This letter to the editor was submitted to the Star Democrat on 5.22.07 — obviously the points made below are the real meat of the issue for students. They want to use laptops, but are so hindered by the lack of useful programs, consistent integration and compatibility, they do not want to use them. So, as I pointed out in an earlier blog, keeping the laptop program in place should not be the issue. What needs to be under scrutiny is how and when the laptops are utilized, and solutions that make laptops a viable and consistent complement to the curriculum.

The Letter:

I support the goals of the 21st Century Technology Initiative. Teaching our children to use computers and leveling the playing field so that everybody has the same tool (laptop) is in everybody’s best interest. I also have a problem with how the program has been implemented. I am one of a group of concerned parents. Somehow the program got started without a thorough understanding of how computers and networks work, or of how high school students view and use computers.

While the marketing program is a well-oiled machine, a lack of digital materials, text books (paper and digital), access to databases, teacher support and training, and the prohibition on the students to explore these machines due to security concerns points to inadequate system design and controls and to poor program design. Two years into the program, we have had only one class this year with a digital textbook out of eight classes taken. We can’t connect the laptop to our printer at home; we can’t print at school since the budget won’t allow for paper and toner.

When a technical problem arises with a laptop, the answer is to wipe the memory clean and return it to the student minus all saved work and class notes. We can’t log in from home to study or do extra work or catch up, we can’t check our grades or get missing assignments online.

These laptops may become expensive paperweights — minus the paper.

JACK UPCHURCH JR., Wye Mills

My last notes on the subject for the day:

One exemplary website that is dedicated to the integration of technology and education is: Edutopia – The George Lucas Foundation

The “21st Century Technology Initiative” as interpreted by Edutopia is light years if you will, from where we are in this county. They have realized that the manner of how kids learn is different from the way we did – the way that they perceive, receive, process and disseminate information is different. Please visit the Edutopia site – there’s much to gather from here.

If any of you just take the time to look around this site – you will see that the discussion our county is having is ridiculous. The County & TCPS need to be committed to the genuine proposition of  21st Century Technology. Laptops are only the first baby step, and these need to be working, reliable and compatible laptops, which are a genuine, integral tool and resource for learning.

Some within the school system are still calling that electronic box of controversy a “Word Processor”!! Does this give anyone a clue as to how outdated some things really are? Besides the minimal integration of a laptop for a small segment of the school system, there are few other innovations or methodologies currently in place on a consistent basis.

One more thought for the day – in the April minutes of the TCPS board meeting, any idea why they are discussing the need for an attorney to be present at the board meetings? Curious.

If you’re driving in the Bozman area, familiar signs of spring have returned – the flowers, the grass, the sunshine – but in our neck, most notably Casey, Sherry and their traveling fruit stand! Unfortunately they have become somewhat nomadic due to county regulations or red tape. They are simply selling healthy fruit and vegetables. Please look for them and support them. They are dear and what they offer is good for us all – and that includes the roadside chats!

In other news…the TCPS and county budgets have been in the headlines and on a neighboring blog quite recently. Honestly, I don’t know why the majority of the focus is on the Laptops and libraries. There is much, much more in addition to these two critical topics that need addressing, discussion and resolution.

But to the burning headline topics at hand…

I’m a parent and I have seen first hand what giving a laptop to a student can do. I know that it works and should have been put in his hands long before this year. One note, we no longer attend TCPS, but did purchase a laptop as it was a necessary item for our particular instance.

Laptops for ALL children in EVERY grade is what should be discussed. Radical? Perhaps, but if you saw recently on 60 minutes, “What if every child had a laptop?” it is plausible and even affordable. And we are far, far, far from a third world country. Yet when it comes to the lack of technology we have available to us here (cell phone coverage, broadband service and updated technology in our schools), we might as well be!

I and many I know have had their lives radically altered by computers – it has become a way of life for me and so many I know. And you want to know something? I have found I grasp information on a computer screen better than reading print and type three million times faster than I could ever write. (which is why these posts can be long winded sometimes) and I’m comparatively old.

For my son, it has created a means for him to be able to learn and more importantly, communicate what he has learned. Had we stayed with TCPS, he still would not have a use of laptop full-time and potentially would have to wait 2 more years. Given the fact that there are so many programs out there which are able to assess progress and adjust teaching, I honestly do not understand why this is even a question – it would be to the best advantage of each individual child. Even the typing program Mavis Beacon which is available at Staples for $10 adjusts its lessons according to the user… is this making sense to anyone?

Provide laptops and updated versatile programs and I strongly believe many things would improve! Take a cue from the many on-line programs available now through colleges – it is not something that we should be arbitrating, deciding who gets and who doesn’t or wondering if it’s successful.

Please know this is not a support letter for Karen Salmon or her being an “innovative” thinker. This is in support for the many, many children in this county who need an alternate means of learning and this has proven to be the key in many ways.

In terms of teacher pay increases – attracting quality teachers to our area…most of them will open one of the homes for sale books and realize that no matter what you pay them, $400,000 for a place to live just doesn’t work on a teacher salary. So that’s a moot point unto itself.

But for the ones on staff – yes they need raises so they can continue to afford to live in this county or afford to drive here to work. And…provided you give all the tools to the teachers, not have them afraid to lose their jobs because of “testing” results, and make them want to stay on the staff – to be able to be the best teachers possible, I’m sure the attrition rate might even decrease?

With regards to the library – I haven’t really read too much detail on the subject, but my “man on the street” opinion is that this is something that would benefit from a “technology” overhaul in that I don’t think a new building in a new location would be in order, but a renovation and/or expansion would be in order. The last time I was in the library, I noticed that it did feel kind have a 70’s feel to it with computer stations right in the middle and not enough of them. As this building is not that old in all honesty, it could be retrofit with newer layouts and technology upgrades. Think up – it could be done.

Last thing on the digital soapbox for now…the Hospital needs to stay open and where it is. The shore needs more hospitals (not more acres of doctors offices) and I don’t know why it has to be an either or proposition. If you go to Baltimore, it sure seems like there’s one within 5-10 minutes of another. Given we are rural there should be a hospital at least in each of the major towns in each county – one in Denton, one in Centreville, one somewhere in Queen Anne’s County – ideally right on Rt. 8 at the Industrial Park, one in Chestertown, etc.

We live 1/2 hour from EMH. God forbid we ever needed it and Shore Health decided to go to Queenstown or Stevensville it might be too late. And on a Sunday? – HMPF! The population, the traffic and the accidents are all on the high speed increase (rise just didn’t seem adequate), and feasible access to emergency care should be a logical next step.

The Hospital SHOULD NOT under any circumstances be closed – if not for the emergency and health aspects, then for the economic ones. There are many I know who work for the hospital in one capacity or another and am quite sure a drive to the Island would not be easy to justify for many. One more thought – if you do move the hospital towards the bridge, then it will attract the Western Shore workers (who are paid more) thereby decreasing the availability of decent paying jobs for residents of the shore. (and increasing commuter traffic).

There’s more in the cooker, but thought as the are the primary hot buttons of note lately, I would add my two cents. And go visit Casey & Sherry! You’ll find them either at the head of Bozman road or down in Wittman on the corner of Pot Pie and 33.