The Lower Merion School District asked a federal judge to deny parents' request to opt their children out of school-issued computers. The district called the families' claims "fearmongering" in a Monday, Sept. 14, court filing.

The motion, filed in U.S. District Court before Judge John M. Younge, marks the district's first formal argument that parents have no constitutional right to choose which technology their children use in public school. Seven families sued the district in late August over its mandatory-device policy.

The district argued that six of the seven families lack standing. Four did not have children enrolled when the policy was adopted, according to the Inquirer. Two others had only elementary-age children who would not have received devices under the district's one-to-one program, which covers fifth grade and above. Three of the seven families have already withdrawn their children from the district.

In the filing, the district described the lawsuit as the latest attempt by a small but vocal minority to pressure board members to "kowtow to their peculiar views on technology in the classroom."

The district also argued that granting the opt-out would cause "logistical and financial hardship," requiring it to develop a separate non-technological curriculum for each plaintiff's children. It characterized the families' alleged harms as "vague and speculative." The filing added that the policy "only incidentally interferes with a parent's limited right to direct their child's education."

Andrew Liddell, an Austin-based attorney for the families who works with the EdTech Law Center, pushed back. He told the Inquirer the changes "aren't even the bare minimum of what the district should have been doing in the 20 years they've been giving internet-connected computers to children."

The dispute traces back months. The school board voted 7-2 in August to approve the new technology policy, with board members Sarah Thomas and Abby Rubin opposing, according to Patch. The policy sets device rules by grade: no individual devices for kindergarten through second grade, shared classroom access for third and fourth graders, and assigned devices starting in fifth grade.

More than 800 parents had signed a petition supporting the right to opt out. The families' 116-page federal complaint, filed in late August, named every board member and Superintendent Frank Ranelli as defendants.

An April 9 email from Ranelli, obtained through a Right-to-Know request and read at the Aug. 3 policy committee meeting, showed the superintendent telling Board President Kerry Sautner the board should see "the vision in not allowing parents to totally 'opt out' of getting a device." Sautner replied the next day: "Got it."

No hearing date before Judge Younge has been reported. The families' injunction request asks the court to either allow an opt-out or order the district to pay for private school tuition.