Updated Technology Makes a School Smart!

New, new, new! The media is full of advertisements about new gadgets and upgrades to help improve our lives. Recently I upgraded my computer to a newer software package. As I looked through the program, I saw that I could use all sorts of options to design a new document. There were templates for a Blog post, a calendar, a flyer and even a list: Really, a list? I could use a pencil and paper and make a list the old fashioned way. While I didn’t need to use a computer to make a list, there are other more important activities and projects that require appropriate updated technology.

Over the past year as our Facilities Assessment Team, a group made up of parents, school staff and community members, worked to audit our needs and plan for improvements, we took a close look at what items were necessary and what prospective elements were unnecessary “fluff.” The Facilities Assessment Team reviewed the age, the stability and the appropriateness of our technology and the supporting infrastructure.

During our time of assessment we found that many of our children were working on computers that were over ten years old and no longer serviceable. The older computers are no longer able to support the educational software required to prepare our children for jobs and the skills they need in the future. The Facilities Assessment Team found that we must expand our wireless technology, obtain additional classroom computers for students and staff, integrate 21st Century job skill development with upgraded educational delivery tools and implement security and access control systems.

The Facilities Assessment Team worked together, meeting on a weekly basis to plan and integrate the needs for technology with the need to make the buildings Safe, Warm and Dry. The Smart portion of the Bond issue proposals will provide a strong educational technology infrastructure that will support current technology needs and will allow for future technology growth. The elements included in our Bond proposals will indeed make our school buildings Safe, Warm, Dry, and Smart for our current students and future children in the Columbia School District. If you have questions regarding your child attending the Columbia School District or about the Bond issue proposals, please email me at Pam.Campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 517.592.6641.