With $27M bond vote in November
School board talks technology



GUILDERLAND — Six million dollars of a bond vote slated for Nov. 13 is geared towards improving technology and safety in the Guilderland schools.

An often-divided school board supports the $27 million plan and all nine members spoke enthusiastically last Tuesday about their own views on technology in the schools.

If you want teachers to infuse technology into education, said Gloria Towle-Hilt, herself a retired teacher, "it must be accessible."

Vice President John Dornbush said the use of technology as a tool fits in with the standards; he referred to this as the "internal piece."

The "external piece," he said, are the linkages with the community, such as the Nanotech College.

Peter Golden said that, in parts of India, students learn from an on-line MIT curriculum. He suggested, "Look around and see what are they using in these places where our children are competing with their children."

He recommended looking at both high-level computer programming and hi-tech web design.

Colleen O'Connell said she had reflected on how she acquired her own computer skills at Hamilton College, from which she was graduated in 1982.

She said learning the fundamentals, basic computer skills, still serves her well, even as the technology has changed.

"I wasn't taught facts [but] over-reaching concepts," she said.

She also said it was important to integrate technology into subject areas and to offer instruction to teachers. "It has to start with real support in the classroom," said O'Connell.

Catherine Barber said she had noted inconsistencies in the way different teachers use technology: Some teachers have websites and want their student to e-mail assignments while others "don't do that at all," she said.

Denise Eisele spoke of the use of technology for children with handicaps. She described an autistic child who couldn't speak using a keyboard to write poetry.

She said it takes not just hardware but vision to adapt technology to meet students' needs.

Eisele said she would like to see technology serve any child with any level of need, whether highly intelligent or severely handicapped.
"A huge component is the willingness"to attempt it," said Eisele.

"I see technology really as a means to an end," said Hy Dubowsky. He referred to Alvin Toffler’s 1980 book, The Third Wave, describing agrarian society, which was replaced with the Industrial Revolution, and now the Information Revolution.

Dubowsky called technology a sophisticated tool that students need to know how to use. "One thing America always had was intellectual capital," said Dubowsky. He said the board supports the staff in its use of technology and concluded, "I hope we can bring the community with us."

"The fundamental thing that has to be done is curriculum development," said Barbara Fraterrigo.

She said it is important not just to have the hardware but to have the vision to allow the staff to grow.

"I share the board's excitement," said President Richard Weisz. He had asked board members to outline their goals for technology teaching in the year ahead. Weisz went over three different aspects of technology in the schools, the first being curriculum.

Every Guilderland graduate should have prepared a website, said Weisz.

"I'd like to see international collaboration as part of our curriculum," he said, using technology to help kids learn about the world. "We need to explore other cultures and other ways of looking at things."

Secondly, Weisz said, technology should be used to develop critical thinking, which has kept the United States in the forefront.

"Just because the computer says it, it isn't necessarily so," Weisz said. "Kids have to understand both the power for good and the power for evil in communications."

Third, he said, the district should explore distance learning, and not just for what used to be thought of as the smart kids.

Distance learning, he said, could solve budget problems. If just three or four students wanted to learn something the school doesn't offer, they might be able to do it through distance learning, he said.

Education used to think of itself like a castle, surrounded by a moat, said Weisz, but now technology allows interaction with the community.

Similar schools

The board debated, at times quite heatedly, a proposal by Golden to require "similar schools" comparisons be shared with the board and the public and that similar-school rankings be included Guilderland's report card, which annually compiles data from required state testing. The education department has grouped similar schools from across the New York, based on district resources, student needs, and numbers of students with limited English proficiency.

Several board members strongly objected, saying the report card usually includes such data but it wasn't available in time for last year's report; they also said the data is readily available on-line.

Barber objected to the "antagonistic nature" of Golden's approach. "You're making this adversarial and it doesn't need to be," she said.

"You are engaging in the politics of a manufactured controversy," O'Connell told Golden.

Several other board members argued in favor of the proposal.

"You never know where you need to go unless you know where you've been," said Dubowsky.

"It's important to establish a baseline to celebrate triumphs and improve where it's needed," said Fraterrigo. She also noted that the board had a tradition of agreeing on information it wants, so as not to burden administrators unnecessarily.

Weisz said the challenge for schools is figuring out what the state data means and the education department has no response.

The board will vote on Golden's motions at its next meeting, on Oct. 9.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard that the public can make suggestions for the 2008-09 budget at 7 p.m. on Oct. 9, during a session before the regular school board meeting, which is held in the high school's large-group instruction room;

— Approved raises for substitute aids and cafeteria monitors to $8 per hour;

— Accepted the donation of a piccolo by Kathy Buttridge; and

— Heard that the Guilderland Music Faculty and Friends Recital will be presented on Thursday, Oct. 25, in the high-school auditorium at 7 p.m. There is no admission but donations will be accepted for Compassion in Action, which offers health care to local people who need it.