Schools

School Board Wants 2,000 Interactive Whiteboards for Elementary Students

The whiteboards are part of a $14.5 million technology investment that would also include installing wireless Internet.

 

Chalkboards will soon join the ranks of record players, typewriters and paperback books, at least for elementary school students in Montgomery County Public Schools. The school board recently approved a request to put interactive whiteboards in every elementary classroom by start of the 2013-2014 school year, according to a statement from the district.

The whiteboards, which already are in use at dozens of schools throughout the county, are part of a $14.5 million technology reboot that also will provide building-wide wireless Internet for every school in the district that doesn’t already have it.

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Of the elementary schools already using interactive whiteboards, many were bought with money raised by school PTAs, the Washington Post reports.

“We need to make sure we have a level playing field for all of our kids,” said Patricia O’Neill, a school board member. “The boards can’t just be for kids in schools that have affluent PTAs.”

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If approved by the County Council, MCPS will need to purchase 2,000 interactive whiteboards to ensure each elementary classroom has one, the Post reports. 

Read more on the Washington Post website.

Does your child's school use interactive whiteboards? How important is the technology for young students? Tell us in the comments! 


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