Dear fellow Scarsdale residents,

Please read below my recent correspondence with Scarsdale Schools' Superintendent, Dr. Andrew Patrick regarding the School District Technology Department's omission of important data from their "Tech Survey Data" results.  Dr. Patrick's email is below my response. 

Best regards to you all,

Ray

Ray Dotoratos
Scarsdale resident and school parent

[Letter to Scarsdale School's Superintendent, Dr. Andrew Patrick from Ray Dotoratos on 11/3/23]

Dear Dr. Patrick,

Thank you very much for your email.  Regarding what you mentioned, as I have previously said to our community, I commend the volunteerism and efforts of the PT Council members for their valuable contribution towards formulating the tech survey. I never called into question the intentions or lack of transparency on the part of the PT Council.

The issues of concern are how the School District Technology Department has taken on responsibility, their handling, and what has been omitted and not released from the full collected technology survey data results. The District Technology Department’s statements in school newsletters that they “will share a selection of the survey results” at an informational session on Nov. 8 and not the complete survey results are not reassuring nor would be fully informative, for any survey.  There is also the separate concerning issue of misleading contradictory statements made to our Scarsdale School community by District Technology Department personnel regarding the actual legality of the School District RUP legal contract which I have asked the Board of Education for oversight. 

Even after issuing the “Tech Survey Data” results to the Scarsdale School community and Scarsdale Board of Education, the Technology Department couldn’t recall that the most important part of the survey, and to parents, was missing - the concerns of parents over the adverse effects of school technology use has had upon our children and since its usage for student home tech during the Covid pandemic. The District Technology Department overlooked the important data inclusion of the technology adverse effects issue, but they can allow for a whole individual separate parent section in the "Tech Survey Data” results as to how parents and teachers like to best communicate through e-mail?

I noticed immediately that these most important concerns to parents, technology’s adverse effects, in the survey questions were missing in the “Tech Survey Data” results and so did other residents.  In June 2023, I downloaded the original “Comprehensive Technology (Parent) Survey” (link below) to keep a record to see if all the parent questions and comments regarding technology’s adverse effects were included in the data results. I had done it to make sure this important survey topic, which is not favorable to technology, might be missing from the survey data results, which is exactly what happened.  Being the District Technology Department took on responsibility for handling the survey, it would be expected that they would have taken great care and made such provisions to double-check that all the survey questions coincide and are accounted for in the data results before issuing to the School District and BOE, especially for such an important concerning issue for our Scarsdale School community

I find it ironic that after 4 months, that the District Technology Department having had the responsibility of accounting for the survey data, I recently notify the BOE, PT Council, PTA’s and all 700 petition signatories on Oct. 25 about the omitted very important questions regarding the adverse effects technology has upon our children, and now I receive your email telling me that at the exact same time last week “due to an honest oversight", “a pure accident” that District Technology personnel discovers the missing slide.

I have an important request.  Due to all that has happened, will you now please personally oversee that everyone in the entire Scarsdale School District community who were originally all sent an email by the District Technology Department with the “Comprehensive Technology Survey,” be sent a return email with the full complete survey data results?

I commend the PT Council for scheduling the Nov. 8 meeting.  Everyone in the Scarsdale School District community is entitled to fully read, review, judge for themselves and be given this important consideration in order to be fully informed. That’s what surveys and its resulting data are intended for.  Not just “shared selections” of the results by the District Technology Department for the meeting on Nov. 8 which only a small amount of the entire school community will be able to attend due to work/school night or might not actually watch any possible recorded video. The District Technology Department was able to initially send mass emailing for the survey questions.  There is no reason why the full complete survey data results cannot be mass emailed to all who received the “Comprehensive Technology Survey.” This is the most effective means to inform everyone and hopefully prior to the Nov. 8 meeting. If this is achieved, it will fully acknowledge the fine efforts of everyone on the PT Council who, due to their volunteering and collaboration, the survey was produced for our school community in which we are greatful to them!

Here again are the omitted survey questions below. It is of utmost importance that we are supplied with all data results from these questions and parent comments.  Residents want to read the comments of their fellow residents. Any names included within the comments can be easily blocked-out and kept anonymous:

(The omitted data for the Scarsdale Public Schools Technology Department’s “Comprehensive Technology (Parent) Survey June 2023 list of technology adverse mental and physical effects):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqAM3im4Ny5-xB8yB-JyP5bu7XI0BsR2isV3IzMQl6wdcdkg/viewform

1) What are your top three concerns about your child's use of school technology (in class or for homework)?

2) What are your top three concerns about your child's use of personal technology (home computers or cell phones)?

(Note: These choices below are the same for both questions 1 and 2 above):

• Physical impact of screen time (eye strain, hand grip weakness, carpal tunnel, etc.)
• Impact on mental health
• Distraction from assignments or activities (go onto other sites when they’re supposed to be doing school work)
• Impact on concentration or deep thinking
• Impact on their social wellbeing
• Impact on sleep or rest
• Exposure to misinformation or disturbing content
• Safety (exposure of information or contact with unknown individuals)
• Bullying
  Other: ___________________

Is there anything additional you’d like to share about your experiences with technology at Scarsdale?

Your answer: ______________________

Thank you again for your invitation to meet.  I did send you a couple emails and you did not respond to them but perhaps you had not received them.  In those emails, I did mention that I thought it best we hold off on meeting until we both had the complete survey data results, allowing both of us to be better informed in order to have constructive conversation. I will look forward to scheduling a time with your secretary when we can both have accessed the full complete survey data results.

Also, thank you for supplying the link but I still cannot view any possible revisions that now include the omitted data for survey results.  The link directs me instead to a BOE webpage.

Best regards,

Ray Dotoratos

From: Andrew (Drew) Patrick <apatrick@scarsdaleschools.org>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2023 8:49 AM 
Subject: Re: To the Scarsdale School District Board of Education from Ray Dotoratos

Dear Mr. Dotoratos,

I truly regret that you are perceiving what I see as thoughtful and collaborative work around a complex topic as lacking in transparency. We do not intend to "conceal" anything. Due to an honest oversight, one of the slides was missing. Last week, Jeannie Crowley reposted the slide deck with the omitted slide- again, a pure accident (for which it would be nice to get the benefit of the doubt). Here is the link again: 
http://go.boarddocs.com/ny/scarsdale/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=CTUR4G6C1B27 As you know, there is a public presentation on this topic scheduled for next week. That, too, reflects collaboration with the PTC. Once again, I extend a third invitation to come in and meet with me.

Thank you,

Drew