Laptop purchases district’s first step in dumping books

FLORENCE - Some local school districts have been awarded technology grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that could not only raise the graduation rate but could save on costs for classroom textbooks.

The Florence school district is slated to receive $250,000, much of which will go toward the purchase of 400 netbooks, or mini-laptop computers, for 11th- and 12th-graders.

Dihanne Westfield, the district's coordinator of information technology/libraries, said the netbooks will help the district not only in reaching its ultimate goal of a computer for every student in the system, but will primarily focus on helping raise the graduation rate.

"Our goal is for the entire high school population to have their own computers that can be taken home as needed," Westfield said. "This is a family project, actually, because parents will have to be involved in this accountability initiative. We hope to have the netbooks by the summer and implement their use fully by next fall."

Westfield said the district's plan is to eventually - perhaps within the next five years - have students from sixth grade through high school outfitted with netbooks.

With the state's ever-increasing mandates to raise graduation rates and lower dropout rates, Westfield said the district decided to begin with older students with the first cycle of netbooks.

"Our juniors and seniors were our most immediate need because we are trying to do all we can to see that more students graduate," she said. "The programs we can offer on these computers and the needs they can meet should help us greatly in achieving that goal. We wanted to give the students the best equipment possible for research, basic class work and remediation where needed. The computers will also be very helpful in credit recovery for those students who need it."

The computers also will help bring another aspect of the district's five-year master plan to fruition: cutting costs on textbook purchases.

Westfield said she continues to research online textbook opportunities for students to use with the netbooks, a move that will greatly reduce the district's textbook expenditures.

"This is technology that's coming," Westfield said. "We're looking at giving our students that digital edge."

The grant will cover training for staff on the new software and equipment, the cost of a project manager and set-up fees, including licensing agreements and other built-in costs.

The Franklin County and Sheffield districts each received $160,000 grants for classroom technology.

Sandy Guinn, Franklin County schools technology coordinator, said the district is targeting its dropout rate specifically and will use the majority of its grant money in the science department at Phil Campbell High School.

The school will add mobile computer labs in classrooms, LCD projectors, interactive white boards and learner response systems, which are handheld devices that students can use to communicate with teachers during class time course reviews.

Additional microscopes, probes and data collection lab equipment will be purchased as well.

"It's a two-year grant, and we're hoping to have everything in place by next semester," Guinn said. "We're pairing technology with project-based learning and our hope is to get the students involved in some worldwide projects."

The Sheffield grant will go for classroom technology equipment.

The Alabama Department of Education received $4.9 million to allocate on a competitive basis to eligible school systems throughout the state.

Lisa Singleton-Rickman can be reached at 740-5735 or lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com.