I want to applaud Montoursville Area School District School Board member, Sharon Meyer, on her comments in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette’s Friday, May 15, 2026, edition.

I wholeheartedly agree with Sharon Meyer’s statement “First off, I don’t know why we have Chromebooks for every single kid in kindergarten and first grade, “I think it’s a great time not to put screens in front of 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds for all the school day.”

My agreement with this statement is based on a discussion about reading with a 4th and 5th grader during a family gathering. When inquiring about how school was going and referencing the subject of reading that I knew one of them has some difficulty in I was upset when one of them stated that “I don’t need to be able to read, my tablet will read it for me and tell me what I need to know.”

This statement from a child breaks my heart as I am a diehard reader for pleasure, keeping up on current events, and continuing to learn about things in this ever-evolving world we live in.

I feel that schools should not be using Chromebooks and laptops in the learning process of our young children until the 6th grade. Schools need to utilize using pencils, paper, textbooks etc. as learning tools to ensure the students have the skills necessary if a technology tool is unavailable. This will guarantee that the students are sufficient in reading materials themselves and forming their own ideas and opinions – not a device telling them what something says.

CINDY SHAFFER

Muncy

Submitted by Virtual Newsroom