NYC Council rally and hearing on screen time

Sept. 16, 2026

Yesterday’s City Council rally and hearing on the excessive use of ed tech and screen time in our schools represented an important step forward in creating more awareness and pressure on the Department of Education to improve their weak guidelines on screen time for students, which have far too many loopholes and and in any case are only voluntary rather than not mandated.

During the hearing, Speaker Julie Menin questioned why the screentime limits were only advisory, especially given the increasing evidence that the increased use of ed tech by students has undermined their achievement and mental health.

Chair of the Oversight and Investigation Committee Shekar Krishnan who is the father of two young children was particularly passionate, and pointed out that big tech companies like Google market products to schools like YouTube purposely to addict kids, and that DOE should be obligated to provide far stronger protections than the tepid recommendations they have offered so far. He called on officials to ban YouTube, 1:1 devices for grades K-5, and to bring back paper and pencil for testing.

When questioned about the voluntary nature of the screen time limits, Deputy Chancellor Giunta at first denied they were merely recommended, and said they were “non-negotiable”. She later changed her tune and admitted they were voluntary, as that they wanted to schools to be “mindful”.

When asked if anyone would check how much screen time was actually happening in schools, she said this would be monitored through school visits that she and other DOE adminstrators regularly make. (This is a contrast from what is happening in LA, where the leadership has committed to tracking adherence with their mandatory screentime limits, by means of software embedded in the school devices. )

Education Committee Chair and former teacher Eric Dinowitz asked Deputy Chancellor Giunta if the DOE required any 3rd party verification for the effectiveness of any of the products used in schools. She responded: “That’s our next step.” Is there a timeline? Giunta: That’s what our AI pilots are for (for up to 180 high schools.) Should our students should be used as guinea pigs in this way? She responded, “We hear your frustration.”

DOE officials were also asked which AI products have been removed, and when will they release what ed tech products are exempt  from screen time limits? Response: We are working through this list, and still awaiting responses from our vendors to hear if AI is in their programs.   (Why DOE should relying on their vendors without verification on this critical matters shows yet again how weak their oversight continues to be.)

DOE Chief Privacy Officer Dennis Doyle was subsequently queried which AI subprocessors were embedded in products like Amira. He replied that he didn’t know, and that they do not demand to see any of the contracts between their vendors and their AI subcontractors, to examine what specific data privacy protections were even claimed to be used.

When Giunta was asked why DOE is exampting so many ed tech apps and programs from any limits, among the many assessments, screeners, and diagnostics that students are required to take online even in the early grades, she insisted these products were critical to inform teachers where their students are in their learning — as though this was impossible to achieve before the advent of ed tech. (Moreover, many NYC teachers have said that the commonly assigned screeners and assessments are useless for these purposes.)

When CM Lynn Schulmann inquired if parents would be allowed to opt their children out of any of these ed tech programs, Giunta said no — even though parents at several schools throughout the city have reported that indeed their principals have let them opt out.

The supposed big announcement at the hearing reported by outlets like Chalkbeat was that after years of complaints from parents that students were endlessly watching YouTube on their school-issued computers and tablets, Scott Strickland, Deputy CIO announced, “We heard everyone loud and clear. As of Wednesday night 5 p.m., we filtered YouTube out of all student devices.” Instead, what I think he meant is they have turned off unlimited student access of YouTube on these devices.

But what wasn’t asked or answered is why YouTube videos are still being assigned to NYC students at all, given the fact that almost two years ago, the DOE was informed by Google and the State Education Department that the YouTube platform would no longer abide by the state student privacy law, starting in March 2025.

The DOE has now asked teachers instead to embed YouTube videos on Google Classroom, though the  tech experts I’ve consulted doubt that this workaround will prevent the commercial and thus illegal use of student data. More on this in my testimony here .  I also suggested new legislation to require DOE reporting on screen time by school, and how the two bills they’ve already introduced on AI could be strengthened.

In addition, on the NYC Parent blog I posted the eloquent testimony of PEP parent member and tech expert Naveed Hassan, who argued that the outsourcing of instruction to these vendors is a particularly ruthless form of privatization, and an unacceptable abnegation of the city’s responsibility to our children.

The full video from the hearing is here and the rally beforehand here. Both are well worth watching in full,  especially for the comments and pointed questioning of many Council Members and the horror stories of parents, describing many hours of wasted time and the abusive nature of some of the products their kids are assigned to use. Also see media coverage from the Daily News, NY Times, AMNY, and NY1.

More soon, Leonie