Dear Brown MS Community,

The month of May is full of observances including Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, Mental Health Awareness Month and Memorial Day. For today, I would like to share some thoughts regarding the mental health of our young people and the digital world we live in.

Brown MS teachers and counselors work with students daily to develop social-emotional skills such as self awareness and management, responsible decision making, relationships, social awareness and self advocacy. In recent years this has become more challenging. Certainly, some of this is a due to the isolation of the pandemic. At that time, many kids were given smart phones, social media and other digital venues earlier than we normally would have in order to keep them connected to their peers. Unfortunately, we now see an empathy deficit in our young people and a social immaturity surplus. It is not uncommon to see kids sitting with their friends scrolling, texting and not interacting with those who are next to them. In contrast, kids spend hours responding, commenting or observing others online and these interactions are not always kind nor appropriate.

As adults, we know how easy it is to access inappropriate sites that spew hate, violence or sexualized content. Additionally, we have all seen the poor behavior of adults in the comment sections on social media. Our middle schoolers are reading and learning from this – and they are sometimes spending more time consuming this negative content than pursuing positive endeavors such as school work, community activities, sports, music, etc. Our School Resource Officer Zoi Lazarakis did presentations on cyber safety for our 6th and 7th grade students earlier this year which was valuable. However, conversations about being safe and appropriate online need to become a regular part of our children’s lives and they need to happen frequently with parents/guardians.

Middle school is a time when many students receive their first phone. Providing a child with a smart phone is an enormous commitment on the part of a parent/guardian. Before you give your child this powerful tool, you must make a plan for how you will keep them safe and teach them well. Consider these points:

• You must learn how you can put parental controls on the device.
• You must create “phone-free” zones in your home and set limits on screen time.
• You must regularly check on what your child is watching, reading and sharing on any social media or other platform you allow them to use.
• You have to keep up with all the new apps.

This is an enormous investment of your time – so be certain YOU are ready to take this on before handing them that phone.

The book First Phone: A Child’s Guide to Digital Responsibility, Safety and Etiquette by Catherine Pearlman is a book we recommend students to read that teaches them how to be safe, kind and careful online. I would recommend reading it with your child – even if you gave them a phone 4 years ago – it is never to late to begin the conversation.

Additionally, we need your help to reinforce our expectations for electronics at school (see below). We see evidence of addiction to screens from a number of our students, and it is playing out in a variety of ways. Some students are using their phones during the school day and while we would like to believe teachers have eyes in the backs of their heads, the reality is, we are not able to “catch” it every time. For this to work, we need them to understand why they need to give themselves a break from their phone so that they can fully Be Here (Bear Belief). Please review these with your child.

Electronic Devices (smart phones, watches & earbuds)

• Personal devices must be off and stored safely in a locked locker from 8:20 – 2:50
• Personal devices can be used only for educational purposes when teacher-directed (i.e. earbuds to listen to videos, phones to take pictures for a project, etc.)
• Personal devices should NOT be used during passing time.
• If a student is using a personal device without permission, the student must give the phone to the adult who will take it to the office. Students will pick up the phone at the end of the day.
  • 2nd time parent will be informed
  • 3rd time student must turn in phone in at main office before school each day

Finally, I apologize for the length of this letter – there is so much more to say about it, and i encourage you to talk to one another (parent to parent) to support each other as we all navigate this important time in their lives!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend,

Kim Lysaght