A five-year plan that calls for spending nearly $15 million to modernize Township High School District 211’s lagging technology made its public debut at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.
Months in the making, the 2 1/2-inch-thick report details purchases of satellite dishes, big-screen television sets, videocassette recorders, video cameras, hundreds of computers and other electronic equipment to outfit the five high schools.
Additionally, the plan calls for computer and software training for teachers, e-mail between the schools and with residents, and Internet hookups.
Schools not only would replace old equipment but create “media-rich” classrooms enhanced with video and computer-aided art, mathematics, writing, word processing, foreign language, business and science laboratories.
Officials drafted the plan based on information drawn from a survey last fall of businesses and individuals in the community. The survey was necessary for the district to qualify for state and federal grants.
Assistant Supt. Jack Gaza called the plan a “work in progress” and said it included “an annual process for review to accommodate the changing dynamic nature of technology in education.”
While the plan was heralded by many, board member Dora Wolf, a longtime critic of the district’s technology woes, criticized the plan’s lack of an evaluation component.
“We’re always testing to see how effective our techniques are,” Wolf said. “Where is that as part of this plan?”
Wolf said she was also concerned about access to computers. Gaza answered that the district hopes to obtain a 4-1 teacher-to-computer ratio and 10-1 student-to-computer ratio.
