So here's the uncomfortable question: When will Bay Area school districts follow suit?

The irony is almost too perfect. We live in the backyard of the companies that manufacture these devices and design the apps that run on them — and the engineers who build this stuff are the same people sending their kids to low-tech private schools where wooden blocks and outdoor play still reign supreme. They know something the rest of us are paying to learn the hard way.

That's what makes this a fiscal equity issue, not just a parenting debate. Wealthy families can opt out of the screen-saturated classroom by writing a tuition check. Everyone else is stuck with whatever the district decides. Removing screens from early grades in public schools would level a playing field that right now quietly favors families with means. That's not progressive policy or conservative policy — it's just common sense.

As one Bay Area parent put it: "Bring back tangrams, rubber band pegboards, wooden blocks, and playing outside for TK, K, and 1st grade kids!" Hard to argue with that.

California's AB 3216, which addresses student technology protections, has an implementation deadline coming this summer. One local resident noted they'd love to see "school boards jump on this ahead of the deadline — seems easiest to pass this all in one go." They're right. The legislative runway is already there.

Another parent asked the question we should all be asking: "How the hell did [iPads] end up there in the first place?" The answer, predictably, involves a lot of ed-tech marketing dollars and very little rigorous evidence that five-year-olds learn better from a screen than from a teacher with a bag of blocks.

The data on early childhood screen exposure and attention development isn't ambiguous anymore. The tech industry knows it. Affluent parents know it. It's time public school boards stopped pretending they don't.

Email your school board. This one's actually winnable.