District Expands and Improves Technology for Students and Staff

The district has exciting investments underway in technology for students and staff -- including continued improvement in Internet and wireless access.

The technology upgrades and expansion are supported by a $1.6 million investment, part of the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The investment focuses on the board-adopted Goal 4: "All students will stay in school, on track to graduate."

"We are significantly upgrading technology throughout the district so that we are providing our students and staff with the best equipment and Internet access possible," said Superintendent Michael Hanson. "We are doing our best to prepare students for the high-tech demands of careers and college."

The upgrades includes more than $4 million invested in school site routers, switches and wireless access points funded by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) subsidies and district funds.

The district will also use new LCAP funds to equip buses with wireless access for students so they can learn while they travel to and from schools and events.

For teachers, funds will be used to decrease the time between computer refreshes from five years to three years. With more current computers, teachers will be more effective at integrating technology into instruction. And students will be more likely to learn using technology and about the use of technology, better preparing them for college and career.

The district will also modernize its telecommunications and unified communications, including desktop sharing, messaging and conferencing, and add Skype for Business.

In addition to funds set aside through the LCAP, the district is making additional, significant investments in technology, including one-time funds to replace more than 1,500 of the oldest classroom projectors in the district.

The district is also launching the Personalized Learning Initiative in 2016-17, an innovative professional learning program for teachers to boost their ability to provide quality instruction with integrated technology and personalized learning supported by student access to tablets. The program is for 220 teachers and about 7,000 students. These teachers have access to a class set of student devices. Classrooms will also be equipped with Microsoft wireless display adaptors and secure storage for the student devices.

Teachers will work in teams at their schools and interact with other teachers throughout the district using the Teaching Channel.