Press Releases & Statements

As you may have heard, Lower Merion School District leadership has canceled tonight's in-person Board meeting, one of the most consequential meetings of the year, where the final school tech policy addressing education technology, personal devices, cell phones, and related issues will be presented and voted on by the full Board.

Many parents and community members had planned to attend and speak during public comment. Instead, the meeting has been moved entirely to Zoom, with no opportunity for live public comment.

In announcing the decision, Amy Buckman wrote:

We are deeply troubled that the response has been to eliminate the in-person public meeting at precisely the moment when community participation matters most. We are also extremely concerned by any implication that threatening online comments should be attributed to the broader community of parents and residents who have spent months peacefully advocating, speaking at meetings, writing to the Board, and asking to collaborate with the District.

In response, Pencils Over Pixels has issued the following statement:

"We, the Pencils Over Pixels community, write to respond to the District's August 14 announcement that the Board business meeting and vote on the new school tech policy scheduled for Monday, August 17, will no longer be held in-person.

As a community, we are horrified by threatening, violent, or hateful comments directed at Board members and District employees. We do not condone this behavior in any form. Once we became aware of the comments, we deleted and reported them, and will continue to do so as necessary.

We have deep empathy for Board members who volunteer their time and for District employees who serve our community; no matter our disagreements, they should never be subjected to threats or abuse. As far as we can determine, the comments did not come from members of the Pencils Over Pixels community. Some appear to have originated from outside Lower Merion School District, and may have come from automated or fake accounts.

At the same time, many parents and community members advocating for teacher-led education and less reliance on devices have themselves received deeply hateful messages from identifiable local individuals, including personal attacks, racial and ethnic slurs, and other disturbing comments. Our response has never been to vilify an entire group or divide the community. Instead, we have pointed to these experiences as evidence of one of the very problems we seek to address: social media platforms are designed to bring out extraordinarily aggressive and harmful behavior in adults. What chance do children and teenagers have in this toxic digital environment while their brains, judgment, and emotional regulation are still developing?

These events only strengthen the case for protecting children from social media, cyberbullying, harmful online interactions, and unrestricted access to digital platforms. Today's digital spaces are inherently unsuitable for civil debate or democratic deliberation.

For that reason, the Pencils Over Pixels community objects to the District's elimination of an important in-person public meeting during which such a consequential vote will be held. The community also objects to any framing that associates threatening comments with the parents and community members who have peacefully advocated for change. District leadership risks further dividing our community at precisely the moment when they should be bringing us together.

The Pencils Over Pixels community unequivocally rejects threats, hatred, and intimidation. As peaceful advocates, we refuse to be delegitimized by anonymous online comments we did not make, immediately removed, and forcefully condemn. Our focus remains protecting children, strengthening teacher-led education, reducing unnecessary screen exposure, and creating safer schools."

— Pencils Over Pixels