To: Bernie Noe, Lakeside trustees, teachers, and parents
Subject: Coming together on the laptop proposal
Date: March 20, 2001

I have just come from a meeting of Lakeside parents who met to discuss the mandatory laptop proposal which is currently being presented to parents at curriculum meetings. We unanimously decided to take the unusual step of sending out this note to the broad Lakeside community. As with other letters I've sent out recently, please let me know if you do not want to receive any letters along these lines. We felt that our cause was sufficiently important to warrant this. We'd like to broaden the conversation with the hopes of ultimately strengthening the aims of Lakeside.

We are opposed to the laptop proposal as it is currently construed. We are not, however, opposed to the use of technology in education. Indeed it is a key element in what I and other parents do every day in our jobs. Our objections center on the lack of sound educational objectives. We feel that the educational objectives should drive technological decisions; not the other way around.

We are also somewhat distressed at the process that led to this decision. I am not going to recount all of our objections here. I'd like to refer you instead to the web page that we've created on this subject. This web site (http://www.scn.org/commnet/laptops) contains links to Judy Lightfoot's report on the pilot program and to a number of letters written by parents who are skeptical of the program. I invite you to read those letters. They represent a thoughtful and wide-ranging critique. The web site also now includes a letter from a parents who supports the program and we plan to add supporting letters if and when they become available.

At our meeting we developed a recommendation which we feel is in keeping with Lakeside's goals that, in the long run, will be the healthiest and most prudent course for the school. We feel that this proposal will be the best way to acknowledge the myriad concerns voiced by the Lakeside community while, at the same time, keeping an eye towards the future innovative educational / technological directions.

The first part of our recommendation is to suspend the current process. We feel that any decision made during this climate of indecision and lack of support will be flawed.

The second part of our recommendation is to begin a new process that is intended to avoid the problems of the first process. There are three critical parts to this process. (1) the process should be inclusive, deliberative, and open to diverse points of view; (2) any proposed technology should be directly connected to educational objectives; and (3) a wide variety of alternatives should be considered (including those that were not available at the time of the pilot study). We believe that if Lakeside comes to a decision abiding by these criteria it will be a sound one that will be embraced by the Lakeside community.

We are asking parents, students, and teachers to contact Lakeside Head, Bernie Noe, as well as the trustees if you have concerns about this proposed program. Their e-mail addresses are on the web site. Please let them know if you support this recommendation.

We, of course, hope to meet soon with Bernie Noe and the Lakeside trustees to discuss the mandatory laptop proposal and our recommendation.

We feel that if the administration continues to fast-track this proposal it may create ill feelings in the Lakeside community that could persist for some time. It is our belief that a premature rush to judgment is not in the best interests of Lakeside, now or in the future.

Thank you for considering this recommendation.

Doug Schuler for the Lakeside Parent Group