More Technology, Infrastructure Needed in Classrooms, Parents Say

The Caldwell-West Caldwell School District needs a technology upgrade.

At a meeting with district officials and parents Wednesday, Superintendent James Heinegg heard mixed reactions from parents about their children’s experience with technology in the classroom. While some parents said their children had access to laptop or desktop computers, others complained of a lack of resources and infrastructure. 

“I’ve got children in eighth grade, sixth grade, first grade and pre-K and they all have issues" with technology, said Kevin Murry, a parent who attended the Wednesday meeting. 

Susan Botwinick, a mother with a children in seventh and 10th grade, said she was encouraged that the district is moving in the right direction, but added “I wish we could leap forward quickly.” 

“It’s frustrating because the district doesn’t have the resources that I’m used to in the professional world and it’s just years behind,” said Botwinick.

Patrick Higgins, district supervisor for instructional services, said the Caldwell-West Caldwell schools are focusing on technology upgrades with the short-term goal of meeting state requirements for the 2014-15 school year when the new standardized test Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, will replace NJ ASK. 

Students stocking up on pre-sharpened No. 2 pencils will be a thing of the past because the statewide standardized test for language arts and mathematics will be administered on a computer. PARCC guidelines suggest that the number of computers a school should have ought to be equal to the number of a school’s most populated grade. 

The district currently has 185 laptops computers in its schools, the bulk of which — 120 — are in the four elementary schools, in addition many desktop computers. There are also 20 Mac desktop computers, which are used by the high school art classes, and 20 Apple iPad tablets, which are primarily used by special education students.

In addition, many classrooms also have interactive whiteboards. However, parents at the meeting said students and teachers have related to them that they are rarely used and frequently experience technical problems.

They have become "high priced whiteboards" because they are so seldom turned on, said Murry.

While the district is on pace to meet the needs for administering PARCC in 2014-15, Heinegg said he does not want the district to be limited to those benchmarks. 

“We do see the PARCC guidelines as an important goal, but we definitely want to go beyond them as much as possible.” 

A goal of the district, said Higgins, is to make technology so prevalent in the schools that it seems “invisible.” 

“I don’t want a kid to say, ‘Hey, I used a computer today, what a novel thing,’” Higgins said.

Have your children experienced any of these same problems? What are your ideas for improving the technology in the district? Voice your opinions in the comment section below!