Story by Maxwell Gardoce
Staff Writer
In conversations concerning personal technology usage among students in SPUSD
schools, the parent-led organization Touch Grass South Pas plays a major role. The
group advocates for a developmental learning environment, believing that a personal
technology ban during school hours would be beneficial for all district students. The
coalition, formed in spring 2025, grew out of a shared concern from parents who
regularly attended board meetings regarding mindful usage of technology.
The organization remains South Pasadena’s default local chapter of the Schools Beyond
Screens (SBS) non-profit, created in part by writer Lila Byock. SBS started as a
grassroots coalition of parents and teachers based in LAUSD, their central purpose
being a total district-wide ban of personal cellphones. Their efforts eventually led the
district to hold a national record by Feb. 18, 2025, as the single largest school district to
implement a full smartphone and social media restriction in schools.
Touch Grass means to heavily base the SPUSD cellphone policy off of preexisting
LAUSD policies advocated for by SBS, including a prohibition of student usage of
YouTube on campus, as well as a “bell-to-bell” policy on cellphones — no phones
during passing periods, brunch, and lunch.
The organization promotes its intended plans through extensive advocacy, from online
petitions and Instagram and Facebook posts to significant lobbying at SPUSD board
meetings. As stated on a Touch Grass online petition, “We use technology with
intention, not by default. We follow the data on developing brains, attention, and
well-being. Schools should be our models. Phone-free where it matters.”
Jesse Fisher, a neuropsychologist affiliated with Touch Grass, stated in the Sept. 8
SPUSD board meeting, “Rigorous, large-scale studies show that one-on-one school
devices are not advancing learning outcomes in the ways that we had hoped
post-COVID, and social media acts as an amplifier for at-risk youth,” his words
exemplifying the concern of 301 signatures on the Touch Grass petition.
However, it is important to note the distinction between Touch Grass South Pas and the
SPUSD Technology Committee. The SPUSD Educational Technology Committee,
founded in 2024, “has engaged in extensive research, regional benchmarking, and
community outreach to help guide district technology policies,” as mentioned on the
district’s website. The group is similar to Touch Grass, as its members are primarily
volunteering SPUSD parents, yet the committee is a sector of the district’s technology
department and has the final say as to what policies are actually implemented.
Ellesberg also mentioned the coalition’s concern for data privacy of students in SPUSD
schools: “Please know it is not our teachers, administrators, or yourselves that we don’t
trust. It is the $4 billion-plus for-profit EdTech companies whose sole aim is not to
educate our children, but to create lifetime consumers out of them by analyzing their
data … What’s happening to that data?”
Though the organization may feel like an attack on SPHS students opposed to the
device policy, Ellesberg reassured on her behalf that, “I’m not just doing this for my first
grader … you are the future, and we need you. You know? We need you at your full
magical capacity. You know the people who are selling us this stuff do not have our best
interests at heart.”
Although district policy on personal technology still remains unchanged for now, Touch
Grass South Pas’ rapid progress towards their goal may soon turn the tide. SPUSD’s
official stance has yet to shift — an eventual response from the district is uncertain.