The May bond measure that would have provided funding for technology upgrades in the Lebanon Community School District didn’t pass.

But the district is staying focused on its 2020 Vision to ensure that “classrooms at all levels integrate technology into the instructional program.”

Superintendent Rob Hess said the goal for next year in regards to technology “is to increase access” through the Bring Your Own Network Device (BYOND) that was part of the 2020 Vision recommendation.

The thought behind that recommendation is that BYOND will provide opportunities to bring more technology into the schools and lower the ratio of students to technology devices such as computers, PDAs, and more.

Hess said this would require a shift in thinking about technology in the classroom,“seeing it not as a distraction but as a tool.”

Some teachers have already started successful implementation of different technologies in the classroom.

Social studies teacher David Meek, uses his staff page at Seven Oak Middle School to support students.

“I’ve had over 1,300 hits on my site since the beginning of the school year,” Meek said.

“Since only 300 are for checking homework assignments, the majority of my website visits are for access to the resources that I make available, such as multiplication flash cards for math, 3-D shapes, or even interactive historical games for my social studies classes.”

Meek uses technology in the classroom as well.

In a recent lesson on World War I, Meek had a power point presentation up while he lectured.

He also passed a book called “Europe at War”around the room. “Because it was written while the war was proceeding, it makes an excellent primary source to share with the students. That and they love the pictures,” Meek said. 

After about 10 minutes of lecture, Meek had the students split up into groups to decode a portion of the telegram that led to the U.S. involvement in the war.

Each group used a computer-based reference to crack the code.

“Artifacts, like technology, make history seem more alive to students because it’s something they can hold in their hands and interact with. That’s the key to getting students engaged in the classroom,” Meek said.

This sort of hands-on approach is also what teacher Lisa Richard has found successful with her second grade students at Pioneer.

Richard said there is an overall “increased engagement and classroom excitement” when using technology in the classroom.

Her 7-year-old students learn the functional aspects of technology like using keyboards, and clicking and dragging files.

“The wireless keyboard makes its way around our room as students are eager to have their turn to share knowledge,” Richard said.

“Hard copy documents become large scale manipulatives that, in a matter of seconds, allow students to write, highlight, and draw on, thus increasing the learning opportunity,” Richard said.

And they also use technology to experience a more personal connection to their lessons than they would get in a text book.

“We have ‘flown’ to other parts of our world on the big screen and we have had a birds-eye-view of our pen pals’ home in Alaska,” Richard said.

The in-class technology engages the students, and the teachers are learning new things, too. 

The process of bringing more technology into the classroom would also involve “training teachers for more digital content,” Hess said.

“As for next year, it is my goal to continually find ways to use the technology to increase student learning, motivation, and excitement in school.  I am learning right alongside my students, as I have never had the reputation of being tech savvy, and I could not be more thrilled with our progress!” Richard said.

Lebanon High School science teacher Chris St. Germaine, on the hand, started posting his lectures to YouTube about a year and half ago. This provides additional support outside of school hours that students can access at any time.

“The idea is that you can go to my site, pick one thing you don’t understand, download a worksheet for it, watch me lecture it, and then watch me do and explain the worksheet,” St. Germaine said.

St. Germaine doesn’t track which students use this resource but “parents seem to love it and really appreciate it.” He said his “videos have almost 11,000 views, but not necessarily from LHS students.”

After months of meetings and conflicting information, the fight for the PCDC is over.

Thursday morning Melissa Hite sent an email to supporters of the co-op with the news. She included the letter she sent to LBCC administration.

“Due to what I feel is a great deal of misinformation over the past couple of weeks, and the instability of keeping a room for any amount of time, we have decided to end our fight for a choice at PCDC,” Hite said in her letter to administration.

The group of parents and students has been working since February to save the co-op program at the Periwinkle Child Development Center, but has received conflicting information about how to go about it.

As it turns out, “Head Start is the sole tenant of the building in the contract,” Jo O’Leary, director of Kidco Head Start, said.

“We will continue to have adult classes in the room where adult classes are currently held. The classes will be through LBCC, but it will be a coordinated effort with Head Start (in terms of scheduling). If our program expands, that will have to become office space too,” O’Leary said.

Regardless, initial conversations with LBCC President Greg Hamann seemed promising. In a February meeting with the group, Hamann said he was “never absolutely closed to anything.”

Mel Hite and other parents wanting to continue the co-op had several other meetings with Hamann, Beth Hogeland, dean of liberal arts, social systems and human performance, Carol Schaafsma, executive vice president, academic affairs and workforce development, and Jim Huckestein, vice president, finance and operations.

In spite of this communication, the group of parents were still unsure about exactly how much money they needed to secure in order to keep the co-op open.

To gain some clarity on what was needed, on March 16, LBCC education student Lori Brunker presented the LBCC Board of Education with a letter requesting “information we have yet been unable to acquire through inquiring verbally or in writing to members of the administration and staff of Linn-Benton Community College.”

Hamann responded the next day via email by attaching a link to the 184-page budget and saying that he has “tried to be consistent in describing the ‘savings’ resulting from the discontinuation of LBCC operation of the PCDC as approximately $200,000 annually.”

They tried different approaches, including an optional student fee, for which in March they collected signatures of support from students who did not have children in the program. “In an effort to prevent the proliferation of fees – an effort that has been largely successful here at LBCC – we require that the fee assessment be closely tied to the service provided, and to those to whom it is provided,” Hamann responded via email.

The parents continued to seek ways to save even a portion of the program, last month suggesting keeping one room of the PCDC for use as a child care co-op, but ran into obstacles relating to what exactly they need and who makes the decisions.

Indeed, in the process of gathering information for this article, there was conflicting information regarding who actually is in charge of making the final decisions.

Hite’s point person throughout the process of trying to save the PCDC has been Beth Hogeland.

“That doesn’t happen at my level,” Hogeland said last Wednesday when asked about the decision-making process.

But Hamann said, last Tuesday, that it does. “While I may need to give my “blessing” to it, this decision as to whether we can do this, want to do this, and if this is in the best interests of all who we serve will be made by Beth Hogeland and Carol Schaafsma, our executive vice president for instruction,” Hamann said.

“My best guess about that is that he probably doesn’t know what to do with conversations that are ideas,” Hogeland said. “I ask for things. I get an answer.”

What’s next: Hite ended her letter to PCDC co-op supporters on positive note: “Our parent group is still pulling together to start a new co-op off campus.  I will keep everyone updated on our progress.  Over the summer updates will be made to our website pcdcfriends.wordpress.com”