PRINT ARTICLE

Print    Close This Window
COVID-19 can't stop technology; classrooms getting LCD panels
LCD panelsJeff Miller, right, and Tony Mayo of Crider Solutions in Mansfield install an interactive LCD panel this week in a classroom at Sherman Elementary School. Eighteen of the panels are being installed at Sherman. Scores more will be placed in schools throughout the district.

      Whenever students return for the 2020-2021 school year – no one knows yet when that will be – they will find large interactive LCD panels ready for use in every classroom.

      The touchscreen panels, similar to large TV screens, allow teachers to post information and students to work on them simply by using their finger. At the board of education’s Nov. 5 meeting kindergarten teacher Jamie Zellner and third-grade teacher Arpil Leudy accessed the LCD panel in the board meeting room to demonstrate how they use the panels in their classrooms.

      In December the board approved an $850,000 technology package that included the purchase of 174 LCD panels to supplement 39 already in use.

      Tony Mayo and Jeff Miller of Crider Solutions in Mansfield were at work this week installing 18 LCD panels at Sherman. They expect to work into July installing the screens throughout the district.

      The board’s December authorization also included the purchase of 1,640 Chromebooks, which are tablet-size computers. When added to the 1,700 Chromebooks already in use throughout the district, most on 30-unit carts shared among classrooms, there will be enough Chromebooks to provide one to every student in pre-kindergarten through high school for use during the school day.

      The district had begun work on a policy for students to take Chromebooks home for the 2020-2021 school year. However, the unexpected closing of schools due to the COVID-19 threat prompted the issuance of Chromebooks to Senior High students for use in completing online assignments during May.