Don’t leave our children in the dust | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 9:55 am Tuesday, September 24, 2013

To the editor:

Voters need to know something about the upcoming school tech levy.  Academia is in the midst of a revolution in what happens in the classrooms across our country. In five years, textbook publishers are expected to cease printing virtually any hardcopy textbooks. Everything is going online. The high school math department has already converted; there are virtually no math books at the high school.

Elementary math teachers in the elementary schools recently adopted something similar; every elementary kid does get a book.

But to fully utilize the curriculum every student and their parents need to have access to a computer at school and at home. Some of the advantages for learning with online textbooks as a tool for teachers and students are stunning and significant.

Olympia knows districts have the option to pass tech levies, so Olympia, in their wisdom, has left funding to local taxpayers and parents.

The island has a choice; either we support what is fast becoming an integral part of the delivery of even the most basic curriculum by voting yes for the tech levy, or we leave our kids in the dust.

THOMAS R. GREENE

Bainbridge Island