Friends,

Last night, our community was visible at a BISD board meeting for the first time. 40+ of us were in the room. A few more joined on Zoom. 20 of you stood up and spoke in public comment. - recordings of those are at the bottom of this email.

If there is one thing I want you to read in this email, it is this. Last night we sat in that room and heard parents, mental health professionals, teachers, experienced tech professionals, nurses and passionate community members describe what they are seeing in our schools and in our homes. The comments were specific, honest, and often hard to hear. I know I can speak for all us when I say they were moving in a way that we will carry for a long time.

I cannot guarantee that the district is listening to you. But I can assure you that we are. That is not nothing.

The board, by law, cannot respond to public comment. I will not speak for them. I will say that it would be hard to sit through what was shared last night and not be affected.

That said, after public comment Superintendent Thompson did address a group of us outside. There was a bit of a disconnect between what was shared during public comment and the nature of her response to it. I want to be careful here, because I respect the superintendent's role and the difficulty of it. But what we heard from her was not what many of us had hoped for after a moment like that. We are on different pages and different timelines, and it is not yet clear that we have shared goals. Transparency is the work immediately in front of us

Whatever you may hear, I want to be direct about one thing.

What is not in question are your children's experiences. It is not misinformation that young children are experiencing gamified learning. It is not misinformation that older children spend hours in front of screens during the school day and come home to do another hour of screen-based homework. It is not misinformation that families on this island are opting their children out of public school because of these issues. These are observations from your homes and from within our schools' walls. They are the heart of why we are here.

What comes next

Superintendent Thompson is inviting the community to a meeting on Thursday, May 14 at 4:30 PM in the BISD Boardroom, with a Zoom option. We may ask to move this meeting if it does not work for us. It is not a community meeting if the community cannot attend it. Let us know what times work for you. We will send more info soon.

Both the community meeting and the May 14th board meeting that follows deserve our presence. The community meeting is where we engage on substance. The board meeting is where the district hears, again, that this community is still here.

Between now and then, our asks do not change. Our questions do not change. We as parents and community members have the power to change the course of a train that is moving down the track.

In the meantime, the work continues.

Nothing here stops. Nobody gets quieter.

To everyone who showed up, who spoke, who came alone and stood with strangers who turned out to share your concern, who organized their families to be in that room, who watched on Zoom because they could not be there in person: thank you.

We, as the Intentional Tech Team, were encouraged to see so many of you parents there, we were moved by your stories and what was exposed. Watch them here:

Recording #1 (Public comments starts at the 31 minute mark)

Recording #2(Claire, a high school teacher closes the night strong where this video starts off)

More soon.

-Jordan & The Intentional Tech Team

(Committee felt too formal. We are parents trying to figure this out alongside you.)

P.S - if you joined recently and this is your first email reply to this one if you'd like me to send you our previous updates.