Charleston County classrooms to receive substantial technology additions, updates

By Diette Courrégé

The Post and Courier

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Charles Pinckney Elementary School in Mount Pleasant has 41 high tech, interactive, computerized whiteboards or Smartboards. Almost every classroom has one.

James Island Middle, where more than half of its students live in poverty, doesn't have a single Smartboard in the school.

The technological disparity among Charleston County schools is striking. Individual schools have born the responsibility for years of buying equipment, and as a result, schools' technology often depends on how much money their principals set aside or how much money parents and community members donated.

"The availability of technology should not be a function of the ability of the PTA to raise money, and in the past five years, that's really what I saw," said schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley. "We were not putting public dollars into leveling the playing field around technology."

mrsmomofthree (anonymous) says...

Ridiculous! Every school in Dorchester 2 has a Smartboard. They have been there for two years. This should be district policy not left up to the school. No wonder Charleston county is falling further and further into the black hole. Try working together to accomplish things instead of leaving it up to one.

June 29, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

zoomru (anonymous) says...

Great comment MOM.....

Furthermore..... If Jim ( T-Rex ) Rex would have a little organization; he could have went out on a statewide purchase for all schools and negotiated a GREAT PRICE on volume discount. This is nuts!! Talk about lack of teamwork?? I wonder if Dorchester Co. worked with any other county in the state?? I bet if a little hard ball was played that a major corporation would have purchased all the boards for PUBLICITY?!! How much does the PIG or Harris Teeter spend in advertising per YEAR??

Come on DIETTE!!!! DO you have kids? Chew on some CHEERIOS and get MAD.

June 29, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

harlanh001 (anonymous) says...

SMART boards have just become another fad that administrators can brag about as "accomplishments."

I am a big proponent of technology -- having run a successful web design business since the 5th grade -- but sometimes people just take it too far. Don't get me wrong SMART boards look nice but they fail in any real way to benefit the education garnered in the classroom. More over, the expense of installing them is a distraction of much needed funds for other aspects of a good education... say recruiting the best teachers and paying them a descent salary (that keeps up with the cost of living) or on supplies for classroom use.

The problem in Charleston County is not the disparity between the number of SMART board-equipped public classrooms in Mt. Pleasant and James Island. The problem is a lack of understanding of what the problems are.

For eight years I attened a local private school that in my last three years there put a heavy emphasis on SMART boards, and let me just tell you... the things promote lax note taking practices.

I am now a student at Porter-Gaud, where SMART boards have been installed in some classrooms but a full scale roll out has not occurred --and probably won't -- I think because the ends do not justify the means. And being a student who has experienced both teaching environments, I prefer the classical approach and am happy PG has appropriated IT funds to projects that will actually HELP students.

~Harlan

June 29, 2008 at 5:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

mrsmomofthree (anonymous) says...

As a teacher Smartboards are a great tool. They help in the classroom where chalk and blackboards were useless. Obviously your teachers are not using them correctly. They are interactive with the students. They are a great tool. I use many different approaches in my classroom. It is all up to the teacher how things are used.

I agree that the problem is that no one can seem to find out what the problem is in Charleston County. They need to start from scratch and get some fresh blood in there.

June 29, 2008 at 10:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

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