North Putnam principals push technology at latest meeting

BAINBRIDGE -- In this veritable age of technology, school corporations are hard-pressed to keep up with the ever-changing teaching methods and techniques of the 21st century.

Tools like the internet and the use of computers have become such fundamental sources for instruction that the utilization of hand-held, semi-personal devices is quickly becoming a vital part of a student’s education.

With so many schools around the country benefiting from educational technology, such as the One-to-One Initiative -- a nationwide program that promotes the idea of “one laptop per child” -- there is little wonder as to why all four principals within the North Putnam School Corporation would push their board to catch up with the rest of Putnam County during the corporation’s latest public session.

The principals (Jason Chew, NPHS; Scott Miller, NPMS; Beth Waterman, Roachdale Elementary; and Rodney Simpson, Bainbridge Elementary) were each in attendance Thursday to pitch a presentation to the school board with hopes that the council would heed their concerns as they relate to technology in education.

“This really started back in January of 2015,” Principal Chew said as he kicked off the presentation. “(We) applied for and received a technology planning grant from the Department of Education (DOE) and the e-learning group there.

“Through that grant, we were able to contract with Five Star Integrated Services ... and we were able to start working with their team to develop an impact analysis,” Chew continued, noting that several members of the community, including students, took part in the study which also observed teachers in their classrooms throughout the 2015-16 school year. “Through that analysis, we developed a baseline of where technology was in our corporation. We then started investigating in what we thought learning at the North Putnam Community School Corporation needed to look like moving forward -- ‘What do we want 21st-century learning to look like at (each) school?’”

Chew, flanked by his fellow principals, went on to say that their efforts Thursday were about what learning at NPSC is going to look like in the future; it was not about the devices or which brand to use and it was not about the tools or “things in students’ hands.”

Rather, the focus was simply “What do we want our kids to be doing? What do we want learning to look like, feel like, and how is that going to take place within our district?”

Several pilot devices were then purchased and tested within the district between January 2015 and January 2016. And whether the feedback came via teachers, students or nearby districts, the general consensus was clear: the budget must make room for personal devices in order to best educate and best prepare students for life after graduation.

“Think about how many times each day we need to use technology in our lives,” Principal Simpson rhetorically asked the board. “We want our students to innovate -- we want students to be curious, have information at their fingertips and be able to learn how to solve problems together.”

Principal Waterman’s comments echoed those of Simpson along with making it a touch personal.

“This is what we want our students to be able to do,” Waterman said. “We want them to be able to work well with others, care about others, make good choices, accomplish shared goals, take ownership of their learning, have clarity of what they know, be able to tell us what they don’t know and establish goals that are based on their own interest.

“We want school to be a part of their lives -- something that helps extend them into their future goals, careers and plans,” Waterman added. “We don’t want them to just go to school because it’s something ‘we do to them;’ we feel like this can change that mindset.”

As with all computer networking, an individual known as a technology integrator is essential to the smooth cooperation of so many devices, which will require multiple access points (wifi hotspots) to be installed throughout the school, something the Greencastle Community School Corporation has experienced in the last year when it turned to the One-to-One Initiative (Banner Graphic story: www.bannergraphic.com/story/2298352.html).

Greencastle Superintendent Jeff Hubble, who oversaw the installation of more than 40 access points at GCSC schools during the summer months of 2016, was quoted in April of the same year as saying “after visiting various schools that utilize the One-to-One Initiative ... what we saw were absolutely wonderful experiences; our teachers couldn’t see what the possibilities were until they saw them in action.”

Hubble then went on to say the cost of installing access points, which may be relevant to North Putnam’s installation costs, were in the area of $7,000.

Miller, principal of NPMS, was heavily in favor of hiring a person for the position of technology integrator Thursday.

“It’s my job to lay out where we think we want you to consider going next,” Miller said. “We really feel that it’s critical that we look at hiring a technology integrator. We think it’s important to understand that it’s not a role that we, as administrators, can fill.

“We need to complete our infrastructure as soon as possible,” Miller continued, “and it’s got to be done before we can consider this. We need to develop many policies and procedures in order to go ‘1:1.’ Luckily, there are a lot of corporations around us that we can use as examples to help make this transition go smoothly. We don’t want to just jump into it -- we need to get there in the right way.”

The board, which listened intently to the principals’ presentation, seemed in favor of the initiative. Though no action was taken Thursday, the principals were encouraged to continue their research of One-to-One and to report back at the next regularly-scheduled meeting in March.

In other business:

• As it concerns the search for legal counsel to replace former corporate attorney Gene Hostetter, the board announced that a three-person committee, formed in January, had received five proposals via law firms from Greencastle, Crawfordsville and Indianapolis. The committee will now narrow the field of candidates to three and present them at the next regularly-scheduled public meeting in March.

• Among other fundraisers and field trips approved by Superintendent Dan Noel, a non-overnight trip to Southern Illinois University for anyone interested was approved after a short presentation. An upcoming, total solar eclipse will be best seen from Carbondale, Ill., with more than a million people from around the world expected to attend.

The board approved the request via 6-0 vote. The group will leave at 6 a.m. and return around 9 p.m. on Aug. 21.

• TruGreen Lawn Care was approved via 6-0 vote to provide mowing and landscaping services for the district’s athletic fields.

• The Wabash College student-teacher placement agreement was approved, allowing student teachers from the Crawfordsville university the opportunity to continue their teaching education at North Putnam High School.

• A donation from Kroger was accepted in the amount of $226.79.

• Damaged, outdated and old books were approved to be discarded from the high school’s media center and will be donated to local libraries, specifically the up-and-coming Free Little Library in Bainbridge.

• The hiring, transfer and termination of some employees were approved Thursday. They were:

ECA: Craig Armitage, hired as technical director and sound technician for the spring musical; Sarah Asher, hired as accompanist/pianist for the spring musical; Dustin Bond, choreography director for the spring musical; Linda Gjesvold, set director for the spring musical; and Matt Wargel, orchestra director for the spring musical.

Classified: Kirsten Southwood, hire as substitute custodian; and Thomas Williams, hire as substitute bus driver.

Athletics: Robert Hensley, approved as volunteer baseball coach at NPMS; Todd Huff, approved as volunteer baseball coach at NPMS; Jeremy Kincaid, approved as volunteer softball coach at NPMS; and Jeff Weir, approved as volunteer softball coach at NPMS.

Transfer (classified): Marv Kirkham, transfer from assistant mechanic to maintenance worker to replace Jim Wilson.

Termination: Keith Flick, terminated as custodian at Roachdale Elementary.

Internship: Logan Jones, internship to shadow the assistant mechanic was approved.

The next regularly-scheduled public session for North Putnam will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. within the NPHS auditorium.