Kindergarten and first-grade classrooms across Greenville County are saying goodbye to individual screens this school year, as the district caps device access in those rooms to just three to five devices per classroom. Students in grades 2 through 5 will keep their one-to-one devices, but their use will be capped at no more than 50 percent of instructional time. The changes are part of a sweeping new technology policy the Greenville County School District is rolling out across its classrooms.
The new guidelines, known as Administrative Rule IA, were formally presented to the Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees on June 9, following a revision to the district's AI and educational technology policy earlier this year, according to FOX Carolina. Students across all grade levels are returning to traditional paper notebooks, and technology-specific subjects remain the lone exception to the screen-time restriction. Assistant Superintendent for Academics Dr. Susan Stevens told the board that the rule aligns with American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines advocating balanced digital media use in educational settings.
Locking Down Which Apps Students Can Use
Under the new rule, the district discontinued 14 apps that failed security, rostering, or safety requirements, per Dr. Stevens, while approving 14 specific apps for classroom use going forward. Students in grades 2 through 5 will be limited to those district-approved apps, and students in grades 6 through 12 will keep their individual Chromebooks but have them restricted to the same approved app catalog. The guidelines are designed to restrict access to unauthorized applications and ensure age-appropriate device usage across the district, the station's report notes.
Generative artificial intelligence is getting its own separate set of guardrails. The policy completely prohibits generative AI access for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, while middle and high schoolers are limited to MagicSchool AI, the district's sole authorized generative AI platform. The account does not specify whether teachers have access to student AI chats. Once devices are limited in younger classrooms, teachers will instead use the remaining screens for small-group rotations or individual instruction rather than whole-class, one-to-one screen time. According to the U.S. Department of Education, education-focused artificial-intelligence policies are needed at the federal, state and district levels to guide local decisions.
Why Greenville Is Pulling Back on Screens
The shift toward paper notebooks and No. 2 pencils in elementary grades was driven in part by teacher observations of declining student attention spans and research on handwriting and writing as learning, according to The Post and Courier. Teachers at Blythe Academy made favorable comments about reduced screen dependency. The new classroom technology guidelines also aim to protect student privacy as the district narrows the field of apps with direct access to student data. The U.S. Department of Education says it administers and enforces student-privacy laws including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
Greenville's move fits into a broader statewide push. South Carolina's State Board of Education enacted Proviso 1.103, known as “Free to Focus SC,” mandating that all public school districts prohibit student access to personal electronic communication devices during the school day as a condition for receiving state classroom aid, according to the South Carolina Department of Education. Local districts were expected to adopt phone-free policies. The statewide policy also extends the focus to device use during the school day.
A Shrinking District Managing Big Change
Greenville County Schools is South Carolina's largest public school district, operating almost 100 schools and nine special centers, per the district. That scale means the new rule touches an enormous number of classrooms at once, even as enrollment trends shift. District enrollment was 78,115 in August 2024 and was expected to fall below 77,000 by late 2025. The district's staffing plans remain unspecified.
The pullback also marks a reversal from years of investment in digital classroom management. Greenville County Schools previously used tools like NetSupport School, which gave teachers direct control and remote screen oversight of student Chromebooks, according to NetSupport. South Carolina's annual Tax-Free Weekend ran from August 7 to 9, exempting notebooks, binders, and writing utensils from state and local sales taxes, as Hoodline previously reported. It remains to be seen how teachers will manage enforcing the 50 percent instructional screen-time limit day to day in grades 2 through 5, or whether the pared-back reliance on one-to-one Chromebooks will affect standardized digital testing or future district technology budgets.
