Technology Upgrades Planned for 2008-2009
Earlier this year, District 113A applied for a technology loan through the Illinois State Board of Education. The primary purposes of the loan were to generate revenue for the replacement of our oldest computers and to provide advanced professional development related to technology. Though our district was approved for a loan in the amount of $412,000, we received notification in February that the loan program would not be funded this year.
With the oldest computers in our inventory approaching the 8-year mark at the end of this school year, the leadership team looked for other funding sources to jump start the computer replacement program. We knew that the Technology Plan Committee (comprised of teachers, staff, parents and community members) recommended that teacher computers be upgraded to tablets with DVDs to provide more opportunities for dynamic teaching and learning. With limited availability of projectors and computers with DVDs in the classrooms, inequities among classroom experiences have become more evident. The lack of a projector and DVD drive in a classroom limits teachers’ and students’ access to many aspects of new curricular programs that contain powerful technology learning tools.
So, to ensure that all students and teachers have comparable access to basic technology tools for teaching and learning within a reasonable time frame, the administrative team developed a 2-year computer upgrade and projector acquisition plan. Over the next 2 years, every classroom will be equipped with a tablet computer and a projector. Phase 1 will focus on grades 3-8 so that those classrooms can have full access to all of the teaching and learning features in the newly adopted Social Studies programs; all other classrooms will be equipped in Phase 2. Thank you to Carin Pascazio, Director of Information Technology, and Tracy Simon, Instructional Technology Coordinator, for their leadership in designing this 2-year computer/projector project.
In setting the fees for the next school year at the March 12, 2008, meeting, the Board of Education approved a technology fee of $25.00 per student. The implementation of this fee beginning in the 2008-2009 school year will generate funds that can begin to address the urgent technology needs identified through the Technology Plan Committee's assessment of our current status. Unspent funds from this year’s technology budget as well as reserve activity funds and some fundraising dollars have also been earmarked for the acquisition plan. It is important to note that the new technology fee will fund only a fraction of the significant cost associated with acquiring, maintaining and training for a 21st century, technology-rich learning environment. This acquisition plan offers only a band-aid, but one that is sorely needed to provide at least an equal playing field of current technologies across all classrooms in our district.
