Schools

Superintendent Pushes For Chromebooks For Students 6-12

Response from School Committee members was mixed.

The price tag per device was lower, but implementation wider when Supt. Victor Mercurio presented his latest proposal for equipping students with computer tablets at the School Committee meeting Tuesday night. The reception was mixed, with some members questioning the aggressive implementation timetable and overall need and others arguing students both need and deserve this technology.

The last time Mercurio presented the idea of giving each student a computer tablet, the proposal was for iPads for students at the high school. On Tuesday, he talked about Chromebooks for students in grades 6 through 12. The individual price difference was considerable – iPads cost $500 and up, Chromebooks cost just over $300. 

But at a total estimated cost of $722,400, the proposal is not cheap. That price tag includes:

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$431,200 for 1,400 Chromebooks

$37,800 for mobiel device management

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$82,600 for two-year warranty

$18,200 for laser etching

$21,000 for Chrome OS configuration

$12,100 for internet filtering

$8,400 for mobile device classroom management

$130,000 for school support staff

Mercurio said he was hoping for a vote Tuesday night on whether or not to proceed for two reasons – one budgetary (so the money could be included in the 2014-15 budget) and the other planning (so teacher training could begin as soon as next month). He laid out a professional development timetable starting with training in January for 10 to 15 teachers to become certified trainers and including additional trainings between March and September, including a three-day "tech camp" for all teachers in June.

School Committee member Deidre Gifford wondered, as she had last January, how such a costly program had risen to the top of the heap, in terms of implementation.

"I'm a little taken aback by how this, given all the budgetary constraints that we've dealt with over the past five years and all the things we've whittled away at, down to pencils and papers some years, and we haven't seen a robust plan like this for teachers around the Common Core or how we're going to mentor new teachers.… Somehow, this has taken on the supreme importance," said Gifford. 

Jack Sommer, a long-time supporter of the 1:1 idea, admitted he did not realize Mercurio wanted a vote Tuesday. In fact, there was no vote listed on the agenda. Still, Sommer remained firmly in favor of the 1:1 proposal.

"It's not about the implementation. It's about what education are we delivering to these kids. Are we giving them the best we can give them? I think it's time," he said. "There've been enough districts that have done it around the country."

Later he added, "I do think it's a very powerful tool, so it does trump some other initiatives, yes…. It would be a giant leap to the positive if we do this."

Both Michael Podraza and Alexis Meyer – principals of the high school and middle school respectively – spoke of the pent up desire to go further with technology in the classroom, both from teachers and students. 

"If we were just ready to digitize a 19th century education, I wouldn't be advocating for it but we're ready, we're ready to take that next step. They're creating it now," said Podraza of utilizing technology to enhance and transform education. "Getting it into the hands of every child in East Greenwich is what we're missing."

"Putting a device in every teacher's hand when we came here was revolutionary. And putting a white board in every classroom," said Meyer. Now, she said, every computer in the building is in use all the time and some teachers are having their students use their own smart phones to access the internet.

School Committeewoman Mary Ellen Winter expressed dismay at Mercurio's call for an immediate vote, noting while she accepted the idea of computers for high school students, she was less sure about their need in the middle school and was against the idea of widespread computer use in the elementary grades. 

"How are our kids going to know how to talk to people?" she said.

School Committee Chairman David Green said new initiatives were always challenging, but that alone shouldn't dictate what happens.

"This has been on the docket for at least 18 months, maybe 2 years," he said. "At some point we are either going to have to tell the superintendent to spend his time elsewhere or allow him to the flexibility and latitude to go forward."

The panel will discuss the proposal when it reconvenes in January.


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