parentscoalitionmc@outlook.com
The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland has been working with stakeholders throughout the state of Maryland for fifteen years, seeking timely remediation for issues which threaten our children, greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.
We have been providing parents, educators and lawmakers with pertinent medical information regarding the health threats posed to our children by classroom digital devices for over a year. The hazards facing Maryland students range from visual damage, headaches, dry eyes, muscular pain and joint pain to sleeplessness, anxiety and addiction. Parents in Montgomery County are also concerned about the risks posed by the radiation emitted by the classroom digital devices and the Wi-fi routers installed in many schools.
We look forward to your support of HB866/SB1089. Thank you for your attention to this important child safety legislation.
Sincerely,
Paula Bienenfeld Sheldon Fishman
Joseph Hawkins Janis Zink Sartucci
Danuta Wilson
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD
Formed in 2002, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.
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Distribution list:
anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us, frank.turner@house.state.md.us
"The hazards facing Maryland students range from visual damage, headaches, dry eyes, muscular pain and joint pain to sleeplessness, anxiety and addiction."
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the digital information age!
Information or gaming/entertainment? Let's not lump all screen time into information when so much of it is entertainment.
DeleteGoing the route of splitting hairs:
DeleteData: Facts, a description of the World
Information: Captured Data and Knowledge
Knowledge: Our personal map/model of the World
You must be new to this county. The explanation is not splitting hairs at all. "Information" is what the traveling sales folks use to "sell" MCPS administrators over bulk screen purchases over lunches/dinners and at conferences. It's all about the marketing of these screens.
DeleteSince you are new, you might not be aware that every single MCPS classroom, including PE classes, has a Promethean Board bolted to the center of the chalk board. That's one huge screen that all students are staring at all day. Where is the data that shows these Promethean Boards closed the achievement gap? That was the marketing pitch! Did they do that?
What "information" and knowledge have Promethean Boards imparted on students that teachers could not teach? Let's see the studies on these gigantic screens! We know they were fun for games and entertainment, but where is the data on the educational outcomes?
It's not the "digital information age" if it's just a big screen for Disney movies.
I presume that the Promethean Boards were touted as high tech tools for the teachers to effectively transfer knowledge to their pupils. However, there is such a thing as a manual override it is called an ON/OFF switch.
DeleteExcuse? Were teachers having a problem transferring knowledge without Promethean Boards? The Promethean Boards weren't touted as anything. The MCPS Chief Technology officer, Sherwin Collette, got free trips from Promethean. MCPS got thousands of Promethean Boards.
DeleteAs for ON/OFF - that's a NO. The Boards were installed, at Sherwin Collette's direction, directly in the MIDDLE of all chalk boards, thus eliminating the use of chalk boards in classrooms. Teachers and students have no choice but to stare at the large screens all day, the students can't see the middle of the chalk boards anymore.
For clarity, the Board of Education NEVER voted to put thousands of Promethean Boards in classrooms. That was a decision of Sherwin Collette and Larry Bowers. The Parents' Coalition has documented this illegal procurement.
DeleteAnd there was that one teacher at Blair that refused to teach until the Promethean Board was removed from the front of his classroom.
It sounds like the 'Prometheus Board' that serves as a high tech babysitter has sparked a different brand of firestorm.
DeleteA Prometheus Board on the chalkboard is like an iPhone on the dashboard.
Delete