Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Christmas program at Icard Elementary school. What talented students and teachers we have in Burke County! The students were poised, funny, bright-eyed and delightful. One of the teachers sang "O Holy Night," and I could have sworn she could have been an opera star – what a beautiful, powerful voice. Thanks to you all for allowing me to attend.
Caveat – the following is not endorsed by any other board member, teacher or principal. These are my observations and opinions. And please, just because the following deals with technology, I am still dedicated to figuring out how to secure restoration of pay to our employees. I am not being disrespectful to all of you who have made sacrifices for the system. At some point technology needs to be addressed, even if the budget for it becomes smaller than requested. Here goes:
Before the student program began, both the PTA president and a teacher addressed the group about the need for technology – specifically SMART boards - at Icard. (The PTA spokesperson spoke about the importance of fundraising for all kinds of school needs, not just technology. ) The teacher indicated that every classroom should have a SMART board because it was such a wonderful tool for teachers. One of the speakers indicated that it looked like they would not be getting the funding from technology from "other sources" – which I inferred to be the school board - so the PTA may need to raise money to meet the technology needs for the school. Their discussion was followed by one of my fellow board members addressing the group and telling them that there was $5.5 million in capital outlay money for technology, "just sitting there," and that if the parents felt that their school deserved to have that technology, they needed to email their concerns (she didn't say to whom, but my guess is to anyone who will listen).
My fellow board member did nothing wrong in advocating for her child's school's technology needs – she is a concerned parent and well within her parental interests to do so. While I heartily agree with her call for concerned stakeholders to email their school board members regarding their technology desires, I want to share my thoughts with you all:
- The capital outlay that is being requested for technology is $2,020,884.97. The rest of the $5.5 million is being requested for facilities renovation and repair and improvements in energy conservation.
- According to the latest technology request, there is no provision for ANY additional SMART boards for Icard Elementary. The only schools receiving a significant number of SMART boards are the middle schools. ****
- The technology request does indicate that Icard Elementary will receive 44 computers – whether they want them or not.
- The technology request is supported by some principals (as indicated at the board meeting), but my sense is that most of the principals would rather have more control over choosing the technology they receive.
Here's the thing: traditionally the decisions as to what technology hardware and software a school needs has been made by the principal with guidance from a local site-based committee. Regarding hardware, if a school thinks it would be better served using netbooks, it would choose netbooks, not desktops. If a school has two stories or mobile classrooms, those schools might choose desktops and computer labs. I don't think there is a viable "one-size fits all" solution to the technology dilemma.
In my opinion, if the central office wants to make a one-time capital investment in technology and take advantage of volume pricing, it needs to do so after listening to the principals and placing a volume order for hardware that reflects the desires of the principals. Yes, we may lose a little in economy of scale, but we would still receive price cuts by ordering in mass quantity.
The question of disparity between the schools as to what technology is available must be addressed. I think that every student should have access to the same level of technology no matter what school they go to. The problem is that the smaller schools have not gotten adequate allotments for technology in the past. I think that can probably be remedied – it will just take some creative thinking.
So, that is my opinion on technology. Please email your concerns to me, to any other Board members or to Dr. Stellar. I think there is room for compromise on this issue. (Again, I am in no way suggesting that I am not going to dedicate my efforts to pay restoration! We have not approved any budget yet, and the requested amount of funds could change based on input from the community.)
Thank you in advance for reading my opinions about this matter.
****CORRECTION: I misread the technology appropriation request. Icard would get 1 SMART board and 42 computers.
