43
Tech upgrades needed in Austintown for state testing's shift to online
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
District officials discussed technology upgrades for schools during a lengthy work session.
Austintown Board of Education specifically discussed buying HP Chromebooks, operated by Google software, for students in grades six through 12 in the district.
Tuesday’s discussion came about because of concerns that district students are struggling with technology as the state moves to put more tests online.
Tom Ventresco, the district’s technology coordinator, will give a formal presentation on the matter at the Aug. 19 board meeting. The cost of purchasing 3,000 Chromebooks would be $896,000, district officials said.
That price does not include the purchase of a cart to store them on while they are being used within district buildings. The district spends $289 per Chromebook and an additional $30 for programming each one once they arrive.
“We do have some money in the capital-improvement fund” for this, said Treasurer Mary Ann Herschel.
If the board decides not to purchase the 3,000 devices, a second plan called for buying 800 Chromebooks to outfit all sixth- and seventh-graders. “We’re going to need more devices, no matter what,” Ventresco said.
Officials also discussed the problems faced this past year during the state-testing period.
Board member Harold Porter said one of his children probably lost a day’s worth of classes among a four-day testing time span due to a lack of devices. He added his son played on his smartphone while waiting for a device to become available for his test.
Officials also discussed scheduling issues with state testing, specifically that classes are 50 minutes while the test takes 90 minutes.
“Our kids are going to be behind. ... We’ve got to make sure we’re adapting to the kids of this generation,” Superintendent Vincent Colaluca said. Our kids are “not walking into a university using a computer for four years like a lot of other districts outside of this area,” he added.
There was a discussion about waiving the $20 student fee in lieu of a new $50 insurance fee if a student wants to take a Chromebook home with them for homework purposes. The insurance fee would cover damaged devices. The district said they only had to replace two of their 720 Chromebooks from this past school year. Those devices, however, were not allowed to be taken out of the schools.
The software the district installs on the Chromebooks still would have search parameters on them even if they were taken out of the buildings, such as blocking websites on the Internet, officials said.