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Austintown schools talk chromebooks, approve purchase of lift for campus maintenance
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown school district officials discussed laptop deployment and approved the purchase of a motorized lift Monday night.
Assistant Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor told the Austintown Local Board of Education that almost 900 HP Chromebook laptop computers, powered by Google software, have been handed out to students in grades six through 12 after the first two pickup nights last week. Parents pay a $50 insurance fee for the students to be able to use the devices.
Superintendent Vincent Colaluca noted that a student already dropped a Chromebook. “If we didn’t have that insurance fee, that parent would have to replace that Chromebook at $330,” he said.
Students are not being asked to bring the devices to school until the Monday after Thanksgiving but are free to bring them to class now if they already have picked them up.
“Some great things are happening in terms of technology and curriculum fusing together,” Batchelor said.
The board unanimously approved the purchase of a Telescoping Boom Lift, with a 60-foot platform height and a motorized diesel-powered, 4-wheel drive machine, at the price of $41,000. Colaluca explained the machine would be used for window washing, light and banner repair and removal on the campus as well as scoreboard and stadium maintenance. District officials said buying the device in used condition saved about $61,000.
The superintendent noted that cleaning the windows in the stairwell of Austintown Middle School cost $2,300 last year.
“We felt it would be cost-efficient for us to purchase a telescopic boom ... [and] be able to use that and not have to rent the equipment,” Colaluca said.
The district also highlighted two recent contributions Monday night. The first, $880, was from Farmers National Bank for the district’s participation in a debit-card program. For every person who signed up for a debit card with the district’s logo on it, the school received $10. Colaluca said those funds most likely would go into the general fund.
The second check was for $500 from Ohio Edison to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, program at AMS. STEM teacher Danielle Chine was on hand for that and explained those funds will pay for upcoming projects involving converting mechanical energy to electricity.
The board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding for The ClassRoom, a company run by Debbie Caggiano, to operate the Austintown Fitness Center on the district’s campus.
The board specified that The ClassRoom will not receive any direct monetary compensation from the school district for managing the facility used by students and township residents.