Filed on: 08.26.2026
Lower Merion School District
Lev v. Lower Merion School District
On August 26, 2026, seven families from Lower Merion School District outside Philadelphia, PA, sued the District, the Superintendent, and certain members of the board asserting violations of their Constitutional rights.
Plaintiffs allege that District leaders have presided over a digital free-for-all, where students of all ages can and do access online pornography, violent videos, gambling sites, and video games, including one in which the player’s goal is to escape from sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein’s private island. Instead of paying attention in class, students consume an endless stream of short-form videos, browse social media, and shop. They chat with strangers and bully each other. They frequently interact with AI chatbots, which not only help them cheat on their assignments and diminish what they have already learned, but have also sent grown adults into delusional spirals and have coached other young people to take their own lives. Lower Merion students do this and more at all hours of the day: on the bus, in class, at lunch, and during breaks, and also at home, late into the night, when their parents think they are doing homework.
Plaintiffs are professors of medicine, pediatricians and other medical doctors, and clinical psychologists; given their training and experience, these plaintiffs are more familiar than most with the harms the digital world poses to children, and make their parenting decisions accordingly. Citing advisories from the Surgeon General, warnings from the FBI, and a raft of reports from independent, nonpartisan research organizations, the complaint sets forth the many ways that the internet of 2026 can be bad for young people.
Until recently, the District had a policy that allowed parents to decline internet-connected computers for their children and required the Superintendent to use his best efforts to accommodate those who did. But this spring, when a critical mass of parents sought to avail themselves of that policy, Defendants set about repealing it.
District policies expose Plaintiffs’ children to real harms and risks of harm, have driven three families from the District and have blocked a fourth from enrolling, and have profoundly interfered with how Plaintiffs wish to educate and raise their kids.
Plaintiffs urge a novel application of one of the oldest fundamental rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment: the right of parents to make decisions regarding their children’s care—which includes decisions related to their health, safety, and privacy—and to direct their education and upbringing.
On August 31, 2026, Plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to return to the policy permitting them to decline an internet-connected computer for their children if it harmed their health, safety, and privacy, or interfered with their education and how their parents desire to bring them up.
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