Media Policy

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Our methods of education fosters enthusiasm and reverence for the highest in our human potential. Parents and teachers working with our model of education make particular efforts to provide protection from negative outside influences for the developing child. 

Among the assaults on childhood, none is more powerful than television, movies, videos, video games, and Internet/computer usage experienced at too young an age (below age 12). Even after age 12, parents need to be wary of their children’s exposure to media. It is important that parents educate themselves about Internet communication such as Instagram, Facebook, email, and instant messaging, and carefully monitoring their children’s activities. These ways of communicating can be extremely dangerous for children of any age.

Young children are particularly susceptible to the influence and effects of the media. Its detrimental effects on behavior, ability to learn, and development of values in culture are increasingly recognized and documented scientifically. 

Recent research alerts us to the harmful effects not only of program content but also of the detriment to a child’s physical and psychological processes when engaged in viewing a screen. 

Our children need to participate with and experience active adults engaged in real life experiences. They need to hear real human voices. They need the interaction with us and with the qualities and values we are striving to achieve. 

For our purposes, we define media to include:

• Television, video, film
• Computers, internet, cell phones, tablets
• Video and computer games

Our goal for students in TK/Kindergarten through Grade 6:

• No media, particularly on nights preceding and following class days. The younger the child, the more vitally important this guideline.

Our goal for students in Grades 7 - 8:

• If you decide to introduce media usage, do it slowly and judiciously (use Common Sense Media)
• Put the computer/laptop in a public place in your home and use a password for access
• Provide rules for computer and internet usage and stick to them
• Prohibit media exposure on evenings preceding a class day, including texting, instant messaging and emailing
• Prohibit access to websites where your child may post his or her personal information
• Censor anything that runs counter to your values or may be developmentally inappropriate. 
• Screen music for lyric contents
• Observe the rating of movies (Common Sense Media)
• Use of word processing is permitted in 7th and 8th grade for working and revising essays and for presenting research papers
• Limited use of online sources for research papers
• In class, a DocuCam and projector will be used for Cyber Civics lessons or demonstrating how to do research online

We strongly urge all parents to educate themselves about this critical topic. 

Some further resources are:

• Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don’t Think written by Jane Healy
• The Plug-In Drug and Unplugging the Plug-In Drug written by Marie Winn
• What To Do After You Turn Off the TV written by Frances Moore Lappe
• Who’s Bringing Them Up? How to Break the TV Habit written by Martin Large