more we use technology, we have to be careful about what it is unintentionally taking away from our kids.”\n©2026 The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.","image_url":"https://erepublic.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/863e4f3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2475x1203+0+223/resize/1440x700!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fff%2F3d%2Ff2c0655342f0b066460ac1179c32%2Fclassroom-tech.jpg","lang":"en","published_at":"2026-07-23T21:14:21+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-07-23T22:15:08+00:00","status":"read","starred":0,"extract_state":"ok","summary_auto":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. 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But the “hot topic” issue for the community, as vice president Jessica Hembree called it, led to a long discussion about AI and personal tech use.\nSuperintendent Michael Schumacher made clear two main points regarding tech use in school: Students do not have authorized access to generative AI on district devices or networks, and there should be no non-instructional use of technology in classrooms.\n“We’re committing to this, guys. We’re listening and we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Schumacher said.\nAmong other changes, the district is bringing in iPad carts to store devices away from students’ desks when students aren’t using them.\nBoard members also voted to increase the disciplinary consequences for students using devices inappropriately during class, referring students to the office instead of leaving the matter to individual teachers.\nThe policy also restated how students “must” leave personal communication devices at home, in vehicles or in their lockers.\nHembree said she was taken aback by one parent’s comment that their kindergartner spent four hours on an iPad in class.\n“If that’s happening in our district, we need to know that and we need to do something about it,” she said, followed by an eruption of applause.\nPARENT PUSHBACK\nStill, some advocates believe that the district should be doing more to restrict technology in education.\nKim Whitman, a district parent and advocate who helped found the Phones Free School Movement, said some of the board’s messages were encouraging, but she still has a lot of questions unanswered.\nUltimately, parents want data from the district that explains its tech-focused approach, as they’re worried the research is coming from unreliable sources, Whitman said.\nThey also want to understand exactly how much time students are spending on technology in the classroom, and are hoping to see data from the district.\n“I think we need to get more clear. So parents aren’t left in the dark, so teachers have clear guidance, and so students know what they’re expected [to do] every day when they come to school,” she said.\nWhitman said she’s concerned with how the district is going to handle transitioning into more limited tech use in classrooms after years of increasingly embracing device use.\n“The district gives the twenty-some kids in their class an addictive device with internet access and for years tells teachers to use the devices as much as possible,” she told The Star. “And now they are going to be told to only use them for instructional purposes. A teacher can’t flip that script on their own without major support from the district.”\nWhitman recommended classrooms use tubs or pencil pouches to hold onto devices like other districts have during class.\nShe’s not alone in her concerns. Other parents have been actively voicing their concerns at public comments and through local advocacy. At this week’s meeting, for example, parents hosted a paper drive to make it easier for teachers to print.\nMany others have joined an organization called Schools Beyond Screens, the first and only local chapter in Kansas that advocates for tech limits in school.\nRyan Van Pelt, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said he wants district leadership to be more innovative.\n“Innovation does not necessarily mean technological innovation,” he said in an email to district leaders. “One of the most innovative things in education right now arguably is rethinking the use of technology.”\nWHAT TO DO ABOUT AI\nThough board members voted on students’ personal device usage, they didn’t make any final decisions on the district’s AI policy this week.\nAaron Walter, who lives in Leawood with his wife and three children who attend Shawnee Mission schools, said the insurance company he works for has been grappling with AI and experiencing a lack of clarity on how to leverage AI at the professional level.\n“If there is that much disagreement for well-established businesses that have resources to deploy, to dedicate, to building and deploying AI, why should education be any different?” Walter said.\nDuring his public comment, Walter requested a moratorium on generative AI in schools. He said the board should wait on policies to gain enough information on how it should be used.\nWhile board member David Westbrook said a moratorium was unnecessary, many were in agreement with the crowd of concerned parents. Westbrook said the board now has an opportunity to act locally before the issue risks becoming polarizing at the state level.\n“The state Legislature has not yet completely taken that prerogative away from us by taking AI, making it into a lightning rod, and using it to charge the issue,” Westbrook said at the meeting. “This is not a time for politics. It’s time for leadership.”\nLeah Maugans has served on one of the district’s PTA boards for over three years, allowing her to have ongoing conversations with other parents, educators and officials about tech use.\n“We’re asking what technology can do for our students before we have decided what students should first have the opportunity to do for themselves,” she said at the meeting.\nShe said she understands the argument that technology is constantly evolving, making it difficult to establish a policy, but that’s even more of a reason to lean back on what people already know.\n“We already know the science of child development. We already know what children need to develop into capable adults,” she said. “I think the more we use technology, we have to be careful about what it is unintentionally taking away from our kids.”\n©2026 The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.","excerpt":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week.","extraction":{"state":"ok","confidence":0.9,"error":null,"explanation":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","diagnostics_url":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257,"usable_text_length":5894,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257}}},"display_formats":["compact","card","full","digest_section","json"]},"daily_stack_record":{"title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","url":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","summary":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week.","source":"GovTech","date":"2026-07-23T21:14:21+00:00","content":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening.\nThe meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week. But the “hot topic” issue for the community, as vice president Jessica Hembree called it, led to a long discussion about AI and personal tech use.\nSuperintendent Michael Schumacher made clear two main points regarding tech use in school: Students do not have authorized access to generative AI on district devices or networks, and there should be no non-instructional use of technology in classrooms.\n“We’re committing to this, guys. We’re listening and we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Schumacher said.\nAmong other changes, the district is bringing in iPad carts to store devices away from students’ desks when students aren’t using them.\nBoard members also voted to increase the disciplinary consequences for students using devices inappropriately during class, referring students to the office instead of leaving the matter to individual teachers.\nThe policy also restated how students “must” leave personal communication devices at home, in vehicles or in their lockers.\nHembree said she was taken aback by one parent’s comment that their kindergartner spent four hours on an iPad in class.\n“If that’s happening in our district, we need to know that and we need to do something about it,” she said, followed by an eruption of applause.\nPARENT PUSHBACK\nStill, some advocates believe that the district should be doing more to restrict technology in education.\nKim Whitman, a district parent and advocate who helped found the Phones Free School Movement, said some of the board’s messages were encouraging, but she still has a lot of questions unanswered.\nUltimately, parents want data from the district that explains its tech-focused approach, as they’re worried the research is coming from unreliable sources, Whitman said.\nThey also want to understand exactly how much time students are spending on technology in the classroom, and are hoping to see data from the district.\n“I think we need to get more clear. So parents aren’t left in the dark, so teachers have clear guidance, and so students know what they’re expected [to do] every day when they come to school,” she said.\nWhitman said she’s concerned with how the district is going to handle transitioning into more limited tech use in classrooms after years of increasingly embracing device use.\n“The district gives the twenty-some kids in their class an addictive device with internet access and for years tells teachers to use the devices as much as possible,” she told The Star. “And now they are going to be told to only use them for instructional purposes. A teacher can’t flip that script on their own without major support from the district.”\nWhitman recommended classrooms use tubs or pencil pouches to hold onto devices like other districts have during class.\nShe’s not alone in her concerns. Other parents have been actively voicing their concerns at public comments and through local advocacy. At this week’s meeting, for example, parents hosted a paper drive to make it easier for teachers to print.\nMany others have joined an organization called Schools Beyond Screens, the first and only local chapter in Kansas that advocates for tech limits in school.\nRyan Van Pelt, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said he wants district leadership to be more innovative.\n“Innovation does not necessarily mean technological innovation,” he said in an email to district leaders. “One of the most innovative things in education right now arguably is rethinking the use of technology.”\nWHAT TO DO ABOUT AI\nThough board members voted on students’ personal device usage, they didn’t make any final decisions on the district’s AI policy this week.\nAaron Walter, who lives in Leawood with his wife and three children who attend Shawnee Mission schools, said the insurance company he works for has been grappling with AI and experiencing a lack of clarity on how to leverage AI at the professional level.\n“If there is that much disagreement for well-established businesses that have resources to deploy, to dedicate, to building and deploying AI, why should education be any different?” Walter said.\nDuring his public comment, Walter requested a moratorium on generative AI in schools. He said the board should wait on policies to gain enough information on how it should be used.\nWhile board member David Westbrook said a moratorium was unnecessary, many were in agreement with the crowd of concerned parents. Westbrook said the board now has an opportunity to act locally before the issue risks becoming polarizing at the state level.\n“The state Legislature has not yet completely taken that prerogative away from us by taking AI, making it into a lightning rod, and using it to charge the issue,” Westbrook said at the meeting. “This is not a time for politics. It’s time for leadership.”\nLeah Maugans has served on one of the district’s PTA boards for over three years, allowing her to have ongoing conversations with other parents, educators and officials about tech use.\n“We’re asking what technology can do for our students before we have decided what students should first have the opportunity to do for themselves,” she said at the meeting.\nShe said she understands the argument that technology is constantly evolving, making it difficult to establish a policy, but that’s even more of a reason to lean back on what people already know.\n“We already know the science of child development. We already know what children need to develop into capable adults,” she said. “I think the more we use technology, we have to be careful about what it is unintentionally taking away from our kids.”\n©2026 The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.","confidence":0.9,"diagnostics_url":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","quality_bucket":"high","failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"quality_reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257,"usable_text_length":5894,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257}},"tags":[]},"fallback_formats":["markdown","json","html"],"actions":{"read":"/item/44838","export_markdown":"/api/items/44838/export?format=markdown","export_json":"/api/items/44838/export?format=json","diagnose":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai"},"formats":{"full":{"id":44838,"title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","url":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","source":"GovTech","author":null,"published_at":"2026-07-23T21:14:21+00:00","locale":"en","topic":"ai","tags":[],"excerpt":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week.","full_text":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening.\nThe meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week. But the “hot topic” issue for the community, as vice president Jessica Hembree called it, led to a long discussion about AI and personal tech use.\nSuperintendent Michael Schumacher made clear two main points regarding tech use in school: Students do not have authorized access to generative AI on district devices or networks, and there should be no non-instructional use of technology in classrooms.\n“We’re committing to this, guys. We’re listening and we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Schumacher said.\nAmong other changes, the district is bringing in iPad carts to store devices away from students’ desks when students aren’t using them.\nBoard members also voted to increase the disciplinary consequences for students using devices inappropriately during class, referring students to the office instead of leaving the matter to individual teachers.\nThe policy also restated how students “must” leave personal communication devices at home, in vehicles or in their lockers.\nHembree said she was taken aback by one parent’s comment that their kindergartner spent four hours on an iPad in class.\n“If that’s happening in our district, we need to know that and we need to do something about it,” she said, followed by an eruption of applause.\nPARENT PUSHBACK\nStill, some advocates believe that the district should be doing more to restrict technology in education.\nKim Whitman, a district parent and advocate who helped found the Phones Free School Movement, said some of the board’s messages were encouraging, but she still has a lot of questions unanswered.\nUltimately, parents want data from the district that explains its tech-focused approach, as they’re worried the research is coming from unreliable sources, Whitman said.\nThey also want to understand exactly how much time students are spending on technology in the classroom, and are hoping to see data from the district.\n“I think we need to get more clear. So parents aren’t left in the dark, so teachers have clear guidance, and so students know what they’re expected [to do] every day when they come to school,” she said.\nWhitman said she’s concerned with how the district is going to handle transitioning into more limited tech use in classrooms after years of increasingly embracing device use.\n“The district gives the twenty-some kids in their class an addictive device with internet access and for years tells teachers to use the devices as much as possible,” she told The Star. “And now they are going to be told to only use them for instructional purposes. A teacher can’t flip that script on their own without major support from the district.”\nWhitman recommended classrooms use tubs or pencil pouches to hold onto devices like other districts have during class.\nShe’s not alone in her concerns. Other parents have been actively voicing their concerns at public comments and through local advocacy. At this week’s meeting, for example, parents hosted a paper drive to make it easier for teachers to print.\nMany others have joined an organization called Schools Beyond Screens, the first and only local chapter in Kansas that advocates for tech limits in school.\nRyan Van Pelt, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said he wants district leadership to be more innovative.\n“Innovation does not necessarily mean technological innovation,” he said in an email to district leaders. “One of the most innovative things in education right now arguably is rethinking the use of technology.”\nWHAT TO DO ABOUT AI\nThough board members voted on students’ personal device usage, they didn’t make any final decisions on the district’s AI policy this week.\nAaron Walter, who lives in Leawood with his wife and three children who attend Shawnee Mission schools, said the insurance company he works for has been grappling with AI and experiencing a lack of clarity on how to leverage AI at the professional level.\n“If there is that much disagreement for well-established businesses that have resources to deploy, to dedicate, to building and deploying AI, why should education be any different?” Walter said.\nDuring his public comment, Walter requested a moratorium on generative AI in schools. He said the board should wait on policies to gain enough information on how it should be used.\nWhile board member David Westbrook said a moratorium was unnecessary, many were in agreement with the crowd of concerned parents. Westbrook said the board now has an opportunity to act locally before the issue risks becoming polarizing at the state level.\n“The state Legislature has not yet completely taken that prerogative away from us by taking AI, making it into a lightning rod, and using it to charge the issue,” Westbrook said at the meeting. “This is not a time for politics. It’s time for leadership.”\nLeah Maugans has served on one of the district’s PTA boards for over three years, allowing her to have ongoing conversations with other parents, educators and officials about tech use.\n“We’re asking what technology can do for our students before we have decided what students should first have the opportunity to do for themselves,” she said at the meeting.\nShe said she understands the argument that technology is constantly evolving, making it difficult to establish a policy, but that’s even more of a reason to lean back on what people already know.\n“We already know the science of child development. We already know what children need to develop into capable adults,” she said. “I think the more we use technology, we have to be careful about what it is unintentionally taking away from our kids.”\n©2026 The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.","reading_time_min":5,"extraction":{"state":"ok","confidence":0.9,"error":null,"explanation":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","diagnostics_url":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257,"usable_text_length":5894,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257}}},"quality_profile":{"profile_version":"extraction_quality.v2","bucket":"high","confidence":0.9,"failure_kind":"none","retryable":false,"retry_after_attempts":0,"reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","operator_guidance":{"severity":"ok","recommended_action":"trust_full_text","next_step":"Use the extracted full text as the primary article source.","operator_label":"Ready","can_retry":false,"can_use_summary":false,"diagnostics_required":false},"content_depth":{"contract_version":"content_depth.v1","category":"full_text","label":"Full text","has_full_text":true,"has_summary":true,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257,"usable_text_length":5894,"source_field":"content"},"legacy_collapsed":false,"signals":{"extract_state":"ok","extract_error":null,"extract_retries":0,"content_length":5894,"summary_length":257}},"actions":{"read":"/item/44838","export_markdown":"/api/items/44838/export?format=markdown","export_json":"/api/items/44838/export?format=json","diagnose":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai"}},"digest":{"id":44838,"title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","url":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","source":"GovTech","topic":"ai","published_at":"2026-07-23T21:14:21+00:00","excerpt":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week.","quality_bucket":"high","quality_reason":"High confidence: full text extraction produced 5894 characters.","reading_time_min":5,"cluster_id":null},"card":{"display_title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","subtitle":"GovTech · 2026-07-23","summary":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as…","badges":["quality:high"],"links":{"read":"/item/44838","original":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","diagnose":"/api/diagnose?url=https%3A//www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai"},"quality_warning":null},"export":{"title":"Shawnee Mission Schools to Cut Back on Tech Use, Scrutinize AI - GovTech","url":"https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/shawnee-mission-schools-to-cut-back-on-tech-use-scrutinize-ai","summary":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening. The meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week.","source":"GovTech","date":"2026-07-23T21:14:21+00:00","content":"Tech use was at the heart of most public comments made before the district’s first board of education meeting of the school year Monday evening.\nThe meeting looked at preparations for the upcoming school year as principals return to their schools this week. But the “hot topic” issue for the community, as vice president Jessica Hembree called it, led to a long discussion about AI and personal tech use.\nSuperintendent Michael Schumacher made clear two main points regarding tech use in school: Students do not have authorized access to generative AI on district devices or networks, and there should be no non-instructional use of technology in classrooms.\n“We’re committing to this, guys. We’re listening and we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Schumacher said.\nAmong other changes, the district is bringing in iPad carts to store devices away from students’ desks when students aren’t using them.\nBoard members also voted to increase the disciplinary consequences for students using devices inappropriately during class, referring students to the office instead of leaving the matter to individual teachers.\nThe policy also restated how students “must” leave personal communication devices at home, in vehicles or in their lockers.\nHembree said she was taken aback by one parent’s comment that their kindergartner spent four hours on an iPad in class.\n“If that’s happening in our district, we need to know that and we need to do something about it,” she said, followed by an eruption of applause.\nPARENT PUSHBACK\nStill, some advocates believe that the district should be doing more to restrict technology in education.\nKim Whitman, a district parent and advocate who helped found the Phones Free School Movement, said some of the board’s messages were encouraging, but she still has a lot of questions unanswered.\nUltimately, parents want data from the district that explains its tech-focused approach, as they’re worried the research is coming from unreliable sources, Whitman said.\nThey also want to understand exactly how much time students are spending on technology in the classroom, and are hoping to see data from the district.\n“I think we need to get more clear. So parents aren’t left in the dark, so teachers have clear guidance, and so students know what they’re expected [to do] every day when they come to school,” she said.\nWhitman said she’s concerned with how the district is going to handle transitioning into more limited tech use in classrooms after years of increasingly embracing device use.\n“The district gives the twenty-some kids in their class an addictive device with internet access and for years tells teachers to use the devices as much as possible,” she told The Star. “And now they are going to be told to only use them for instructional purposes. A teacher can’t flip that script on their own without major support from the district.”\nWhitman recommended classrooms use tubs or pencil pouches to hold onto devices like other districts have during class.\nShe’s not alone in her concerns. Other parents have been actively voicing their concerns at public comments and through local advocacy. At this week’s meeting, for example, parents hosted a paper drive to make it easier for teachers to print.\nMany others have joined an organization called Schools Beyond Screens, the first and only local chapter in Kansas that advocates for tech limits in school.\nRyan Van Pelt, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said he wants district leadership to be more innovative.\n“Innovation does not necessarily mean technological innovation,” he said in an email to district leaders. “One of the most innovative things in education right now arguably is rethinking the use of technology.”\nWHAT TO DO ABOUT AI\nThough board members voted on students’ personal device usage, they didn’t make any final decisions on the district’s AI policy this week.\nAaron Walter, who lives in Leawood with his wife and three children who attend Shawnee Mission schools, said the insurance company he works for has been grappling with AI and experiencing a lack of clarity on how to leverage AI at the professional level.\n“If there is that much disagreement for well-established businesses that have resources to deploy, to dedicate, to building and deploying AI, why should education be any different?” Walter said.\nDuring his public comment, Walter requested a moratorium on generative AI in schools. He said the board should wait on policies to gain enough information on how it should be used.\nWhile board member David Westbrook said a moratorium was unnecessary, many were in agreement with the crowd of concerned parents. Westbrook said the board now has an opportunity to act locally before the issue risks becoming polarizing at the state level.\n“The state Legislature has not yet completely taken that prerogative away from us by taking AI, making it into a lightning rod, and using it to charge the issue,” Westbrook said at the meeting. “This is not a time for politics. It’s time for leadership.”\nLeah Maugans has served on one of the district’s PTA boards for over three years, allowing her to have ongoing conversations with other parents, educators and officials about tech use.\n“We’re asking what technology can do for our students before we have decided what students should first have the opportunity to do for themselves,” she said at the meeting.\nShe said she understands the argument that technology is constantly evolving, making it difficult to establish a policy, but that’s even more of a reason to lean back on what people already know.\n“We already know the science of child development. We already know what children need to develop into capable adults,” she said. “I think the more we use technology, we have to be careful about what it is unintentionally taking away from our kids.”\n©2026 The Kansas City Star. 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