The Warwick Valley Central School District will get $1,474,275, of which $700,158 will go toward school connectivity and $774,117 will be spent on classroom technology. Eldred will receive $499,431 for classroom technology.
The two districts are among 52 in New York state that are set to receive a total of $45 million in the first phase of the state's plan that funds investment in technology such as computer servers, interactive whiteboards, tablets, desktop and laptop computers, and high-speed broadband and wireless connectivity.
Warwick intends to spend its share of the money to boost its Internet speed from 200 megabytes per second to 1 gigabyte. That will allow students to load more documents on the cloud and make technology work more smoothly.
The district will also buy about 45 interactive TVs, akin to giant iPads on the wall that will help students access software applications, and allow teachers to edit video, make presentations and reduce the use of textbooks.
Schools try to enhance their technology program while limiting the adverse impact on taxpayers, said David Leach, superintendent of Warwick schools.
“This allows us to do both,” said Leach, who noted that the upgrade should put the district's technology infrastructure in good standing for about 15 years.
Eldred will use the money to buy new Chromebooks and flat panel digital displays that are upgrades to smart boards, according to Robert Dufour, Eldred schools superintendent.
The districts are the first in Orange, Ulster or Sullivan to get money from a $2 billion pot that will eventually be shared by all school districts in the state.
©2016 The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
