Marietta City School Board Sets District Vision for Screens, Technology, and AI

MARIETTA, Ga. – Screens in Marietta City Schools classrooms will be closed by default and opened only with purpose, after the Board of Education voted Tuesday night to approve a new resolution on student screen time and technology use.

The vote follows months of meetings and listening sessions gathering input from teachers, staff, and families on the best way forward for students.

The resolution puts highly qualified, teacher-led instruction back at the center of the classroom. It affirms that technology should support learning, not replace it — used only when it purposefully enhances instruction — and sets clear, age-appropriate expectations for both technology and artificial intelligence. 

"Screens should be closed by default, open with purpose," said Superintendent Grant Rivera, Ed.D. "We don't want kids to be sitting in front of screens. That's not where we believe the most effective learning occurs."

It prohibits the use of screens as a behavior-management tool and calls for capstones, culminating projects, and other authentic assessments that give students real opportunities to think, write, and produce work on their own.

"We want to acknowledge there is a place for all of it. But we want to be intentional about making sure that kids are independent authors and have their own creative thoughts. That matters in Marietta," said Rivera.

The resolution also dedicates the 2026–2027 school year to identifying specific, actionable strategies for reducing unnecessary screen time across all grade levels. District leadership will build an accountability structure and bring concrete recommendations back to the Board.

"We became too accustomed to screens being a tool for teaching, and it doesn't need to be that. It can be a tool in the classroom, but we need teachers in front of our kids because they're the greatest resources," said Board Chair Jaillene Hunter, who also serves on the Georgia Council on Literacy.

The vote builds on the district's phone-free classroom work — which drew national attention and independent study — and extends that same intentionality to screens and artificial intelligence.