July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Tech committee changing course
Jay School Board
The committee charged with recommending the next step for technology in Jay Schools wants to pause and re-think its direction.
Working on digital learning since April 2013, the committee had been focused on proposals that would put a tablet such as an iPad or a Chromebook in the hands of every middle school and high school student.
Options on which device, the timetable for rollout and the costs involved were being reviewed in order to present them to the Jay School Board. Costs were expected to range between nearly $1 million to $1.8 million.
But in late March, committee chair Jeremy Gulley, director of teacher effectiveness, came across information from between 60 and 90 Indiana school districts that showed an all-tablet approach might not be the best way to go.
“It caused a pause,” said Gulley, who indicated many schools are using a mix of both tablets and laptop computers, depending upon the grade level and application.
“There is no one device,” said superintendent Tim Long. “It’s multiple devices.”
And when the committee conducted a survey of Jay high and middle school students, the results caught members by surprise.
“We were shocked,” said board member Kristi Betts, who has served on the technology committee.
Both access to the Internet and the number of high-tech devices already available to students at home were more prevalent than expected.
Of Jay middle school students, only 8.54 percent said they had no Internet access at home. For Jay County High School students, the numbers were even lower, with just 7.67 percent saying they had no Internet access at home. Only 4.32 percent of middle school students said they had no devices, such as computers, tablets or smartphones, at home. For high school students, the number dropped to 3.16 percent.
As a result, the committee is now looking at piloting a different approach, one that would combine “bring your own device” policies with providing low-cost tablets or laptops to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Those devices would be rented out as if they were textbooks. It could also be possible to offer students the ability to acquire laptops using educational discounts.
That’s the approach being taken by school corporations in Crown Point, Zionsville and Loogootee.
This fourth option would make use of the classroom or department sets of roughly 300 iPads already owned by Jay Schools.
It would also be the least expensive approach.
“The sense of the committee is we’d like to move,” said Gulley.
A recommendation will be brought back to the board for its May meeting, so that there’s an impact on the next school year.
On a related matter, the board approved applying for an Indiana Department of Education technology loan of $335,000 to fund Wi-Fi infrastructure equipment and upgrading computers. The 5-year loan at 1 percent would be paid off via the debt service fund.
In other business:
•Gulley told the board initial figures based upon ISTEP scores showed the vast majority (87 percent) of Jay Schools teachers to be effective or highly effective. More complete teacher effectiveness ratings are expected by the fall.
“I project we’ll have a lot of teachers in the effective and highly effective categories,” Gulley said.
•Heard Long say that the JCHS graduation rate is now 95 percent, up from 94.6 percent last year.
•Learned Long appointed Barry Hudson to the board of directors of John Jay Center for Learning. His term begins July 1.
•Hired Kari Fields as a part-time cook at Bloomfield Elementary School and Dennis Dwiggins as a driver education teacher.
•Approved the retirements of Lucinda Wolverton as a seventh grade math teacher at West Jay Middle School, Maria Paxson as an instructional assistant at East Jay Middle School, Kris Caster as a special education teacher at West Jay, Gerald Flanagan as a teacher at East Jay Middle School, Dee Shidler as an instructional assistant at JCHS and Ingrid Saxman as a fifth grade teacher at East Elementary School.
•Accepted the resignations of Jennifer Schwieterman as a Latin teacher at JCHS, Krista Muhlenkamp as an English teacher at JCHS and Tomas Jerles as principal at Redkey Elementary School effective at the end of the school year.
•Approved a special services contract for Ruth Jones of At-Risk Services.
•Authorized leaves of absence for instructional assistant Beth Dues, food service employee Karen Petro, social studies teacher Jessie Mangus and maintenance worker Jeff Dollar.
•Approved extra-curricular assignments for Aaron Daniels as assistant boys’ golf coach at JCHS, Abby Champ as cheer sponsor at JCHS, Amy Grady for the summer band guard, Sherri McIntire as East Jay track coach and Trenton CJ Yoder as drama director at JCHS.
•Accepted the extra-curricular resignations of Dana Brown as sixth grade cheer coach and assistant cross country coach at East Jay and Lucinda Wolverton as seventh grade team leader and drama coach at West Jay.
•Approved field trips by the fifth grade at General Shanks Elementary School, West Jay archery team, West Jay honor society, East Elementary School gifted and talented students, JCHS choir and robotics team.
•Approved bus requests from Zion Lutheran Church Pre-School and the Jay County Boys and Girls Clubs.
•Changed the rate of substitute teacher pay from $65 to $74 per day on those extended days being used to make up for school days lost to bad weather.
•Accepted a donation of $5,000 from FCC (Indiana) for the advanced manufacturing program and a donation of a $5,200 piece of hydraulic equipment from Tyson Foods.
•Accepted a grant of $184 from the Indiana Farm Bureau for a livestock skills competition.
•Approved textbook rental fees for elementary schools next year as follows: Kindergarten, $106; first grade, $120; second grade, $106; third grade, $127; fourth grade, $119; fifth grade, $120.
•Learned that 92.3 percent of Jay third graders passed the IREAD-3 test.
•Accepted a donation of $906.05 from the Dunkirk Kiwanis Club for new band uniforms at JCHS.
•Approved language arts textbooks for elementary schools and English and foreign language textbooks for JCHS.
•Set its May 19 meeting for 5 p.m. to allow for time for further review of the corporation’s fiscal challenges.[[In-content Ad]]
Working on digital learning since April 2013, the committee had been focused on proposals that would put a tablet such as an iPad or a Chromebook in the hands of every middle school and high school student.
Options on which device, the timetable for rollout and the costs involved were being reviewed in order to present them to the Jay School Board. Costs were expected to range between nearly $1 million to $1.8 million.
But in late March, committee chair Jeremy Gulley, director of teacher effectiveness, came across information from between 60 and 90 Indiana school districts that showed an all-tablet approach might not be the best way to go.
“It caused a pause,” said Gulley, who indicated many schools are using a mix of both tablets and laptop computers, depending upon the grade level and application.
“There is no one device,” said superintendent Tim Long. “It’s multiple devices.”
And when the committee conducted a survey of Jay high and middle school students, the results caught members by surprise.
“We were shocked,” said board member Kristi Betts, who has served on the technology committee.
Both access to the Internet and the number of high-tech devices already available to students at home were more prevalent than expected.
Of Jay middle school students, only 8.54 percent said they had no Internet access at home. For Jay County High School students, the numbers were even lower, with just 7.67 percent saying they had no Internet access at home. Only 4.32 percent of middle school students said they had no devices, such as computers, tablets or smartphones, at home. For high school students, the number dropped to 3.16 percent.
As a result, the committee is now looking at piloting a different approach, one that would combine “bring your own device” policies with providing low-cost tablets or laptops to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Those devices would be rented out as if they were textbooks. It could also be possible to offer students the ability to acquire laptops using educational discounts.
That’s the approach being taken by school corporations in Crown Point, Zionsville and Loogootee.
This fourth option would make use of the classroom or department sets of roughly 300 iPads already owned by Jay Schools.
It would also be the least expensive approach.
“The sense of the committee is we’d like to move,” said Gulley.
A recommendation will be brought back to the board for its May meeting, so that there’s an impact on the next school year.
On a related matter, the board approved applying for an Indiana Department of Education technology loan of $335,000 to fund Wi-Fi infrastructure equipment and upgrading computers. The 5-year loan at 1 percent would be paid off via the debt service fund.
In other business:
•Gulley told the board initial figures based upon ISTEP scores showed the vast majority (87 percent) of Jay Schools teachers to be effective or highly effective. More complete teacher effectiveness ratings are expected by the fall.
“I project we’ll have a lot of teachers in the effective and highly effective categories,” Gulley said.
•Heard Long say that the JCHS graduation rate is now 95 percent, up from 94.6 percent last year.
•Learned Long appointed Barry Hudson to the board of directors of John Jay Center for Learning. His term begins July 1.
•Hired Kari Fields as a part-time cook at Bloomfield Elementary School and Dennis Dwiggins as a driver education teacher.
•Approved the retirements of Lucinda Wolverton as a seventh grade math teacher at West Jay Middle School, Maria Paxson as an instructional assistant at East Jay Middle School, Kris Caster as a special education teacher at West Jay, Gerald Flanagan as a teacher at East Jay Middle School, Dee Shidler as an instructional assistant at JCHS and Ingrid Saxman as a fifth grade teacher at East Elementary School.
•Accepted the resignations of Jennifer Schwieterman as a Latin teacher at JCHS, Krista Muhlenkamp as an English teacher at JCHS and Tomas Jerles as principal at Redkey Elementary School effective at the end of the school year.
•Approved a special services contract for Ruth Jones of At-Risk Services.
•Authorized leaves of absence for instructional assistant Beth Dues, food service employee Karen Petro, social studies teacher Jessie Mangus and maintenance worker Jeff Dollar.
•Approved extra-curricular assignments for Aaron Daniels as assistant boys’ golf coach at JCHS, Abby Champ as cheer sponsor at JCHS, Amy Grady for the summer band guard, Sherri McIntire as East Jay track coach and Trenton CJ Yoder as drama director at JCHS.
•Accepted the extra-curricular resignations of Dana Brown as sixth grade cheer coach and assistant cross country coach at East Jay and Lucinda Wolverton as seventh grade team leader and drama coach at West Jay.
•Approved field trips by the fifth grade at General Shanks Elementary School, West Jay archery team, West Jay honor society, East Elementary School gifted and talented students, JCHS choir and robotics team.
•Approved bus requests from Zion Lutheran Church Pre-School and the Jay County Boys and Girls Clubs.
•Changed the rate of substitute teacher pay from $65 to $74 per day on those extended days being used to make up for school days lost to bad weather.
•Accepted a donation of $5,000 from FCC (Indiana) for the advanced manufacturing program and a donation of a $5,200 piece of hydraulic equipment from Tyson Foods.
•Accepted a grant of $184 from the Indiana Farm Bureau for a livestock skills competition.
•Approved textbook rental fees for elementary schools next year as follows: Kindergarten, $106; first grade, $120; second grade, $106; third grade, $127; fourth grade, $119; fifth grade, $120.
•Learned that 92.3 percent of Jay third graders passed the IREAD-3 test.
•Accepted a donation of $906.05 from the Dunkirk Kiwanis Club for new band uniforms at JCHS.
•Approved language arts textbooks for elementary schools and English and foreign language textbooks for JCHS.
•Set its May 19 meeting for 5 p.m. to allow for time for further review of the corporation’s fiscal challenges.[[In-content Ad]]
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