Video Courtesy USD 489
CORRECTION: The original version of the story listed Paul Adams as a dissenting vote for allowing Hays Middle School students the option to take district issued tablets home. The dissenting votes were board member Josh Waddell and board President Lance Bickle. Hays Post apologizes for the error.
By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 Board of Education took a serious look at technology at Monday night’s meeting, voting to allow Hays Middle School students to take district-issued tablets home, voting down new laptops for K-8 teachers and voting to increase district-wide internet speed.
Before taking action on allowing the tablets to travel, the board discussed the benefit to the students – and the potential cost to the district.
After receiving questions at the board’s work session earlier this month, Scott Summers, director of technology, informed the board that other districts he looked at allowed middle school students to take tablets home, a message carried later in the conversation by Martin Straub, Hays High principal.
“They learn it by touching it in our schools,” Straub, noting he has heard from students in other locations that students from Hays are not as tech-savvy as others.
While the board agreed that technology utilization is important for the students, members were not ready to fully jump into the measure.
“I do think it is moving somewhat fast,” said Josh Waddell, board member, noting he believes more development is needed in the plan before implementation, asking Craig Pallister, Hays Middle School principal, if he was 100 percent sure this is the right measure.
“I am,” Pallister responded.
Pallister also said he felt his staff is almost unanimously supportive.
“They’ve got the iPads. Let’s use it,” Pallister said. “We know kids are growing up on technology.”
Board member Paul Adams also shared concerns pushing ahead with a take-home plan for the devices, noting he would like metrics on usage and specifically what benefit would be achieved through the program.
The cost associated with traveling tablets was also of concern to the board, with the measure creating a $25 technology fee for middle school students, and potential cost increases as the district repairs equipment that could be damaged more frequently.
“I’m just not comfortable yet,” Waddell said, calling the plan “scattered and rushed.”
With Waddell and board President Lance Bickle in the dissent, the board approved the measure 4-2.
Board member Danielle Lang was absent.
A proposal that would have purchased new laptops for K-8 teachers, however, did not fare as well.
While the board acknowledged the need for the laptops – and different utilization of district-issued tablets – the cost was a hurdle the board could not overcome on the heels of a failed bond issue.
“We have so many other things we need to worry about,” Bickle said.
Waddell and Adams agreed.
“We’ve got a deferred maintenance problem we can’t get caught up on,” Waddell said. “I want to maximize what we have in-district.”
Adams said he would like to use up the current devices before replacements are considered.
While current district-issued laptops are beginning to show signs of their 6-year-old age, needing frequent repairs, Summers informed the board there are 300 to 400 laptops in the available pool for 153 staff members.
“I could see another year,” Summers said, but also said it is hard to tell as problems in the laptops run a gamut of problems.
The board voted down the measure 4-2, with board members Sarah Rankin and Luke Oborny in the dissent.
In the last technology-driven measure of the evening, the board also voted to alter its existing contract with Eagle Communications and increase district internet speed from the current 200 Mbps to 400 Mbps.
Other actions taken by the Board:
- The board unanimously approved the application of a Head Start Duration Grant as written.
- The board unanimously approved the milk bid from Hiland Dairy for the 2016-2017 school year.
- The board unanimously approved the move of the district insurance plan to the Kansas School Benefits Group Trust, administered by Greenbush Health, contingent upon benefit negotiations with the HNEA.
- The board unanimously approved revisions for the administrative and classified handbooks for the 2016-2017 school year.
- The board unanimously approved the purchase of K-5 classroom libraries for instructional use in implementing the Reading Workshop, for the beginning of the 2016- 17 school year.
- The board unanimously approved Ideal Refuse Removal as the district’s trash removal vendor for the 2016-2017 school year.
Disclosure: Eagle Communications is the parent company of Hays Post.