Santa Barbara Junior High is going back to the basics this school year, with more pen-and-paper assignments and fewer opportunities for students to use technology without a specific purpose.
The school is one of several in the Santa Barbara Unified School District participating in the “Tech With Intent” initiative, which was implemented earlier this year. The effort is designed to make sure technology is used when it serves a specific educational purpose while creating more opportunities for screen-free learning.
As part of the initiative, students place their cellphones in signal-blocking pouches during the school day. The district also limits access to entertainment platforms such as YouTube and blocks generative artificial intelligence sites on district-issued iPads.
Marilyn Garza, a teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High, said she has noticed changes in students’ ability to focus.
“I find that the attention span is shorter,” Garza said. “They also demand very quick responses and they want to move on.”
Principal Valarie Labrentz said the goal is not to eliminate technology from the classroom but to make its use more deliberate.
“Now it’s just they have to use their iPads, because we have very specific intentions around the iPad,” Labrentz said. “We even tell our teachers, please, no free iPad time.”
The approach follows months of debate among parents, educators and students over how much technology belongs in schools.
Eighth-grader Bryson Tannis said some students and parents have expressed concerns about being unable to reach one another immediately during the school day.
“Like my parents and my friends’ parents, they say they won’t be able to contact us and we won’t be able to contact them,” Tannis said. “But I understand what the goal is, [what] the district is trying to do.”
Teachers say the shift is about more than reducing screen time. They also want students to strengthen skills that can be harder to practice when lessons are dominated by digital devices.
That includes listening carefully, responding directly and engaging with teachers and classmates without a screen serving as a constant distraction.
“Actually listening closely, being able to respond to what they hear directly, I think we’ll be able to do that a lot more,” Garza said.
As the new school year gets underway, Santa Barbara Junior High is continuing to balance technology with more traditional classroom tools, using digital devices when they have a clear purpose and putting them away when they do not.
