SMA Tech Policy

St. Monica Academy’s Technology Expectations by Grade

In Grades 1 – 4 there is no required computer or internet use. All writing assignments are hand-written. Parents may check Gradelink as needed, but students need not do so.

In Grade 5 there is no required internet use. There is a single, typed essay, the Daughters of the American Revolution project, consisting of multiple drafts. Research for this project is primarily from books, although the Grade 5 Teacher may offer an online source to be accessed with parent supervision. All remaining assignments are done by hand. Parents may check Gradelink as needed, but students need not do so.

In Grade 6 there is optional internet research for the Mythological Figure project, a typing test for which there are online training exercises, and a single typed essay. Parents should begin checking Gradelink at least one to two times per month. Students may begin checking with parent oversight, no more than once a month.

In Grade 7 there is occasional internet research for some classes (Science Project, various presentations), a typing test for which there are online training exercises, and multiple typed essays. Students will begin using the SMA Computer lab for essay editing and rewriting. Because Grade 7 is when students begin having several teachers and assignments can be more difficult to track, parents and students together should check Gradelink every one to two weeks.

In Grade 8 students, under the supervision and control of parents, should create an e-mail account. There is a lesson in English 8 covering proper e-mail etiquette. Student e-mail accounts will be used more so in high school, but we feel it is wise to begin training them prior to that. There is occasional internet research for some classes (Science Project, various presentations), multiple typed assignments, and some computer-based homework using free programs in Science 8 (Coding and Robotics). Parents and students together should check Gradelink once a week.

Grades 9-12 require internet access for research in various courses, primary instructional videos (Trig/Precalculus, Physics, AP Courses), optional supplemental videos (multiple courses), practice apps (such as those for Latin vocabulary review), and multiple typed essays including the yearly, multi-step research paper. Many students have supervised study periods in the SMA computer lab. Students are expected to have an e-mail address entered into Gradelink for teacher communication, and to create a College Board account for PSAT and AP registration as well as testing results. Students should take the lead in monitoring assignments and progress in Gradelink, but parents should continue to check Gradelink on a regular schedule.

 

Important Questions

My family needs a means to communicate quickly and easily, especially with all of the activities that SMA offers. How can we do so responsibly?

1. Phones, laptops, and any internet capable devices should be under the fundamental control of parents. Parents should not give devices to their children, but instead make any such devices available for particular uses. All devices, even those used only by students, should be treated as “family devices” of which no child in the household can claim ownership. This makes clear that all such technology falls under the category of a privilege, not a right.
2. Remind your children that everything saved on or done with a family phone is subject to your review at any time. The phones in your home are there to improve communication, manage activities, and provide specific services; they are not there to encourage wasted time, facilitate bad habits, or engender sinful behavior.
3. If possible, opt for a flip phone or internet-limited phone (Gabb and Pinwheel are two such options). If you have a smartphone for use by your high-schoolers, you should install parental monitoring and control software (a list of options is provided below).
   Phones of any kind are not allowed on campus for students in grades 1 – 8, so instruct your elementary and middle school children to contact you from the office during or after school.
4. For high-schoolers, phones must be turned off and stored in backpacks or in lockers during the school day. Gaming, video-watching, and social media are not allowed on personal devices on campus.

 

What is required of me if my child has access to tech devices?

1. For every tech-based device or activity that you allow your child, your responsibility increases. Anything that can connect to the internet can potentially channel disordered, perverse, and harmful images and ideas directly into your home and into the soul of your child.
2. Internet-equipped devices must have their histories checked regularly, and should also be subject to monitoring software of some kind.
   Such devices should be used in common areas (not alone in bedrooms), and should always be stored by parents overnight.
   Parents must have full and immediate access to all devices, programs, and accounts that are used or accessed in their home. Dependent children have no absolute right to privacy.
3. The type and number of apps should be limited and parent permission should be required before any apps can be accessed or added.
   If there are apps on family devices, turn off all unnecessary notifications. Constant notifications are the easiest way to habituate incessant accessing of devices. Every activity on a device, even playing games, should be intentional.
4. If your child is allowed to text or chat, all threads should be checked and read through
   Computer, phone, or console-based video games must be checked for content and communication capability with remote players, and then monitored/limited appropriately.
5. Social network apps can have corrosive effects on focus, time management, self-confidence, and self-control. SMA recommends that you not allow your dependent children to access social networking apps. If you do allow such access, you are responsible for an additional virtual ecosystem that you must monitor, along with all of the previous points of responsibility.

 

What is SMA’s view on AI programs?

Whatever the utility that AI may offer in the professional realm, we feel that its value to SMA’s educational and formational goals is almost entirely negative. It does not teach students how to write or research effectively. The results that it provides are superficial, bland, and often inaccurate. There is no sourcing of results. It rewards laziness and dishonesty. Students should not use AI for any SMA assignments, and doing so for written assignments is considered plagiarism and a violation of the Academic Honesty agreement signed by students in 7th – 12th grade.

 

SMA’s approach to technology seems overly rigorous and even fearful. Technology has on balance led to massive benefits for society. Why this level of concern?

1. Leaving aside arguments about the scale of current technological benefits, the key phrase here is “on balance”. This does not imply unalloyed good, but instead a trade-off between the benefits and costs that have come with technology. The attitude above also fails to take into account the difference between juvenile and adult use of technology, and the critical difference that wisdom and experience make in reaping the benefits of technology while minimizing the costs.
2. The ease with which smartphones in particular can serve as wide-open gateways to pornography and sexual grooming, as well as catalysts for depression is more than sufficient reason to restrict use of such technology only to specific, appropriate, monitored use by children and teens.
3. Second-tier problems (increases in social anxiety, decreases in physical activity, superficial communication, ease of gossip, greater emotional distance in family relationships, reduced attention span, more difficulty reading challenging texts, numerous opportunities for plagiarism and academic dishonesty, simple time-wasting) offer only more confirmation that the prudent approach to technology leans to the restrictive side of the spectrum.
4. Public schools around the country are playing catch up with SMA and other like-minded schools by limiting or even banning (with varying degrees of success) possession of phones during the school day.
5. Parents must take all the information provided here and craft their own specific rules for their families. But as a school, SMA must take into account the entire community. Again, prudence dictates that in environments controlled by the school, a more restrictive technological policy is the proper way to support the community as a whole.

 

Parent Resources & Tips (more coming soon!)

Qustodio (qustodio.com)

Aura (aura.com)

Bark (bark.us)

Family Keeper (https://familykeeper.reasonlabs.com/)

Covenant Eyes (covenanteyes.com)