Montgomery students may soon be able to take classes at universities and other school districts without leaving their buildings.
By: Helen Pettigrew
MONTGOMERY Township students may soon be able to take classes at universities and at schools in other districts by using videoconferencing equipment and other distance-learning technologies.
These are among the goals envisioned in a three-year technology plan being updated by the Township Board of Education.
The plan also encourages electronic communication between district schools and with other districts. It must be submitted to the state in order for the district to receive state and federal aid for technology and teacher training.
Gail Palumbo, director of technology for township schools, presented the plan to the school board Monday. The board plans to vote on it this Monday, she said.
"It creates a framework and a vision for what has to transpire over the next three years to allow us to move ahead," said Superintendent Stuart Schnur, who was brought in by the district recently in large part for his experience with and interest in technology.
The technology will help Montgomery schools remain competitive with other districts in the future, Dr. Schnur said.
In the 2001-2002 school year, Montgomery schools will receive $184,457 in state aid for technology, and will periodically receive various amounts in federal aid for technology, according to Business Administrator Jim Strimple.
The state aid is earmarked for hardware and software, and anything geared to distance learning, such as the Internet and videoconferencing. The federal aid allows for discounts on telephone bills, Internet service provider fees and Internet access, wiring and certain hardware, according to Ms. Palumbo.
The new technology plan calls for the district to focus on increasing electronic connections between township schools and outfitting all classrooms and offices with distance-learning equipment, providing technology training to all staff, infusing technology standards recommended by the state into the curriculum at each grade level and outfitting all classrooms with hardware and software to enable students and staff to gain the maximum use of computers for learning.
Montgomery is also part of a countywide partnership that encourages interdistrict collaboration on the use of technology in education.
"This tech plan, unlike the previous ones, had a great deal more input from Somerset County because we are members of the Somerset County Consortium for Distance Learning," Ms. Palumbo added Tuesday. "Now, instead of being just school-district oriented, were taking it to a countywide basis and I think that’s pretty exciting."
The countywide learning community will foster the development of common technology curriculum initiatives for schools in the county and will encourage collaborative projects, according to the county infrastructure vision.
"We’re going to be able to have a lot more sharing with other schools within the county and a lot more educational partnerships will develop," Ms. Palumbo said.
Dr. Schnur said that although distance-learning equipment is available to students now, he would like to institute distance-learning courses.
In Monroe, his former district, he said high school students were able to take Japanese courses from a local college by using videoconferencing technology.
"We expect to do the same kind of thing (in Montgomery)," he said. "I think in a few years, what you’re going to be seeing is every student or staff member using some kind of laptop or device that allows them to communicate 24 hours a day in a wireless environment."
According to Ms. Palumbo, the district may also have to fund technologies that had been promised by Cablevision.
The board had hoped that Cablevision, which was negotiating with the township over a local franchise, would help the district increase its technology infrastructure, but those hopes were dashed when the company recently notified the township it would not pursue the franchise.
Cablevision had said it would provide a fiber-optic connection from district schools to the new high school and board offices, and increase the current fiber-optic network. The district may now have to purchase this, said Ms. Palumbo, who estimated the minimum cost at $50,000.
The fiber-optic connections provide faster Internet access and also help reduce telephone bills, Ms. Palumbo said.
However, this change did not have any effect on the technology plan, she said, because the plan is a vision, as opposed to a concrete proposal.