Protecting Shared Decision-Making in TK-12 Technology Use

SDEA supports purposeful, developmentally appropriate technology use that strengthens learning, relationships, and student wellness. But Districtwide restrictions cannot replace educators’ professional judgment or ignore the different needs and resources of our schools.

Our position is straightforward: Technology decisions, along with all instructional decisions, must include the voices of educators and families. Site Governance Teams (SGTs) provide a structure for shared decision-making, ensuring that educators and families have a meaningful say in decisions affecting their school communities.

SDEA’s Six Demands

1. Protect instructional decision-making. Technology must support teaching, not replace it. Educators need the flexibility to use digital tools for differentiated instruction, intervention, and small-group or one-on-one support. Restrictions must be based on instructional purpose, not screen time alone.

2. Respect developmental differences across TK–12. A kindergartner, a fifth grader, and a high school student do not have the same needs. Guidance must allow age-appropriate, student-centered decisions rather than a one-size-fits-all rule.

3. Guarantee equitable access. Students’ access to devices, internet, programs, staffing, and instructional space varies at home and across school sites. The District must identify and address those inequities before limiting access or changing delivery models.

4. Protect accessibility and individual needs. Technology may be essential for students with IEPs or 504 plans, multilingual learners, and students requiring intervention. All legally required accommodations, assistive technology, communication tools, and services must remain available without delay.

5. Acknowledge realistic workload in all timeline decisions. Lesson redesign, alternative materials, device management, troubleshooting, and training to effectively implement changes all take time. The District must provide adequate resources and support before imposing changes that affect educators’ work.

6. Honor SGT authority and meaningful participation from the whole community. Each school’s SGT must use its established process to determine instructional technology practices based on its students, staff, and resources. Educators, families, and students must have a voice. Two seats for SDEA on a District committee cannot substitute for TK–12 input across schools and instructional settings.

What we expect next to meaningfully incorporate these demands:

• Pause one-size-fits-all restrictions until more thorough feedback can be gathered from the broader community (representing diverse needs across our schools.)
• Provide guidance, discussion questions, and implementation options to support informed SGT decision-making, while preserving each school community’s authority to determine how “Learner-Centered Technology Use” is implemented at its site.
• Complete equity, accessibility, and workload reviews and identify needed supports.
• Meet with SDEA representatives to respond to the concerns raised, revise guidance together, and ensure that educator and site feedback shaped the decisions.

This letter is not SDEA approval of any proposed guidance or its implementation. As a democratic union, we need the insight and input of all educators, and SGTs provide the structure we need for individual site decisions that meet individual site needs.

Our members fought for shared decision-making so decisions are made with school communities, not for them. We are ready to collaborate, but that collaboration must be real. We need to get this right, not simply get it done.

Monique Barrett, M.Ed.

President, San Diego Education Association