As I campaign for the Dysart Unified School District Governing Board, one issue I continue to hear from parents and teachers is concern over how much time our youngest students spend on screens. While technology certainly has a place in education, I believe it is time to seriously reconsider the use of Chromebooks in kindergarten through third grade classrooms. At a minimum, their use should be significantly limited during these critical early learning years.

There’s a moment many of us remember from our childhood classrooms—when we asked a teacher how to pronounce a word or what it meant, and instead of giving us the answer, they said: “Go look it up. If I tell you, you won’t remember—but if you find it yourself, you will.” At the time, it may have felt frustrating. Today, it feels like wisdom. I can still recall many of the words I looked up in a dictionary. Not because I had to—but because I worked to find the answer. That process made the knowledge stick. It became mine.

At the March 30th Dysart Governing Board meeting, something didn’t sit right. Board President Steve Skvara is now leading the charge to place another bond on the ballot this November—despite voting against the last one. That sudden shift alone raises important questions, but even more concerning is how quickly this proposal appears to be coming together. Let me be clear: Dysart needs a bond to pass.