Frazier school board purchases replacement Chromebooks
In this file photo from October, Logan Butcher, a seventh-grade student Frazier Middle School, follows along on his Chromebook with math teacher Teresa Brown’s lesson.
Henderson
Frazier School District is upgrading one of its educational tools to prepare for the upcoming school year with the purchase of new Chromebooks.
The school board at its June meeting approved a four-year lease for 440 new devices to service students at the high school.
The district will purchase the new devices through VAR Technology Financing at a cost of $98,560.
The use of Chromebooks is part of the district’s 1:1 computing initiative to put a device in the hands of each student in grades 3-12, accompanied by the use of the interactive Google cloud platform and apps in each classroom to supplement coursework.
Superintendent Dr. Bill Henderson said new Chromebooks will replace devices at the high school level that have been used since the start of the 1:1 initiative four years ago and are nearing the end of their life cycle.
With the lease expired on the 800 Chromebooks already in use throughout the district, the board approved the purchase of those devices through VAR Technology for $19,352.
Henderson said the majority of the older Chromebooks will continue to be deployed to students at the elementary and middle school levels, while the remaining few hundred units will be stored as backups and for spare parts to be utilized by the district’s technology department to cut down on repair costs.
Henderson said the 1:1 puts technological capabilities in each classroom and the prospect of research and discussion in the palm of each student.
“Our teachers have been doing a really good job with incorporating new technology into the classroom,” he said.
“Kids can now do so much more than in the past. It provides them with so many more educational opportunities and tools for success in the classroom and at home.”
Henderson said the new Chromebooks will arrive in time for the 2018-19 school year.
In financial matters, the board approved two separate compensations plans for district administrators and the business manager.
The contracts will provide pay raises based on employee performance for personnel covered by the plans, which includes building principals, central office administrators and business manager Kevin Mildren.
The five-year contracts, approved unanimously by the board, begin today and run through June 30, 2023. They replace contracts that expired Saturday.
Mildren said no major changes were made in the renewals, including to employees’ benefits.
The new contracts were factored into the $18 million operational budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year that was adopted by the board during the meeting.
Mildren said the contracts will run concurrently with contracts for the district’s teachers and service employees.
The board also:
n Elected Angela Able to the 4-hour custodian position.
n Named PNC Bank, Perryopolis Office as the district’s depository for the 2018-19 school year.
n Approved contracts for dentist Robert Cessna, $1,000, and doctor Mary Beth Krafty, $7,000, for the 2018-19 school year.
n Elected Buck Watkins as head wrestling coach, Don Hartman as head softball coach and Robert Acklin as head track and field coach for the 2018-19 school year.
n Hired Diamond Marketing Solutions at a cost of $6,600.
n Elected Zach Keefer as athletic director for the 2018-19 school year.