‘We’re kind of suffering the consequences’: Seattle schools superintendent explains new limits on screen time and AI

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is pulling back on classroom screen time and blocking more apps and AI tools. SPS Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said the district is fixing a problem that started during the pandemic.

“I think what happened is during COVID, we just said, ‘Hey, everybody, take a laptop,’ and then we kind of stopped to really control what was going on and what kids had access to,” Shuldiner said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “And now we’re kind of suffering the consequences of that.”

The district announced the changes at a special board meeting Wednesday. Parents rallied outside district headquarters, calling for a pause on AI in classrooms.

No more laptop for every student

Kindergarten through second-grade students already no longer get their own devices, and their technology use is limited to 30 minutes a day. Starting in January 2027, the same approach expands to grades 3-5, with a limit of 60 minutes a day. District and state tests don’t count toward the limits.

Teachers also won’t be allowed to use devices as rewards, incentives, or free time.

“Those things should be kids playing with blocks, and they should be playing outside, and they should be doing all those things or reading,” Shuldiner said.

He noted families can still check out computers so students have internet access at home.

“But every day, when you walk into class, you shouldn’t be handed a laptop and said, ‘OK, kid, go to it,’” he said.

YouTube, Minecraft and Gemini blocked

Starting Monday, the district will block YouTube for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Minecraft will be blocked for all students, except when it’s part of an approved lesson. Gemini and other unapproved AI tools, including Google Search’s AI summaries, will also be blocked for all students.

Shuldiner said students had found a way to reach Google’s AI through search and use it to access things they shouldn’t.

“Our kids are brilliant. Let’s just say that,” he said.

He said middle and high schools are next, but the approach will look different there. Older students take coding, career and technical education, and AP computer science classes, where screens are part of the work.

“Imagine if you get out of high school and you don’t know how to do that,” Shuldiner said. “You’re going to be behind the times.”

Back to pens and hands-on learning

KIRO host Gee Scott asked what Shuldiner would change about school curriculum if he could change one thing.

Shuldiner said some older methods still work best. He pointed to research showing that writing by hand uses the brain differently than typing, and that students remember more from hands-on learning.

He wants more project-based learning and more career and technical education. He acknowledged that those programs were once used to steer some students away from college, but said they now prepare students for careers such as nursing, medicine and electrical work.

‘That is a sin for us’

KIRO host Ursula Reutin asked how Seattle students are doing in reading and math.

Shuldiner said Seattle’s overall scores beat other big-city districts, including San Diego, Boston and Austin. But Black and Latino students and students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch are far behind.

“That is a sin for us, and we have to fix that,” he said.

Gee asked how that happened in a city considered liberal. Shuldiner, who has led the district for about nine months, said Seattle seems more libertarian to him.

“Everybody gets to do whatever they want at any time, and the rules don’t seem to want to apply to anybody,” he said. “And so that’s not liberal. That’s libertarian.”

To close the gap, the district brought in a new reading curriculum based on the science of reading. Shuldiner said teachers first called it too fast and too hard, but students are now keeping up. The district also has 15 reading coaches who visit every school once a week.

He said the district is also using data to send more help to classrooms where students are struggling, instead of spreading resources evenly.

“Not in a punitive way but in a supportive way,” Shuldiner said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio.