Monday, November 30, 2009

School board to buy more electronic white boards?

Author:
On tonight's consent agenda (generally including only non-controversial items that are approved without discussion) is a request by the LCPS administration to spend $1.7 million on electronic white boards for grade 3-5 elementary school classrooms. At my request the chairman has changed this to an information item instead, so there will be a presentation and discussion. Like it or not, this is a controversial expenditure in our community and the request deserves some daylight. The request will first be discussed at the Finance Committee's 5:30 meeting preceding the full Board meeting.

A vote on the request may come either tonight or on December 8th. (Item 7.16 -- link may change)

Update at 5:54 pm:
I'm sitting in a meeting of the Finance committee where we had discussion of this matter and asked questions of staff. We will discuss it again in the full board meeting later this evening. The funds are federal funds that come with very specific restrictions.
  • The funds must be for one-time expenses (not ongoing commitments such as raising salaries).
  • The funds must improve student achievement for students with disabilities.
  • Purchase of assistive technology is recommended (though not required) by the federal government to meet the other criteria
  • Because 63% of students with disabilities are included in regular education classrooms, the regular education classrooms are eligible for the technology. The technology then benefits not just students with disabilities but also general education students.
  • The funds requested by the administration will be used for purchase and installation of the devices themselves but also for training in how to use them.
  • The electronic whiteboards come with speakers and a remote microphone for use by the teacher. The use of this audio assistive technology has been shown to improve the achievement of elementary school students, something I don't think we can say about the whiteboards. If this is approved, and I suspect it will be, I hope that teachers will adopt use of the audio assistance.

If you have ideas of what would be better than whiteboards and still meet these criteria, please let the Board know.

Update 10:25pm: The Board took up the purchase as an action item. I moved to table it until the next meeting to give us more time to explain this to our constiuents and explore the alternatives. The motion did not receive a second. The Board voted 7-1 to accept the transfer. I voted against it because I don't believe the community supports it yet.

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21 comments:

  1. It seems to me that in an economic period where teachers aren't getting raises, we shouldn't spend more on technology. Seems the money should go toward our most valuable school resource - the staff. I run an IT dept so don't think that I dislike technology. The white boards are great. However, all the greatest technology and gadgets does no good when the humans that use them lose focus because they are struggling with less money and more students.
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  2. Before new white boards are purchased, an inventory needs to be done of the ones already in ES schools and they need to be re-distributed. We need to take boards from schools that have them in every single room -- like at Newton-Lee where even the reading specialist has one! -- and get them into schools and classrooms that really need them. With all the new elementary schools that have been built that have them as part of the capital expenditure, don't we have some to re-distribute??

    Please require an inventory before allowing more to be purchased.
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  3. My daughter's school, Emerick Elementary, has 2 boards for the entire school. It's time for all Loudoun students to have equal access to this technology. Please provide these boards in every classroom, whether purchased new or re-distributed.
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  4. I don't understand why you think the the reading resource room should be excluded from utilizing a white board. Students who are not engaged with reading skills are the ones that need to be exposed to the wide variety of reading that will be required as adults--whether it be electronic or on paper.
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  5. Take an inventory. Now that's a very good idea. Considering the cost of those white boards. Yes, an inventory would make sense to me. Teachers salaries is where 1.7 million dollars should go.
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  6. Mr. Stevens clearly stated that the funds were restricted, that they could not be used for teachers and salaries. There is no use saying that they should be used for teachers if the funds would be lost if not used for the one-time purpose stated.
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  7. My question is how many teachers actually know how to utilize all of the benefits of these whiteboards? In my kids 4th grade last year, only her teacher (who taught in southwest VA the prior year) knew how to use it. So it stayed in her classroom. What about using the $$ for more laptops for kids that need them?

    Jennifer Lee
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  8. My child has a specific learning disability - visual motor integration; he will EVENTUALLY benefit from the use and installation of interactive white boards when he is in high school level classes and can use a laptop computer to present information to his instructor and classmates. But it is necessary for him to have access to a laptop computer and know how to use it for this technology to be of a benefit to him, and that would not be the case in grades K - 3. Installation of these boards for children who have no opportunity to appropriately utilize the technology is a poor use of resources.
    Use the money to purchase laptop computers for the use of special education students IN THE CLASSROOM, on their desks. Also provide instruction to the disabled children who would benefit from keyboarding skills prior to middle school.
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  9. What about just buying more audio assistance devices? I've heard it helps all students, not just hearing impaired. I would think you'd get more of them for the money than whiteboards.
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  10. What other budgetary ideas could the funding be used for? It can't be used for the CIP? I agree with other posts, inventory the white boards and redistribute first. If other more worthy needs that meet the funding criteria don't exist, then and only then purchase more.

    Creative Sew Mom, if you think your child needs a laptop to learn better, why don't you buy one for your child to use?

    Along those lines, I say bring on more fees - pay your own way I say. For example, the school system isn't required to provide student transportation. but it is the most efficient, cost-effective and safe way for kids to get to school. Therefore, make parents pay for the service. This will encourage those who can, to walk to school.

    Public education is a wonderful concept I fully support, but why must taxpayers continue to pay for all these frills? If we need new buildings, we need to pay for basic things like buildings and new staff.

    Cash-strapped-parent-with-15%-tax-bill-increase.
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  11. Technology is a great thing but currently we cannot afford it-- nor can most taxpayers afford yet another tax burden. Forgo the whitebords for now. Use what we have, Newton Lee does not need them in every classroom, sorry! Staff NEEDS a raise, especially if you are considering increasing fees-- TEACHERS/STAFF HAVE KIDS TOO and the burden of these fees without raises is difficult.
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  12. With all due respect, Mr. Stevens, I clearly don't understand how you can be the visionary of the board in promoting the cell phone policy and yet vote against this purchase. As a parent of a pre-schooler who is already very tech savvy, I can see that if the interactive whiteboards are fully utilized they will reach our young students and bring a new level of engagement in the classroom. I would be interested in hearing more of your rationale behind your "no" vote.

    This is federal money being spent--nothing to do with the local tax rate (yes, I recognize that taxes are taxes). Schools all across the nation are investing in technology with this stimulus money.

    Finally, am I correct in the thought that CIP money must stay within the school that it was designated for and therefore purchases made at one building couldn't be sent to other schools?
    --One regular SB meeting watcher/blog reader
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  13. You are correct that CIP (construction) funds by law may only be used for the school for which they are designated because the money is borrowed under a bond approved by voters for that express purpose.
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  14. Why not ask for input from the community of people with disabilities to discover which assistive technologies would be the most effective for the money?
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  15. And inventory ,where utilization is a factor is and excellent Start. Many class rooms have the boards where they are not used, due to teacher preference. Adding more technology where the present is underused will not add anything to the school system other than "just like new" at a future equipment auction.
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  16. Is there, for instance, a closed-captioning technology for classrooms?

    What about microphone/headset pairs for teachers and students?

    Also it's important to remember that disabilities don't just include conditions that require wheelchair use or audio assistance. What about our disabled students who are unable to leave their homes for whatever reason. Can they log into a webcast from their classrooms?
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  17. This still disturbs me...not so much that LCPS wants interactive white boards in every classroom, we all know that already, but that federal IDEA grant funds were transferred to allow this to happen in the name of helping disabled/special ed students. The reasoning that these boards will help visual learners and the amplification will help young children who have less developed hearing refers to the general education population. Many young disabled students need assistance or modification on their assignments - the copy, color, cut paste part of their work or may have deficits related to handwriting. These boards are only seen as a teaching tool, but teachers aren't on IEP's, students are and until students are provided with the appropriate technology to use these boards for completion or presentation of their assignments they are just another option for teachers. And auditory processing disorders are also not uncommon in children with disabilities; these are the children who will be hiding under their desks with their hands over their ears every time the microphone is used.

    And what is the solution for some of these special ed students? An Alpha smart, ha. Do you know how these work - like the news crawl at the bottom of CNN, but you can't read the beginning of the sentence by the time you get to the end. It is not possible to learn to develop a 5 paragraph sample (5th grade SOL) using an alpha smart.

    And no one even thought to pull out the recommendations from the Special Education Advisory Committee before transferring this money in the name (only) of our disabled students. I have never heard a special ed parent complain that their child was not able to access the curriculum because there was no interactive white board in their child's classroom.
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  18. For those whose children have learning difficulties and an IEP, have you child's case manager contact the assistive technology dept. They do have MANY resources available for students and can do an evaluation for the child. Many of the things that are being mentioned are available it is just that the case managers don't always think to ask for them. We need to investigate all the materials we have before buying anything new.
    special ed mom
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  19. survey the assistive tech dept and see specifically what those on the front line really need in the classrooms/schools. Whiteboards are nice but not all teachers like or want them. How about computers that respond to voice so that students with handwriting issues can dictate their work. Finding out what is needed should be the priority then the purchase. Sounds like the board just wants to "look good" and have a electronic chalk boards in every classroom.
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  20. Good for you for being the fly in the Hatrick ointment. There's still hope for you yet!
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  21. There's a way that teachers can get electronic whiteboards and other classroom supplies without burdening school budgets - if the community gets involved and people adopt classrooms as a school fundraising effort, we can get a lot of materials into classrooms. All schools across the US are listed at www.adoptaclassroom.org and the schools in Sterling Virginia are at: http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/adoption/LocatorCity.aspx?State=VA&City=Sterling&Private=0&inter=0
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