by Thaddeus Flint
Berlin School Board meetings aren’t what they used to be, which was long, rambling and argumentative. Now they are over in little less than an hour. There is no arguing, and everyone seems to get along.
Tuesday’s meeting was just such an example of the new meeting style. The only real discussion came about in regards to how new technologies will be dealt with in the District.
[private]New Policies On Electronic Devices
When the school year started this September, students returned to a new, more restrictive policy regarding electronic devices. High School Principal Dr. Catherine Allain said that while the policy “was not the most popular” of guidelines, students are “generally highly respectful of it.”
Board Member Jim Willis, though, questioned the wisdom of a policy that might deter students from reading electronic books. “We need to adjust the policy to allow for e-readers,” he said.
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Stephen Young, explained that there are “two opinions” which would address Willis’ request. On one hand, “most teachers are comfortable with them for reading,” he said, but on the other hand, “staff members have said to me ‘I didn’t realize that they had internet on them.’” And with internet comes all sorts of other problems, like Facebook® and texting.
A discussion then followed as to why there was wireless internet available for these devices in the first place. Apparently there are accounts for staff and accounts for “guests.”
Willis advised turning the guest account off and allowing readers. “I have said it before. I have been very vocal about it. We should never discourage reading,” he said. “We live in a digital age now. These kids don’t live with books anymore.”
Unfortunately, with the digital age comes even more digital headaches. Board Member Jeff Paine pointed out that you could lock down the internet all you wanted, but, with a cell tower in sight of the school, it wouldn’t do much good as some readers are now 4G capable.
Board President Frank Zwack brought up the possibility that the District could provide non-4G readers to student. Young pointed out that some are already available in the school’s library for students to check out. Willis, however, felt that this would still discourage students from reading as then they would not have their own books already loaded on their own readers. He proposed allowing just readers that aren’t internet capable.
Young voiced his opinion that such a policy really wouldn’t be fair to those students who had an iPad which they used as a reader.
Paine thought that perhaps all readers could be allowed and staff could monitor their use by merely watching the user to see if he or she were texting or typing on it instead of just reading.
“They are smarter than that,” noted Board Member Katie Fiske, of the District’s students.
In fact it’s not that hard at all to turn even the simplest of e-readers, the Nook Simple Touch, into a full fledge wireless tablet. The instructions are found online and this would easily allow “smart” students to get around a policy of only allowing non-internet capable readers.
In the end it was decided that the policy would be monitored, that the librarian would issue e-books and the possibility of having the guest wifi account removed looked into.
Electronic Monitoring
Board Member Gina Goodermote then brought up the possibility of technology enabling parents to monitor their children’s progress from home or work. Could parents not “log on and check grades and attendance?” she asked.
In fact that is something that Allain and other members of the administration and staff have been working to implement. There is a piece of software already developed called SchoolTool which the District is now rolling out. SchoolTool will create a parent portal which will allow parents to log on and check grades, attendance and discipline records.
Already “one quarter of parents for this building have registered,” said Allain. Enrollment requires that a parent appear in person and show some identification to prove the relationship to the child whose records they are requesting to view. “We are trying to keep it very secure,” said Allain. A pilot program will be launched first and, once the bugs are worked out, go live by early November.
SchoolTool will also be used in the elementary school but to a lesser extent. Elementary School Principal Tricia Carlton said, “Elementary teachers prefer to talk.” The grading system is less specific, and teachers there have fewer students. “My teachers’ responsibility is to be communicating with you,” she said.
Goodermote pointed out that SchoolTool will probably be the end of that old drama of the kid coming home on Friday without the report card, hoping for one more weekend of reprieve.
Carlton agreed. “The kids aren’t going to like it,” she said.
Some other new technology has come to the elementary school as well. There are windows that now go up and down, and one can operate them without wearing a Haz-Mat suit. These were installed over the summer as part of Stage 1 of the Capital Project.
Next the elementary school will be painted. A pale yellow will enlighten the entrance area, and the lockers will be painted green, in keeping with school colors. Carlton said that this will make the building look “more elementary and cheerful.” This would seem to contrast with most other nearby school districts, according to Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Cyril Grant. At a meeting of other Buildings and Grounds Superintendents Grant found out that of “98% of them, the only color they use is antique white.”
Zwack talked of a “master plan” for getting the school painted but without painting walls that would be taken down in Phase 2 of the project.
“You can master plan all you want,” said Goodermote. “What I want is the elementary school to be painted.” Grant said he would look into costs as well as planning around school recesses.
In other news:
The Board authorized, with all in favor, the issuance of up to $110,928 in serial bonds to be used for the purchase of one 66 passenger bus.
The Board voted, with all in favor, to support Taconic Valley Youth Basketball Director Joey Burdick’s plans to use District facilities for the upcoming season. According to Goodermote, there are already “80 to 100 kids” signed up.
The Board authorized, with all in favor, a senior class trip to Virginia Beach to take place in the spring of 2014. Senior Class Advisor, Karen Day, said there are only 46 seniors in the Class of 2014 and with a 55 passenger bus, “she hopes to take them all.”
The next regular Board Meeting will take place on October 15 at the elementary school.[/private]