ALLENTOWN — The district has started to research technological advances that would both lessen the load in students’ backpacks and improve communication with the school community.
The Upper Freehold Regional School District hired Karl Ciak as its new information technology/network director last year. Ciak has identified areas where the district can eliminate the use of paper and paper-related expenses through the use of technology, according to Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick.
Ciak is researching the viability of paperless backpacks. Instead of sending students home with school function fliers and other printed notices, he would like to see the district communicating with families electronically via its secure website and email addresses.
“We could promote the website and using the website for access,” Fitzpatrick said. “Karl is researching how we would get there.”
Some of the concerns that arise with moving toward paperless backpacks include making sure that all students’ families would have access to electronic district communications. The district plans to research the number of families that do not use technology in their homes, Fitzpatrick said.
“We don’t know how we could reconcile this without sending out both paper and electronic communications,” Fitzpatrick said. “We will start with a test period and get feedback from parents.”
The district also wants to ensure that families using various brands of technology could receive and open electronic communications, with Ciak leaning toward putting all communications in pdf format for easy access, Fitzpatrick said.
If the district decides to move forward with electronic communication, the Board of Education would have to review and modify its policies for distributing information, including when communications can be released, how long they can be accessed and the number of times a message can be sent, according to Fitzpatrick.
Approximately two years ago, the Board of Education tried to hold paperless meetings through the use of school laptops. The administration began distributing communications to the board via the school website and email addresses. The district began posting board agendas online. Hyperlinks on the agenda provided the public with access to corresponding documents. If corresponding documents were confidential, their links were privatized for board members only.
President Lisa Herzer said the board discontinued the paperless meetings when setup for them came at the expense of the public in attendance. She also noted that the board continued to receive printed material.
Ciak has proposed making the setup easier with the use of USB flash drives, which could store communications from the administration until board members saved them to their computers, according to Fitzpatrick. “I think it’s a great idea,” Herzer said. “The last time was a duplication of effort and cost.”
The district has also started researching the potential benefits and detriments of using iPads in classrooms.
“You will see evidence of iPads around the district,” Fitzpatrick said. “We got a few to field test.”
The Upper Freehold Regional Education Foundation purchased four iPads for the elementary school. The district has also been assessing the use of 12 other iPads in various areas of the middle and high schools, such as special education, assisted technology and information technology, Fitzpatrick said.