Tablet learning is the future

The Levittown School District has outlined how it will spend the first $1.4 million of its Smart Schools funding, with more than half of that money going to support the new tablet initiative.

Levittown was awarded $4.97 million from New York state following the $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act that was passed by voters in November 2014. Money can be used to improve technology and infrastructure.

The district will spend roughly $750,000 over three years to purchase tablets for ninth-grade students. Last September, all high school freshman received a Windows tablet. Students are allowed to take these devices home.

Incoming ninth-graders over the next two school years will also receive tablets. “The tablets expand learning both inside and outside the classroom, creating opportunities for students to learn using the abundance of digital resources available,” said Todd Connell, the district’s director of instructional technology. “The tablets align with the district’s goals of promoting digital citizenship and better preparing our students for the digital world in which we live.”

Connell explained that this initiative allows teachers to plan lessons that make better use of technology.

About $350,000 will be spent for laptop carts. The district will purchase 14 carts, each with 28 computers. Each middle school would get two carts, and the other 10 would be divided up among the six elementary schools.

The remaining $280,000 would be spent on network and firewall upgrades.

Before the plan was approved by the Board of Education, community and staff members were asked to give their input on how the Smart Schools money should be spent. There were “think tank” sessions and an online survey, Connell said. “The initiatives in the Smart Schools Investment Plan align with both the instructional goals and the technological needs of the district in the coming years,” he said.

The district will have nearly $3.6 million remaining in its allocation for the future. Connell said there is no date that the funds must be used by. Additional plans to spend the remaining money can be submitted to the state at any time, he explained.

“Given the fast pace at which technology changes, it is prudent that the funding not be spent in a hurried fashion,” he said, “allowing the district to stay technically relevant in the coming years.”

Connell added that while the funding is nice to have, there are some limitations. It cannot be used to purchase software or for subscriptions to online resources. He explained that when buying a computer, much of the cost of the purchase price is for the programs that will be used. “This has the potential to place further stress on local districts’ already strained budgets,” he said. “Due to this and the elongated process for obtaining the funds, additional funding in the form of traditional state aid may have been a better fit for districts, but we are happy to have the funds.”