Dear Superintendent Cotton and Trustee Members of the WCCUSD School Board,
We, a group of concerned parents, have started a Schools Beyond Screens chapter for West Contra Costa to launch a conversation about how the district uses technology in the classroom.
Most immediately, we are calling on district leadership of the West Contra Costa USD to immediately disable YouTube on student-issued devices. Attached is an open letter authored by 13 organizations and experts on technology use in schools, which lays out our position on YouTube. Below is a summary of our concerns for West Contra Costa USD.
Tech companies shift litigation costs to school districts: When parents sue over online harm or illegal content accessed on school hardware, Google routinely relies on legal defenses like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and its Terms of Service fine print to shift 100% of the liability, legal costs, and blame onto local school districts.
Zero-cost risk reduction: Disabling YouTube on student-issued devices costs $0 in IT administrative settings, immediately protecting district reserves from legal exposure during tight budget times.
Protecting Our Vulnerable Student Body
Compounded equity gaps: In a district like ours where 66% of families face socioeconomic hardship and 30% are English Language Learners, school-issued devices must be academic tools, not gateways to algorithmic addiction.
Ad-hoc policies exacerbate inequality: Wealthier schools with highly involved parent bases have the resources and bandwidth to lobby for school- and teacher-level tech limits. Relying on classroom-by-classroom policy as is the current district norm leaves lower-income and minority-majority schools behind.
Targeting disproportionate harm: Research shows that low-income, Black, and Latine youth spend significantly more time on screens. Leaving YouTube open on school devices deepens screen-time disparities rather than closing academic gaps.
District leadership must act for all: Equity means providing universal protections, not just responding to parent advocacy in affluent neighborhoods. A district-wide boundary ensures all 28,000 students are protected from the harms of algorithmic addiction intensified by school-issued devices, regardless of their zip code
Children are at risk of being harmed. If and when they are, Google has made clear it intends to shift legal liability to school districts.
WCCUSD should take action to protect their students, their schools, staff and Board Trustees, and the taxpayers by immediately disabling YouTube on student-issued devices, or putting discussion of the matter on the next school board meeting agenda.
We appreciate the district’s prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Schools Beyond Screens, West Contra Costa USD Chapter
