Ready, Tech, Go! Grimes PTA collaborates with AT&T to give away free laptops

“Online safety must be emphasized,” repeated the crowd in unison as Andrea Thomas, Principal of Denzel Washington School of the Arts, presented information on cell phone and internet safety. On Monday, March 10, 2025, the Grimes School Parent Teacher Association gave an engaging presentation to parents and students on cell phone readiness and handed out free laptops provided by AT&T to each parent in attendance.  

The crowd was a mixture of parents, teachers and students interested in learning about cell phone safety. 

Ms. Thomas introduced the dangers of children overusing their cell phones to the crowd, such as blue-light exposure, phone-addiction and health risks such as cancer, blindness and obesity. Most students have a daily screen time of about eight to ten hours which is longer than their time in a classroom. 

In order to curb these risks, parents must be vigilant about setting rules and boundaries with their children, such as a designated phone down time before bed or using monitoring tools such as ScreenTime or Qustudio. Ms. Thomas also stressed the importance of teaching your child not to give out any personal or sensitive information online to strangers.

“Communication is the key,” said Ms. Thomas to the parents in the auditorium. 

At the end of her presentation, Ms. Thomas was gifted a plant by the Grimes PTA for her hard work and visitation to the school. 

At the end, each person filled out a survey about the event to be entered into a raffle for the chance to win a $50 gift card.

The National Parent Teacher Association provided free laptops with AT&T through a grant awarded to the Grimes PTA. Twenty-five laptops were distributed by PTA president Claudette Cornwall to parents who fulfilled the necessary criteria for this giveaway. The household must have a student in attendance at Grimes School, and there must be no devices in the home besides the school-provided laptop. 

“The parents interacted with this presentation quite well,” said Stacyann Deir, treasurer of the Grimes PTA. “Ms. Thomas was great with her presentation, and we look forward to having her back in the future. It was an honor to see the parents out supporting the school and their children.” 

Parents and students had large smiles, leaving the auditorium with their brand-new laptops in hand and minds full of vital information about cell phone readiness and online safety.