{"id":126347,"date":"2026-07-31T23:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/126347\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:06:11","slug":"knox-county-schools-considers-social-media-ban-ai-restrictions-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/126347\/","title":{"rendered":"Knox County Schools considers social media ban, AI restrictions for students"},"content":{"rendered":"

What This Story Is About<\/p>\n

Knox County Schools is proposing a ban on social media and email for elementary students and new restrictions on artificial intelligence use across all grade levels.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s \u201cTeen Social Media and Internet Safety Act\u201d is now state law, and Knox County Schools must align its policies with the new requirements \u2014 affecting how students across all grades access technology at school.<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/p>\n

The Knox County School Board meets Monday at 5 p.m. to discuss the proposed technology policies.<\/p>\n

For Context<\/p>\n

The state law bans students from using social media over school Wi-Fi except for educational purposes, prohibits elementary-aged students from using social media at school and requires high schoolers to complete internet safety training.<\/p>\n

Catch Up<\/p>\n

Knox County Schools is weighing whether to ban social media and email for younger students and limit device use in elementary classrooms, following the passage of a new Tennessee internet safety law.<\/p>\n

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Knox County Schools is looking to ban social media and email for elementary students and crack down on AI impersonation across all grades. The school board is scheduled to meet Monday at 5 p.m. to discuss the proposed policies.<\/p>\n

The proposal follows the passage of the \u201cTeen Social Media and Internet Safety Act,\u201d which is now state law. The law bans students from using social media over school Wi-Fi unless for educational reasons, bans elementary-aged children from using social media at school and requires high schoolers to complete internet safety training courses.<\/p>\n

\"wvlt\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lauren Morrill-Raguse, a mother of a fourth grader and a sixth grader, said she supports the restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think elementary school kids need to be on social media at all,\u201d Morrill-Raguse said.<\/p>\n

She also said she hopes to see fewer devices in classrooms overall \u2014 something Knox County Schools is also considering limiting for elementary students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s just so much to be learned in school that doesn\u2019t involve a computer that any way they can get them back to pencils and papers and books is great in my view,\u201d Morrill-Raguse said.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Welsh, a mother of two adult sons who grew up as social media was emerging, said she focused on talking to her children about responsible posting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really tried to talk to them about, you know, be careful what you post. It\u2019s not really like going to go away like on Snapchat, it\u2019s out there,\u201d Welsh said. \u201cSo just kind of be mindful and don\u2019t ever post that it\u2019s going to hurt anybody\u2019s feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh said she supports the district\u2019s push to restrict artificial intelligence, particularly when it comes to protecting children from fake images.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re already seeing it with celebrities with their faces and images being put where it doesn\u2019t belong. And that could be really harmful for children,\u201d Welsh said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WVLT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What This Story Is About Knox County Schools is proposing a ban on social media and email for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,63292,63293,2072,3708,47516,1109,2505,134,63294],"class_list":["post-126347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-kcs","tag-knox-county-schools","tag-meeting","tag-school","tag-school-board","tag-social-media","tag-students","tag-technology","tag-teen-social-media-and-internet-safety-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}