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Eric Newmans kids are only in elementary school, and he doesnt like seeing them head off to North Stratfield Elementary School weighted down with heavy book bags. Newman doesnt find much wrong with the Fairfield Board of Educations spending plan, but there is one area where he thinks Fairfield could improve new technologies.
In the audit, they [recommended] Kindles, Eric said, referring to Prismatics operational audit of the district last year. I think backpacks are extremely heavy and could stand to be lighter.
Unfortunately, Fairfields school leaders say they have trouble paying for basic upgrades to their old systems and making sure all students have the same access to the latest gadgets.
Superintendent David Title pitched two major technology costs to the town for next year, both updating old systems. The first is a $450,000 project to update the districts network servers, the final phase of a three-year plan. The second is replacing 464 computers for $336,000. The computers being replaced are between six to eight years old, and there would still be as many as 325 the same age remaining.
Title said in his talks with the Board of Finance Monday night that the district has no plans to acquire more SMART boards or iPads, at least for now. Title said he wanted to have a better plan to distribute them equally across the district.
We have a big inequity in technology availability, Title said. I think we do need to address it we just werent able to put together a plan to my satisfaction.
For example, Fairfield Warde High School has overhead projectors in all classrooms. Fairfield Ludlowe will only match that next year. And each elementary school has some SMART boards, but the number of classrooms with them varies from 25 percent to 75 percent from school to school.
The town also has a handful of iPads already in use. The district used a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to buy the tablet PCs for its Special Education Department in 2009. Special education director Andrea Leonardi said theyve been great for her children to use to play educational games and take standardized tests. But Title doesnt foresee them replacing books in Fairfield any time soon.
We may get there, Title said. But by the time we get to next years budget, technology will change again, and well have to deal with that.
What kinds of new technologies would you like to see in Fairfields schools? Start the conversation in the comments below.
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