Lower Merion families planning to attend Monday's school board meeting in person will need to log on instead.

The Lower Merion School District announced Aug. 14 that its Aug. 17 Business Board Meeting will be held entirely on Zoom, barring in-person attendance. The district cited disruptions at two recent meetings that forced three recesses and threatening comments posted on social media.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Families can join via Zoom at https://bit.ly/LMSDZoom using password 323254, or watch the livestream at https://www.lmsd.org/zoom-live without joining.

What's at stake

The board is expected to vote on a new K-12 technology policy that would eliminate individual iPads and Chromebooks for kindergarten through second grade. Previously, kindergartners and first graders received iPads and second graders received Chromebooks under the district's one-to-one device program.

Under the proposed policy, third and fourth graders would use shared computers on classroom carts rather than personal devices. Fifth and sixth graders would be assigned devices but would not take them home unless parents request it. Seventh and eighth graders would keep devices as the default but could opt out without penalty.

One sticking point: families cannot fully opt out of technology under the new policy. More than 800 parents signed a petition supporting the right to decline district-issued devices, and the parent group Pencils Over Pixels has organized opposition throughout the spring and summer.

How the disruptions unfolded

The most recent blowup came at the Aug. 3 policy committee meeting, which was shut down and moved to Zoom after parent David Smyth and others shouted when the committee capped public comment at 45 minutes. Board President Dr. Kerry Sautner defended the decision at that meeting.

"When you are disrupting a public meeting, you are actually breaking the law," Sautner said at the Aug. 3 session, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

At the same meeting, parent Matthew Posey read from an April 9 email obtained through a Right-to-Know request indicating that Superintendent Dr. Frank Ranelli had "instructed" Sautner to repeal the former technology policy. The policy committee voted that night to advance the new policy to the full board for Monday's vote.

The board had voted in June 2026 to scrap its former technology policy, which had required the district to serve families who did not consent to receiving a device.

How to participate

The Zoom link is https://bit.ly/LMSDZoom, password 323254. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17. A livestream will be available at https://www.lmsd.org/zoom-live for those who prefer to watch without joining. The district has not specified whether written public comment will be accepted in advance.