May, 17, 2023

Dear fellow Scarsdale residents, parents and students,

Thank you all very much for your support of the petition initiatives. Due to your signing, it has created a strong collaborative voice, currently at 704 signatures, for needed learning options in our schools and not just the current one model fits all approach. My children are already greatly benefiting academically from a learning option in school our family chose but not being made known to Scarsdale families. I initiated this petition in order that all our very fine Scarsdale students and parents have the right and means to choose what learning options listed in the petition best suits each of our children’s individual learning needs so they can best achieve academically in our Scarsdale Schools.

Please see my letter, it is long but includes much important pertinent material below that I recently sent to the Scarsdale Board of Education. I will be attending the BOE meeting this Monday, May 22, 2023 at 6:30 pm in Room 170 – 172 at the Scarsdale High School, 1057 Post Road, Scarsdale, NY (following the private Executive Session of the BOE at 5:30 pm) in which I intend to speak to the board members regarding the petition initiatives.

Your opinions greatly matter. I hope you can join me for the May 22, 6:30 pm meeting. You can voice your opinions to the BOE if you would like, each speaker is given 4 minutes during the public comment period or just attend.  Please also feel free to circulate my BOE letter below to other families if you would like.

The BOE meeting schedule link:
https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/cms/lib/NY01001205/Centricity/Domain/5/2022-2023%20BOE%20Meeting%20Calendar%20-%20List%20View-final.pdf

I hope to see you there. Thank you and best regards to all,

Ray Dotoratos
Scarsdale resident and school parent

LETTER TO THE SCARSDALE BOARD OF EDUCATION – MAY 17, 2023
 
Dear fellow residents of the Scarsdale Public Schools Board of Education,

I hope you are all doing very well. As a resident of Scarsdale since 1965, Scarsdale Public Schools graduate of 1979, a teacher for over 40 years, and as a parent with two children enrolled in our Scarsdale Schools, I am writing you in regards to important educational options, improvements, safeguards and Scarsdale Public Schools transparency that needs to be addressed for all our school’s current learning environment. (Please note, in order to help keep our fellow Scarsdale residents informed, the current 704 who have signed the online petition I posted have also been e-mailed a copy of this letter accompanied by pertinent materials listed below).

Numerous Scarsdale parents with children enrolled in our schools have deep concerns, as shared by our family, as to Scarsdale School's use and emphasis on e-learning for their children’s education. Some of these concerns include excessively long daily hours of screen time using School District issued electronic devices and network for school work, eye strain, mental fatigue, computer and internet use distractions during school classes and homework studying, device addiction causing children to be argumentative while burdening parents with the task of monitoring and stopping their addictive and excessive usage. Growing safety concerns regarding accessing the School District’s online network which "is impossible for the Scarsdale School District to restrict access to all controversial and objectionable materials” as stated in the School District's “Responsible Use of Technology Agreement: Student/Parent Acknowledgement or RUP,” a legal binding contract that cannot guarantee restrictions to accessing third-party materials or social media platforms with possible exposure to harms as cyberbullying that leads to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

The online petition calls for transparency from the Scarsdale Public School District for learning options at all grade levels in our schools, requiring upfront notification from the School District Administration to all parents and students at the beginning of each new academic school year or for those starting late enrollment. The context of the petition is balanced and educationally productive because it gives all parents and students the right to openly choose which option most effectively and safely addresses each student’s specific educational learning needs instead of the current one model fits all approach. (Note: This is NOT a petition to eliminate e-learning or change academic curriculum currently in use). The options for students and parents to choose from are:

1)  Paper-based learning - (Printed paper assignments supplied by the Scarsdale Public Schools).
2)  e-learning - (Use of current Scarsdale Public Schools supplied individual electronic devices).
3)  Hybrid: Paper-based learning and e-learning - (Balancing the amount of usage for both at the discretion of the parents and students).

The School District Administration's calling for surveys and data collecting for this current Spring season regarding learning options as mentioned in recent local Scarsdale news publications listed below only overshadows needed transparency to inform parents and students of paper-based learning that the School District has been and is currently implementing. (Please note: Scarsdale School District had no concrete internal data and chose not to conduct survey sharing with the Scarsdale community for the results and affects e-learning had upon students for the pandemic school year and when decisions were made to continue e-learning for the next in-school year to the present). Paper-based learning options are not being made known to students and parents when the school issues and distributes electronic devices and for Scarsdale Schools network usage in the beginning of each school year leaving parents and students to believe there are no other learning options other than e-learning when in actuality there are options. Tech companies have sold their technology products to school districts on the premise that e-learning reduces educator’s workload and makes it easier for school districts to process students. However for many who have already signed this petition, such shortcuts and reliance on e-learning is a hindrance for many students in reaching higher learning achievement.

Please read the petition and other pertinent materials:

1)  Petition To Choose Learning Options In Scarsdale Public Schools, Scarsdale, NY at:
(http://bit.ly/3JMB642) accompanied with links to the U.S. Surgeon General’s recent recommendations and up-to-date expert academic literature and health studies by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics regarding adverse effects from electronic device usage, and Seattle Public Schools suing tech companies over social media harm.

2)  The Scarsdale Inquirer article published on March 16, 2023, Petition seeks ‘transparency’ in offering paper-based, hybrid education. (Copy of full article listed below)
https://www.scarsdalenews.com/top_stories/petition-seeks-transparency-in-offering-paper-based-hybrid-education/article_2c22429a-c449-11ed-a645-cf9cba10249d.html

3)  Scarsdale10583.com article published on March 31, 2023, District Responds to Parents Concerns About Digital vs. Paper Learning Materials. https://scarsdale10583.com/arts-a-entertainment-601/10172-district-responds-to-parents-concerns-about-digital-vs-paper-learning-materials

4)  Scarsdale School District’s ‘Responsible Use of Technology Agreement: Student/Parent Acknowledgement or RUP’ (a binding legal contract):
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/cms/lib/NY01001205/Centricity/Domain/39/RUP_student_parent_acknowledgment.pdf

Other reasons why parents and students have the right to choose learning options. At the start of each new school year, the Scarsdale School District requires children as young as in the 6th grade to sign a legal contract, the School District’s “Responsible Use of Technology Agreement: Student/Parent Acknowledgement RUP,” legally binding by the inclusion of their parent’s signatures, in order to use school issued electronic devices and School District network accessing. By signing The Scarsdale School District’s RUP contract, it places all legal responsibility upon students and parents if possible exposure to harms should befall upon students during their usage of school devices and School District’s network while the school contract absolves all legal responsibility for the Scarsdale School District.

The Scarsdale School District states they believe that they have a responsibility to supply students with navigation skills while having responsible digital citizenship. While the School District’s decision to take on this responsibility and supply school issued electronic devices for student educational usage and access to the School District’s network, they also require their legal contract in order to protect themselves by deflecting all their responsibility solely and legally onto parents and students. This is a poor example/lesson in responsibility for students due to the hypocritical and completely one-sided context of the School District's legal contract that students and their parents are required to sign. It is worth noting, no one can be forced into signing a legal contract or denied education due to their refusal to use e-learning if they so choose. The contract also states legal action might need be taken if it constitutes a criminal offense due to student misuse. Context within the contract is an acknowledgement that the School District’s issuing electronic devices and the School District network accessing for e-learning cannot guarantee student safety in preventing harms and adverse effects for usage, stating from the RUP: “it is impossible for the Scarsdale School District to restrict access to all controversial and objectionable materials.” Reasons why Scarsdale School District needs a legal contract and legitimate reasons amongst numerous ones why students and parents have the right too choose from needed learning options.

Please read “Students" and “Parents" sections from the School District's RUP contract:

(RUP contract link)
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/cms/lib/NY01001205/Centricity/Domain/39/RUP_student_parent_acknowledgment.pdf                  

STUDENTS: “I have read and will abide by the Responsible Use Policy (hereafter referenced as the “RUP”) of the Scarsdale Public Schools. I further understand that any violation of that agreement is unethical and may constitute a criminal offense. Should I commit any violation, my access privileges may be revoked and school disciplinary action, as set forth in the District’s Code of Conduct, and/or appropriate legal actions may be taken.”

PARENTS:
“while every attempt will be made to block inappropriate sites accessible through the School District’s network, it is impossible for the Scarsdale School District to restrict access to all controversial and objectionable materials.”           “I specifically agree to indemnify and hold the Scarsdale School District, its officers, employees, agents, and representatives harmless from any actions, claims, costs, damages, or losses, including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees, incurred by the Scarsdale School District relating to, or arising out of my child’s misuse of district Technology.”

Learning with paper-based as currently implemented by the Scarsdale School District is fully safe, allows heightened focus while learning and has proven effective for centuries without distraction, addiction or adverse effects if parents and students choose this option. The School District supplies paper-based learning using the same academic curriculum as e-learning.

Due to lack of transparency on the part of the Scarsdale School District, getting our Middle School son onto paper-based learning and off of e-learning dependency was not easy as to our simply making a request. It was a lengthy process that took almost half a school year while our Middle School son struggled academically. We chose not to sign the RUP contract due to online safety concerns and adverse effects electronic usage was having upon him. Regardless of our notifying the school about our disapproval that our son was using e-learning, the school continued having him use their school device during this half school year period even without our signing the RUP contract leaving us thinking how he would receive better education due to the school’s reliance on e-learning. There was no mentioning of paper-based learning at the start of the school year.

Eventually paper-based learning fell into place due to our refusal to sign the RUP contract and the School District’s taking back their device and then supplying our son with paper-based learning the very next school day which we highly agreed to. Had the School District been transparent upfront concerning an all paper-based learning option at the start of the school year, it would have avoided months of delay that resulted in poor student performance, confusion, and made the whole process much easier, especially for our son.

Now during classes, our son is viewing the very same academic material e-learning students see but as paper-based, printed and supplied to him by his teachers with the advantage that he can focus more on his very fine Scarsdale school teachers without any need for a distracting electronic flat screen between them. Our son’s grades went from barely passing when he used e-learning, to the higher end of grading the very next marking period using paper-based learning and has also shortened homework time in half due to heightened focus without electronic distraction, allowing him more time after school to pursue his own interests and further his talents.  

                        Some Scarsdale School Teacher’s Comments
 
Some of the opinions and observations our very fine Scarsdale School teachers have shared with our family during parent meetings and private side conversations, from my note taking (teacher’s names kept confidential):

• A Scarsdale Middle School teacher said to our son: “You are doing so much better with your school work now that you are not using the tablet anymore."
• Another Middle School teacher said to us when discussing our objections to our son using e-learning during class: “I don’t like using the stupid computer either. I’m also fine if he (our son) would like to turn in his assignments handwritten because his handwriting is very good. I usually request assignments typed because many of the student's handwriting is illegible.”
• Another Middle School teacher said: “Using computers while learning only causes students to be more isolated.”
• An elementary school teacher said: "I can fully understand why you would not want your son using school electronics.”

                      Scarsdale Public Schools Highest Standard Was. . .
 
Some reasons why Scarsdale Public School’s national ranking was No. 1 and had set the standard for public education in the U.S. when I attended in the 1960’s – 70’s. Scarsdale High School’s current national ranking is now 578 according to U.S. News & World Report, a ranking being distributed and seen by many readers nationally and internationally. “Out of District” schooling for Scarsdale resident students who’s families currently choose to enroll their children in private schools instead of Scarsdale Schools was substantially lower in the 1960’s - 70's.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Teachers and parents were resolute that students NOT do their schoolwork in front of distracting TV screens in order to fully focus for academic achievement. In contrast to today where educational curriculum is incorporated into distracting and addictive computer and tablet screens that access the School District’s network used in school or after school homework.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Elementary school students were not told as today that they will be rewarded with extra screen time if they try to better focus during class or get their work done in a timely manner. In Middle School, students focused and learned without today’s distractions during classes such as playing addictive pre-programmed video games marketed as educational tools using school issued electronic devices or use of hidden personal smart phones.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Students didn’t worry about social media warnings by the U.S. Surgeon General's recommendations that age 13 is too early to join social media while Scarsdale Schools is currently teaching students in elementary school as young as the 1st grade how to use social media platforms.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Scarsdale School students were fully engaged with each other that also reinforced empathy, learned from their peers, spoke mostly person-to-person interaction without communicating through electronic social media platforms during classes and school hallways.  

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . School districts did not need security guards to protect students. There was no exposure to online social media which today is causing a worsening mental health crisis and behavioral disorders such as anxiety, depression, student isolation, cyberbullying as included in Seattle Public School’s suing tech companies and reports published by the CDC.  Perhaps reasons why we are seeing such rises nationally in school related acts of violence by young people than in times past.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Students were not required to sign school legal contracts regarding safety concerns in order to use school learning tools.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Students had maintained good handwriting after elementary school.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Scarsdale School education had encouraged and elicited from students more imaginative creative thinking and were not bound by today’s school devices that restricts thinking, ideas and responses in order that student answers must conform within the scope of an electronic device’s limited pre-programmed software.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Middle School students learned classroom science work doing actual lab experiments and not by today’s e-learning where students just watch simplified science simulation videos on the Scarsdale School District’s network reducing teacher workload.

Scarsdale School's highest standard was. . . Scarsdale Schools didn’t have take home or classroom digital quizzes that permit students to self-submit followed by being instantly supplied with corrections and answers on their screens, enabling other students in class to see and possibly copy. Ultimately saving teacher correcting or commenting.

And Scarsdale School's standard now. . . Scarsdale School parents and students have concerns today due to the School District’s purchasing technology sold by tech companies that is currently replacing the teaching responsibilities of our very fine teachers with AI right around the corner.

Being a member of our Scarsdale community for over 50 years, I started this petition for our many Scarsdale friends, neighbors, residents and most of all the students in order that they best achieve. My children have already been receiving and greatly benefiting academically in our schools from a learning option that we chose, paper-based and of course what they learn directly from their excellent Scarsdale teachers. We do not expect to receive any special treatment for our family and children in school, this should also be afforded to all families.

Many Scarsdale parents and students are counting on you, our fellow community members of the Board of Education, to ensure that there is transparency from our Scarsdale Schools Administration in affording them at the beginning of each new school year upfront notification for the right to openly choose from learning options included in the petition. Options very much needed due to current up-to-date expert academic literature, health studies, and safety concerns demonstrated by the U.S. Surgeon General’s recent recommendations and by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) – Pediatrics, the CDC, amongst others regarding electronic device and online usage.

The three options, paper-based learning, or e-learning, or hybrid are balanced because it prioritizes each individual student’s educational learning needs by their choosing one of the options in order to best excel academically, giving precedence to student achievement over outside tech company influences and profit making that has made its way into our schools resulting in one model fits all. Determining “balance” in today’s current environment is the right of parents and students to decide for either paper-based or e-learning or how much amounts of both.

Together as a community along with our very fine Scarsdale school teachers and administrators, we can improve educational structure to the highest level once again and restore the reputation of Scarsdale having been known nationally as ‘The Education Town,’ setting the standard by leading the way.

Thank you for your utmost consideration to all who have signed the petition. As always, thank you all for your serving on our Board of Education for our very fine Scarsdale community.

Best regards,

Ray Dotoratos
Scarsdale resident and school parent   

Petition To Choose Learning Options In Scarsdale Public Schools, Scarsdale, NY at: http://bit.ly/3JMB642

U.S. Surgeon General says 13 is ‘too early’ to join social media (Jan. 29, 2023) 
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/29/health/surgeon-general-social-media/index.html

Seattle schools sue tech giants over social media harm (Jan. 8, 2023)   
https://apnews.com/article/social-media-seattle-lawsuits-mental-health-965a8f373e3bfed8157571912cc3b542

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Pediatrics - Association of Screen Time and Depression in Adolescence iAdolescence  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2737909?guestAccessKey=7f0019bd-f2eb-4dc1-a509-cd5bc2444a79&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=071519 

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Pediatrics - Association of Habitual Checking Behaviors on Social Media With Longitudinal Functional Brain Development
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2799812?guestAccessKey=7fedb432-3c46-496d-be6b-e9b7394a71f2&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=010323

For adolescents, social media might be a brain-changer, researchers say
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/health/social-media-checking-teen-development-wellness/index.html

MRIs show screen time linked to lower brain development in preschoolers
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/health/screen-time-lower-brain-development-preschoolers-wellness/index.html

Social media use may harm teens’ mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html

The Scarsdale inquirer Article Published on 3/16/2023 (FULL ARTICLE LISTED BELOW)
https://www.scarsdalenews.com/top_stories/petition-seeks-transparency-in-offering-paper-based-hybrid-education/article_2c22429a-c449-11ed-a645-cf9cba10249d.html
Petition seeks ‘transparency’ in offering paper-based, hybrid education
By TODD SLISS,  Mar 16, 2023 Updated Mar 20, 2023

Some families prefer e-learning, some prefer paper-based and some prefer a hybrid of the two.

With a rise in e-learning and usage of screen-based learning — laptops, tablets, even cellphones — as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the technologies discovered and created during the last few years, and the reliance on them, have held on despite the full-time return to in-person education. Electronic devices have been more heavily incorporated into classrooms and homework assignments — and that isn’t sitting well with some Scarsdale parents.

Ray Dotoratos, a 1979 Scarsdale High School graduate and current father of two boys in Scarsdale schools — one in elementary school, one in middle school — would like to see the school district more publicly and transparently offer families one of three options when it comes to education:

1) Paper-based learning: Printed paper assignments supplied by the Scarsdale Public Schools;
2) E-learning: Use of individual electronic devices currently supplied by Scarsdale Public Schools;
3) Hybrid paper-based learning and e-learning: Balanced amount of usage for both at the discretion of the parents and student.

He and the 576 others who have signed his online petition (http://bit.ly/3JMB642), which includes links to several articles and studies about the pitfalls of screen time and social media on children, would like to see the district proactively offer options to families instead of waiting for individual requests to be made.

“The problem is that the school system is not being transparent,” Dotoratos said. “When you start the school year, you get notices you’re going to get a tablet assigned to you and there’s no mention whatsoever of anything about paper-based learning. It’s not even talked about. We had to speak up about it.” Dotoratos’ children were moved to paper-based learning last school year one day after a team meeting with one of his son’s teachers.

“We saw that we needed both our children to get off the e-learning because it was a total distraction for them and it was causing a lot of mental fatigue, eye strain and addiction, to say it bluntly,” Dotoratos said. “By putting the petition up, we weren’t doing it for our family because we were already getting what we asked from the school system, switching to paper-based, which they were able to implement immediately, actually the next day.”

That happened about four months into the 2021-22 school year, he said. Dotoratos’ older son moved from lower grades when relying on a tablet for his work both in and out of school to much higher grades that were more in line with a student who shows focus and isn’t distracted by technology, which also cut the amount of time it took to do homework in half, making more time for other priorities and less screen time.

Handwriting has also been impacted negatively with the reliance on devices.

“We have found that most of what we do is paper-based and his grades are now on the higher end,” Dotoratos said. “We are getting everything we had, nothing has been lost in terms of the e-learning. That’s why I offered the three options. The option and the control of that should be for the students and the parents to decide.”

There are exceptions, including if his son has to watch an educational video online or if he has to make and submit a video for orchestra.

With the U.S. Surgeon General warning about the dangers of social media and the Seattle Public Schools suing various tech giants, Dotoratos is concerned how the extra time using screens in school is also negatively impacting students.

The Dotoratos household is a video game-free zone where the children are encouraged to focus on other passions after school. They don’t have smartphones, but Dotoratos has found other ways that don’t involve devices with the internet to communicate with his sons.

Dotoratos is a professional violin player and has been teaching music since he was a freshman at Scarsdale High School, only really taking a break from teaching when he attended The Juilliard School. What he has learned over the decades is that the most important thing for students is “focus,” while the most important for teachers is “patience.” In school he trained many long hours each day in both.

Focus for students is key, he said, as is patience for teachers in working with students to offer them what they need to succeed.

“What I took away from the Scarsdale school system is the thing I took away after all these decades and that’s the importance of not just looking at the material that we had on our desk with our books, but to also watch the teachers, watch the emotion that they used,” Dotoratos said. “Teachers are human beings like all of us. They teach with emotion and passion. Watch that. Watch how they deliver that, how you’re receiving it, how they communicate that to you. The things I remember most are the teachers who deliver it with that passion … What I remember most is the focus I had on my teachers. I remind my children to do that when they are sitting in the classroom in their schools.”

Dotoratos had only complimentary things to say about the teachers in Scarsdale, how they handled the pandemic — including kudos to the technology team — and how they handled the return to normalcy. Hearing so many teachers say the kids lost out on a year of normal social interaction, Dotoratos said he believes removing at least some of the reliance on technology is key for students to thrive.

In speaking with other students and parents, Dotoratos thinks some of the acceptable programs that are used with the school-owned tablets have what qualify as video games and he says students are savvy enough to get around some restrictions. While cellphones are supposed to stay in lockers and backpacks at the middle school, he says they are widely used by students in class.

Dotoratos plans to present the petition to the Scarsdale Board of Education.

Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Dr. Drew Patrick said the district is navigating the waters of technology in classrooms in a post-pandemic world with an aim for “balance.”

“I can’t tell you that every single day in every single room that I know that balance is struck, but that’s our philosophy and we’re certainly responsive to individual discussions and requests, including from this parent [Dotoratos], who has made such a request and whose child was accommodated to that request,” Patrick said.

Patrick said a survey will be forthcoming this spring and shared through the Parent Teacher Council (PTC) to gauge the interests of parents and what type of support they need for their children.

In that balance, Patrick said the district has a “responsibility to equip students with a set of technology skills and digital citizenship skills so they can navigate that world successfully and those experiences are scaffolded to age-appropriate levels as we move through kindergarten to 12th grade … I don’t think any single classroom is operating in one of these modes only.”

If a family or student would like to see a change, any student who can advocate for him or herself is encouraged to talk to their teacher(s), and/or parents can email the teacher(s) or discuss it in parent-teacher conferences. As always, they can go up the chain of command to the appropriate building-level administrator if their needs aren’t being met or they have more questions.

Patrick said what is “essential in teaching” is the “ability to meet students where they are and help them get to where they’re going. This is one of the many domains in which we do that.”

Patrick said many teachers have found new and productive ways to incorporate technology into their organizational and educational philosophies as a result of the pandemic, but he did not agree with the petition’s statement that says, “Academic curriculum is geared mostly all towards e-learning without openly offering students paper-based learning.”

Patrick agreed with the next sentence, “There are students who benefit from paper-based learning.”

“It’s not one thing or another,” Patrick said. “Certainly one of the key things about being in a classroom is being in discussion and dialogue with each other, student-to-student and with the teacher.

He said the petition lacks “context and nuance.”

According to Patrick, the district was already in the middle of rolling out a one-to-one device program for students, which he called “a structured decision with dialogue and a process that was made prior to the pandemic start, but that process was never about being paperless or anything like that.” He added, “It was about ensuring that kids had access equitably to technology that might be used by teachers in their instructional process.”

While middle school phones are supposed to be away during the day, the high school has promoted an Off and Away for the Day initiative since last September to encourage mindful use of phones in schools (https://bit.ly/3wQKlZD and http://bit.ly/3ZSFC6L) and a change in their constant reliance on social media.

“At the middle school that’s the expectation and always has been and at the high school there’s something more complex going on, which is where we’re really trying to get kids to reach the conclusion and believe themselves that this is better for them,” Patrick said. “It’s about changing habits and behaviors not just in school, but in life.”

Patrick encourages community members to read the district’s 48-page technology plan (https://bit.ly/3ZL6Zzz) to learn more.

“We’re on a journey figuring out the best ways for kids to learn, understanding there are benefits to the use of technology and there are limitations and drawbacks — even harms can be brought about by technology — and if we didn’t have an open mind to constantly be thinking about this, both informally, but also formally by collecting feedback, we’d be foolish not to do that,” Patrick said.