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Walk into just about any school in any state, and you'll witness
the electronic future. Nearly every student today has access to
a computer, and teachers have their own computers with Internet
access and tools to help with curriculum. Some districts even
offer nonprofessional staff computer access and training.
But while most school districts throughout the nation are integrating
educational technology into their classrooms, few school boards
are becoming as technologically advanced as the school systems
they run. The Clarksville-Montgomery County School District
in Clarksville, Tenn., is an exception. This is one school board
that has turned to technology to make board operations efficient
and responsive.
Making a commitment
In 1993, as the result of a state technology initiative, the
Clarksville-Montgomery School District began implementing a
five-year comprehensive technology plan. The state's seventh
largest school district, overseeing more than 20,000 students
from preschool to adult education, Clarksville-Montgomery has
been recognized by the National School Boards Association's
ITTE: Education Technology Programs for its outstanding use
of technology. (See "Saluting Success," January 2001.)
With more than $20 million in funding from the county commission
over a five-year period, the district has been able to provide
its students with a wide array of technological opportunities.
In addition to state-of-the-art technology that supports school
curriculum at all grade levels, the district has also provided
many ancillary items, such as electronically produced student
yearbooks, computer generated report cards, and accelerated
reading and math programs. Teachers have benefited from the
initiative as well, with yearly technology training and staff
development workshops, electronically retrieved lesson plans,
and faculty-created, grade-specific technology curriculum manuals.
And lately, the Clarksville-Montgomery School Board has taken
on a new electronic look, too. The process began about two years
ago when the school board moved into a new building for its
meetings. The new building provided the opportunity for the
installation of modern technology.
"We deployed technology to the classroom first, and the teachers
second, and the school board was the last group to get involved,"
says Clarksville-Montgomery Superintendent David E. Baker.
The school board on board
Board meetings are now held in a 60-seat lecture hall with
a modern sound system that includes 16 speakers. Board members
can make PowerPoint presentations or use a number of VCRs for
recorded presentations. A ceiling-mounted large-screen projector
allows members of the audience to get an up-close view of a
presentation. Board members can watch presentations from two
ceiling-mounted large-screen monitors. The meeting room is also
equipped with 12 wired microphones and 12 cordless microphones.
In addition, the board is able to display the agenda and other
pertinent documents on two large-screen televisions and other
monitors.
Board President Horace Murphy Jr. says the new technology has
made an effective school board more efficient.
"We stressed getting our school system into the 21st century,"
recalls Murphy. "The board itself was just a by-product of the
school district becoming totally 21st-century oriented."
The school board's technology plan was funded through the county
commission, which approves the district's budget. The district
received $4 million a year for technology equipment. About $40,000
a year was earmarked for the board and covered equipping the
boardroom as well as providing laptops and training for board
members.
Each member of the school board has been provided with a laptop
computer and a printer. The laptops have internal modems so
board members can have Internet access at home and connect to
the school system's network. School board members now e-mail
agendas and other announcements. Superintendent Baker says the
board is on its way to having paperless meetings.
"By connecting the school board electronically, we're able
to be more efficient," says Baker. "We can e-mail the entire
school board agenda and its various attachments. We are also
moving toward doing away with paper agendas for the audience,
[but] we're not there yet."
Murphy says the board will probably be able to do away with
paper board packets within the next three or four months. He
also points out how the new technology allows the board to communicate
with department heads via e-mail. Members have been able to
gather information more quickly on important issues, he says,
which makes the decision-making process easier. One day the
board will "be totally utilizing our laptop computers," he says.
"It's a slow process of weaning so that the transition will
be easy for all board members."
Once they received their laptops, each board member received
computer training from the school district's technology technicians.
Each member attended a two-hour training session, and those
with less computer experience had more training.
"We brought them in one by one and trained them," says Ray
Woodall, director of information systems for the Clarksville-Montgomery
County Schools. "Some had no experience with the computers at
all. My goal is to see every school board member become efficient
in the use of computer technology."
Superintendent Baker says that having school board members
use technology gives them a better understanding of the need
for technology in classrooms.
"By becoming firsthand users of technology," Baker says, board
members can "see and embrace technology even more. They are
now active participants."
A new way of doing things
The Clarksville-Montgomery county school board has been using
its new technology not only to become more efficient, but also
to communicate better with its constituents. For starters, the
board uses the
district's web site to disseminate important board information.
Upcoming events are posted, as is the board's policy manual,
which is available online in a PDF file. Board president Murphy
says having the policies online allows the community to view
the documents that govern the school system.
Baker sees several advantages to the arrangement. For one thing,
he says, the technology allows the district to alert the public
to changes of plan -- posting school closings on its web site,
for example, and alerting parents of early dismissal during
inclement weather. And more recently, a subscriber list has
been added to the web site. Nearly 100 community members have
signed on to receive school board news and other important school
information via e-mail. Baker expects the list will grow as
more parents learn about it. He says it will allow the district
to communicate not only internally to its staff, but also externally
to the community, providing timely information to parents, who
can respond to postings or bring up issues and concerns of their
own.
"We're going to use it as a vehicle to get a feel as to what
the parents are thinking," says Baker. "I see the technology
as a wonderful opportunity to get the pulse of the community."
But despite the technology's many advantages, the school board
has learned that technology does not solve all problems. Sometimes,
for example, the technology is not reliable. Woodall says a
lot of money has gone into the upkeep of some equipment, specifically
the large-screen projector, which he believes will have to be
replaced in a year or two.
Nevertheless, through its own use of technology, the Clarksville-Montgomery
school board has shown its commitment to the wise use of technology
in schools in its district. This commitment helped the board
win the designation of School Board of the Year in 1993, 1995,
and 1997 from the Tennessee School Boards Association.
Board president Murphy sums up the board's philosophy: "You
cannot ask your school system to be 21st-century oriented when
your board is not there. We must lead by example."
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