At Saint Louis Sudbury School, we do not have restrictions on using electronic devices beyond content rules. A couple of weeks ago, Sudbury students worked together to organize a screen-free day because they wanted to more deeply connect with students that they knew less well and how they wanted to build a sense of community. This was a bit of an experiment that our group collectively felt was safe enough to try.

The screen-free day was loud at times, busy, creative, physical, messy, and fun. There were lots of great conversations among students and staff, game play, sharing of snacks, and running around. Some of the students struggled a bit with boredom but overall having no access to screens went well.

One unique situation that came up was that with the help of staff, a 9-year-old Visiting Week student made a motion in School Meeting to use her iPad to do math that day. School Meeting Members ages 7 to 50 asked some questions and made comments such as:

“If she uses her iPad to do math, can other people watch?”
”I don’t think it’s fair because I can’t use my iPad.”
”How does it make you feel when you do math on your iPad?”
”Can you do math on paper instead?”
”How long is she going to do math for?”
”I think it’s okay because doing math on an iPad is different than playing games.”
”I think it’s okay because she is new.”

After some thoughtful and respectful conversation among the students and staff, the Visiting Week student shared that doing math on her iPad makes her feel really calm, peaceful, and Zen like. She talked about how she likes solving math problems and seeing them disappear on the screen. She said that she wanted to do it because she needed some time to feel calm.

Some School Meeting Members voted no on her being able to use her iPad, but the majority said yes—we support you to do that today. The motion passed and the Visiting Week student had her 45 minutes of math on her iPad.

Offering Sudbury students of all ages opportunities to ask questions, initiate requests, advocate for themselves and each other, think critically, talk about what “being fair” can mean, and share what matters to them are valuable aspects of our daily experience at school together!