Celeste Elias testifies on inability to refuse iPads and iReady assessments

Hi, my name is Celeste.

I'm a kindergarten parent.

I emailed the school at the start of the summer about my objections to one-to-one iPads and hours-long iReady assessments, of which are exempt from the current screen time bans for lower elementary grades.

IReady is currently being sued for deceptive marketing and data privacy violations, but I was still told I couldn't refuse an iPad or iReady assessments, nor could I request a paper alternative.

The principal explained iPads are only used for a short time, but refusing one is impossible to integrate it into daily curriculum.

She didn't see the contradiction.

The school and district did not provide anything in writing.

I emailed Paulo Perdomo a face on August 6th and 27th requesting support and to see written policies governing parent refusal of assessments.

I received no response.

I sent a letter of religious exemption for all devices and assessments to the superintendent and principal on August 28th.

I received no response.

The new policies do not address the DOE's failure to protect student data privacy as exposed in the state's audit and the power school data breaches.

Nor does it clear up parental rights to choose when children are introduced to devices or the internet.

In pre-K, a teacher gave my child her personal phone to play games at nap time and access social media.

He said he was watching scary TikToks about skinwalkers.

She admitted to giving him her personal phone.

I did not feel my concerns were taken seriously by the school admin.

I emailed the superintendent and again received no response.

A mother spoke at a pep meeting stating sexual content and a website to make weapons were fully accessible on her child's school device.

She received no resolution.

So why should I trust the district or city to protect my child when he's again given a device against my wishes?

I know firsthand what a complete failure devices are because I was issued an iPad as a student.

We consistently got around safety restrictions.

Utah State Audit found 52% of school apps violated data privacy agreements, and 36% of those shared student data with ad companies.

Is this data harvesting of our kids lawful and ethical?

The only ethical and democratic solution is for schools to implement opt-in policies and obtain informed revocable parental consent.

There is no reason to give children access to the internet or a device outside of a tech class other than to let companies profit off and test products on our children.

I did not consent for my child to be part of an ed tech experiment.

Can you hear me okay?