Schools

Board Approves Freshmen Laptop Expansion

Approximately 550 students in the two high schools will have laptops in the fall.

More than 600 laptops and a new technician will be added to the district’s high schools in August. The school board unanimously voted to expand the at Thursday’s meeting.

when one communication/arts class from each high school used laptops to learn from open sources on the internet. The district .

Phase II of the pilot expands the laptops to math, science and social studies classes.

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Knost estimated the cost at $428,510, about $171,000 less than the allocated $600,000 he originally asked for Phase II of the program.

“We really see this becoming one of our central themes and our big focuses over the next number of years,” Knost said.

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The study saw increases in student engagement and achievement, along with attendance.

“I think that we’re hearing some remarkable changes in interest in the class, based upon these kids and their ability to have technology in the classroom,” he said.

The students currently using laptops will take those onto their sophomore year.

“We really like the expansive quality of this, what I call a very gauged and careful pilot approach…I really applaud our efforts at exploring this in comparison to districts that find a good deal on some Android tablets and go out and purchase a couple thousand or more of them and pass them out and kind of figure it out as they go,” Knost said.

The superintendent said in a few years, he’d like to see the program expand into the middle and elementary schools.

“I do believe that to get to that level, we’re going to phase things in and it will get to the point where we need to identify a revenue stream to really take this to fruition,” he said.

After going through the pilot, —finding the appropriate sources and teaching tools—was what they needed help with the most. 

The curriculum department researched companies and selected one for a two-day training workshop in May. The training is estimated at $25,000, but will be paid for by Title II federal money that must be used on professional development.

Knost said the 60 teachers that are taking the training will complete it on their own time and learn to teach others if the program continues.

The superintendent also requested another position for the technology department. The technician would travel between the high schools and be available for support and maintenance.

In February, the board voted to .

Knost said that these savings, plus general restructuring due to retirements would more than cover the technician’s salary and benefits.

“Our technology department is extremely thin; you can compare us to schools that are half our size and some of them have twice as many technicians as we do,” Knost said. The department has seven technicians that cover the district.

Board member Larry Felton asked if the district had considered leasing computers rather than purchasing them.

Director of Technology Steven Lee said he believed the devices could be used for more than four years, either giving them to the middle and elementary schools or recycling them for incoming freshmen. With leasing, the district would need a new agreement every four years. 

Mark Stoner asked if the district would be developing a rubric for measuring success, ultimately leading to long-term cost reductions.

Knost said his goal was not to become textbook-free, but expand learning through free resources.  

“The concept is that as open sources become more and more readily available and appropriate for the classroom… we will reduce long-term costs on those resources because we will be tapping into the resources that are available through the technology,” Knost said.


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