The installation will cost $15,000, with the cost being footed by the Joplin Schools Foundation, Superintendent C. J. Huff said during the just-completed open session of the Board of Education meeting.
"On the long conference trips, the students will be able to do homework," Huff said.
"We'll be wired up and on the road."
2 comments:
And none of these expenditures would be necessary if we had common sense enough to issue books, paper, and pencils. Portable. Always load up. Never crash. Biodegradable. No distractions.
Wouldn't it be easier to just swallow your collective pride and say technology is just part of what you do and should not be all that you do? Right now there are few options, and there's nothing in that budget that indicates a great change in mindset. Just a lot more money spent to try to pretend that you're right in your choices for our children. That 15 grand would've bought a lot of books, which the kids and parents have clearly expressed they'd like to have again.
Pride goeth before a fall.
Since the only way the students are able to do their homework is on their laptops, it actually is essential that some buses be equipped with Wi-Fi. Student athletes, as well as other clubs and teams, travel as far as Camdenton and Rolla. That's 6-7 hours spent on a bus during a school day! If there is no Wi-Fi on the bus, when exactly are they supposed to do their homework since they leave from school in the morning and don't get home until after midnight? The issue is not Wi-Fi access on four buses. The issue really isn't even "should they have computers?". Of COURSE they need computers - that is what the students will use in college and most careers. The issue is that a "complete technology" program was implemented too quickly with apparently very little thought to the details and long-term plan. There are drawbacks which should have been foreseen before the system was put into use, for example: students on YouTube, Facebook, watching movies WHILE in the classroom, too many students needing to download an online textbook at once causing the computers to run very slowly, the entire school watching a video at once and the whole system crashes, online bullying, etc. Last but not least, HALF of our student body does not have access to Wi-Fi in the home. These students have to find some other place to do their homework and projects (McDonald's, Starbuck's). This is a hardship for many and puts these students at a disadvantage. That we are TWO years into a computers-only approach and no plan has been enacted for these students is baffling. How can you implement a system without first having figured out how all the students will be able to access it? A quality education for our students is the priority, right? And how will new computers be purchased when these initial ones are too old/broken? Maybe the administration/Board has a plan for this that we just haven't heard yet, but the members I've spoken to seem to be just as "in the dark" as I am.
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