Going to legislative days in Salem catapulted me into a whole new world I did not know existed (almost like the fantasy series my 10 year old granddaughter turned me onto). There was a buzz of energy in the halls of groups of people moving into presentations to legislative committees (like the Senate Education Committee hearing on chronic absenteeism) or from legislator to legislator to bring attention to issues that matter to them, offering insights and possible solutions for the legislators to explore over the summer.

I went to Salem with Ross Swartzendruber, who we met at an OR Unplugged event. He is a long-term advocate against 1-to-1 devices, EdTech generally, and Canvas, a now breached, learning management system in schools nationwide. Ross, a master at setting up meetings, strategically put like-minded groups together like OPEN (Oregon Public Education Network), OSTA (Oregon Substitute Teachers Association), OMLC (Oregon Media Literacy Coalition) and OR Unplugged (that's us!) and the result was a lot of meetings with a lot of legislators.

We shared invaluable resources like Jared Cooney Horvath's research on how and why our kids fail to learn from EdTech: with links to his US Senate Testimony, his talk at Sunnyside Environmental school, the correlation of EdTech and the demise of learning across 50 states, studies showing reduced white matter in MRI brains scans of preschool aged children with increased screen exposure.

We also drew attention to concerns about:

• Transparency in each School District around what tech is being used in the classroom. Tech products need to be vetted as safe, effective, legal and better than a teacher.

• Filters not blocking EdTech effectively (better to have white list rather than black list).

• Educator awareness of how often and how much students are off task and on YouTube (13,000 YouTube views by a 7th grader in 3 months on school tablet), watching porn, playing videogames, or passing notes on Google Docs....

We left behind Student Tech Bill of Rights, ORU brochure, and a small pocket notebook to use when letting your phone "sleep”, and a copies of The Digital Delusion. We also sent out model bills on safe tech, social media, and phones from the Distraction Free Schools Policy Project and shared the successful resolutions by school boards in Bend and Canby to remove screens from K-2, suggest screen time limits by grade, and to allow for parents and teachers to opt out of AI and/or EdTech in the classroom. Most importantly we emphasized the need for (and our support of) a PAUSE on AI as suggested by Fairplay (and recently implemented by PPS). This may take some education on the science of learning, the need for play, and funding a play-based learning bill that already passed. Additionally, we’re hoping to have legislators consider a ban on AI toys in Oregon (like NY, CA, and PA are working on).

What an adventure!

Curious about who we met with? We were lucky enough to meet in-person with: Sen. Reynolds’ chief of staff: Kelsey McCauley (36th District, Reynolds is the Chair of the Senate Early Childhood Committee), Rep. Dobson and her chief of staff: Dylan Sheldon (39th District, Dobson is the Vice Chair of the House Education Committee), Sen. Drazan (26th District) and her staff: Audrey Traaen, Sen. Robinson (2nd District, on the Senate Education Committee), Rep. Nguyen (38th District), Rep. Ruiz (50th District, on the Ways and Means Committee), and Rep. Wagner’s staff: McKenzie Worthington (19th District, Wagner is the Senate Majority Leader).

We met virtually with: Rep. McIntire (56th District and Vice Chair of House Education Committee), Rep. Fragala (8th District and former teacher in the Eugene area, on House Education Committee), Rep. Hudson (49th District and Chair of the House Education Committee), and Sen. Blouin Gelser’s chief of staff: Maia Powloski (8th District, Blouin Gelser is on the Senate Early Childhood Committee).

Please consider reaching out to any of them via email to share your story and how digital harms have impacted your family, especially if they are in your district! They are making plans NOW for writing bills due this fall.

We will have a chance to visit in person again on legislation days in September - and hopefully we get to see a whole lot more of you there.