School tech gets hotwired over summer break

Published 11:00 am Saturday, July 29, 2006

Improvements begin with mobile computer labs, new science equipment.

In the old days, students in Jason Sovick’s algebra class needed sturdy shoes.

That’s because the math software – which comprises 40 percent of the class curriculum – was only accessible in the computer lab, located a considerable hike away from his classroom in the Commodore building.

Thus, prior to vast technology upgrades scheduled to boost the district this year, students forged stories about long trudges – uphill through sheets of rain en route to the computer lab – that would provoke extreme boredom in scores of future grandchildren.

For Sovick, though, what’s more important than quashing future boredom is knowing his class can spend more time learning and less time on unnecessary sojourns.

“It’s going to be wonderful,” Sovick said, of the arrival of mobile computer labs that will enable students to work in their regular classrooms. “Every minute of instruction is so precious. Now the kids can walk in and go straight to work.”

Ninety-six new laptops will be available as part of the wireless mobile computer labs, which will feature six to eight computers per cart. The labs will be available to teachers throughout the school for activities that would otherwise have required them to move classes elsewhere, or go without.

In addition, the district has a new, centralized library network and the high school science department will receive 169 new laptops of its own for use this year.

Following the upgrades, the student-to-computer ratio at BHS will improve from 5-to-1 to 3-to-1.

The improvements come courtesy of a $950,000 loan from the $45 million school bond passed by voters earlier this year.

A $6.1 million technology levy passed at the same time, but district technology director Randy Orwin said that money won’t be available until next year. Regardless, the district had pressing needs.

“We realized we needed to do something now,” Orwin said. “But we didn’t want to waste money paying back interest.”

Knowing that, officials found a way to loan a portion of the bond money, which is already available, to purchase some much-needed equipment until the levy money comes through.

Of the money being spent this year, $500,000 will go to BHS, in part because it lacks the PTA fund-raising boons enjoyed by many other schools in the district.

The technology improvements at the school will complement the $1.76 million science room renovation that currently is under weway at the BHS 300 building. The new science wing will increase teaching space in a department long starved for classrooms and equipment.

Orwin said new software and probes – along with the laptops and, of course, the new classrooms – will finally bring the science department up to par.

The school will lose two permanent computer labs to make way for more classrooms, but Orwin said the new equipment, particularly the mobile labs, will more than compensate for the change.

The library has benefited as well.

In the past, district librarians were plagued by poor connectivity between branches that ran on separate systems.

“It got to be a management nightmare,” Orwin said of the old system. “This will make things easier on us and the librarians are really excited about it.”

The new Web-based library system is centralized, meaning all schools will now be connected and able to search the same online databases.

Future improvements around the district include a completely new computer network that will increase efficiency and enable the installation of a better phone system.

Orwin said the current network, installed in 1993, is severely outdated. He noted that the manufacturer stopped making upgrades for systems of its ilk six years ago.

In addition to the new equipment, the district hired two new full-time technology staff members to install equipment and train teachers in how to use it.

“The kids don’t have any problem picking this stuff up,” Orwin said. “They’ve grown up with computers, so for them it’s second nature. We have to make sure the teachers can keep up with them.”