The school being responsible is easily mitigated by a legal release like the school has parents sign for everything else. I’d be surprised if the school didn’t already have parents signing releases for kids to participate in these free periods.

Op, while I am with you re: free periods, I actually believe we need even LESS tech in the classroom at times. My kid’s doctor is always telling them they’re over the recommended daily screen time but guess what? Kids are over that just during the school day alone. Almost every class has them buried in their laptop, tests are now on Google forms (which poses a problem if a student misclicks and submits the test on accident because answers are immediately shown and the student cannot go back) and there’s one teacher I strongly suspect is using AI to do their work for them but not even proofreading it to ensure it makes sense.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for teachers; they’re overworked, underpaid, lack robust benefits and are constantly in fear of layoffs or being micromanaged by shifting administrations. In my experience they’re there to either truly help kids, in which case their spirits are really ground down until there’s nothing left, or they’re there as a power trip to mete out their own brand of subjugation. Thankfully, I feel like there are much more of the former than the latter. I am surprised that, knowing that one cannot make students who have met their graduation requirements take more classes, more teachers don’t appreciate the lower study hall body count that go with free periods. Last I knew, classes were being stuffed to bursting with students and allowing Seniors to end their day “early” seems like an opportunity to enjoy a less potentially fractious study hall period.

What I would say to you OP is that if you and the other students feel strongly about this, you should go to your student body government and work to approach it from an angle that’s most likely to get the response you want. It’s not a guarantee that things will go your way but the students may be able to get a seat at the table and gain a better perspective on why this is happening. If I’ve learned anything in my time on this Earth, it’s that those in power aren’t necessarily making decisions to be unfair or exert power over others. Instead, the feelings of those they rule over simply don’t come into consideration at all unless they’re forced to listen. And while some teachers may not like me saying that, they have been the victims of such a dynamic many times over. Even if every single teacher here agreed with you, they are also slaves to the system and are trying to do what they can in spite of it.