One of the plan's goals was to integrate technology use into grades K through 5. Currently, Machamer said, technology has been integrated down to grade 2, introducing the Google Apps for Education suite, on a limited basis, at that level.
"One of the bonuses for doing that is preparation for MCAS 2 testing -- get them used to using a Chromebook, comfortable with the keyboard, comfortable with the mouse or the pad and things like that," Machamer said. "Now obviously at the 9-12 level we've given them pretty much full access to the Google Apps for Education suite, but at the lower grades we've kind of limited that access. In other words, a second grader doesn't have an email with us."
Regarding the plan's intent to have one device per four students by the end of 2018, Machamer said the district has already exceeded that goal. According to Machamer, at the high school, there is one device per 1.7 students, at the middle school, one device per 2.8 students, at the intermediate school, one per 2.3 students, at Assawompset Elementary School, one per 2.1 students, and at Freetown Elementary School, one per 2.6 students.
"We generally have a teacher or even a secretary responsible for signing out a cart," he said. "If you want to get a Chromebook cart, you've got an online calendar, you sign it out, you go down and get it. Those are not overbooked yet. We have those sitting idle a little bit, so we haven't got to the point where we're running out of devices."
The district's main area of weakness relative to fulfilling the technology plan, Machamer indicated, was staffing levels.
"Our goal was to get one fulltime equivalent technician to support 200 devices. Right now we're about one FTE (fulltime equivalent) for about 430 devices. That includes three technicians I have that are fulltime," he said, noting that he counted himself as a quarter technician. "We're a little under where we'd like to be with that."
Later in the meeting, it was said that other technology staff who are not technicians often are taken from their regular work to assist school staff with issues a technician would normally address.
Regarding professional development, Machamer said efforts are currently being made to arrange more programming for teachers, including Google certification, and said that currently the district is making use of informal "Google guides" for support.
"When we brought Google apps in we created 'Google guides' we called them. So a bunch of teachers at each school volunteer basically to say, I kind of know this and I'm going to help the teacher next to me," Machamer said. "So we're trying to develop that a little bit more, and maybe get a (Google) certified teacher at each school, at least one."
School Committee member Derek Gracia was interested in whether or not devices could be shifted away from the high school level given that many high school students may have phones or devices of their own capable of running the apps needed in class.
"Are they being utilized at the high school or are they using their own devices?" he asked.
"Both actually," Machamer said, having noted earlier that currently 293 student-owned devices are used regularly, though it wasn't indicated how many are at any particular school.
To another of Gracia's questions regarding the use of the web-based Parent Portal service to communicate report card grades to families, Machamer said electronic grade books are now in use in grades 4 through 12.
Superintendent Rick Medeiros stepped in to offer his view of where things stand in the technology plan, noting that while the district at one time planned on moving into a one-to-one technology situation (one device per student), things have generally shifted away from that notion in the education field at large. He also indicated that finding a fix to the staffing problem isn't an expectation for the near future, at least as far as the upcoming budget season.
"More and more school districts are moving a little bit away from the one to one concept. That seemed to be the way to go because so many kids have other ways by which to get that, so it seemed like the way to go. Everybody purchases something, everybody goes home with an iPad. There are fewer districts doing that, not that there aren't districts doing that. So we're kind of trying to see in year three whether that's necessary," he said. "Probably the one glaring weakness is staffing. We have not provided the staffing, he referenced it there, and I don't anticipate -- unless we can make some adjustments with shifting monies -- that we're going to have the ability to do that."
"We have spent more money, and I think wisely, on making sure devices are in the hands of kids and professional development is provided and those types of things," he continued, "and probably the next step in the process is to explore how do we maybe improve our staffing to address that. One of the concerns that Craig would share is that obviously the more devices you place, if you don't add some staff, how do you maintain that and respond to those types of things? And we're probably close to that threshold in relation to that right now."
School Committee member Steve Owen had a question regarding the tech. department's response rates to calls for assistance via the district's technical assistance request system, SchoolDude. Machamer said responses to assistance requests are prioritized and that things are generally going smoothly in that area.
"I personally triage that. So I say ok, I get a request in in the morning and I notice that it's a teacher computer, it's going to be down for the entire day -- I give that high priority," he said as an example. "We're generally above water with our response times."
Owen commented, in regard to the tech. department's staffing issue, that the district might look into alternative means of enlisting some help via interns or those seeking community service hours.
"I do think that there's some ...; very talented individuals that are looking for either a college credit intern component or even community service hours to handle some of these SchoolDude type requests," he said.
Looking ahead, Machamer said the next big undertaking of the technology department will likely be an update to the district's wireless systems.
"In the next 18 months to two years we're going to have to look at a new wireless project just because the wireless technology has changed in the last 2, 3, 4 years more dramatically than any other technology we've seen," he said. "We do have a good install base of wireless right now. I did do a survey for the state asking us about our wireless with the possibility of a grant for that, so we're kind of looking at that as another major purchase."
©2016 The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Mass., distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
