Board Approves Innovative Technology Initiative
September 23, 2004

“The Kershaw County School District just became the state’s premiere school district for student technology.”

Superintendent Herb Berg made this statement to the Kershaw County School Board Tuesday night following a unanimous Board vote approving a plan that will over a four year period put laptop computers in the hands of every high school student in Kershaw County.

Over two years of research and planning by the school board, the administration, and a community based technology committee culminated in approval of a program that will, according to Berg, “revolutionize the way high school students are taught.”

The Board’s contract with the Hewlett Packard Company will provide every current ninth grader and every high school teacher a laptop computer this year. Each year that follows, each ninth grade student will receive a laptop. In four years all Kershaw County high school students will have a laptop computer for use at school and home. High schools will be wired so these computers have wireless access to the internet.

Included in the contract also is an extensive staff development program for classroom teachers which will train them in using the computer as an instructional tool.

The principals of the district’s three high schools participated in an impassioned presentation to the school board Tuesday where each explained his commitment to this project and the value of putting technology in the hands of today’s students and teachers.

“Our students today are cyberspace natives. We can greatly increase our effectiveness with them by using technology to help teach them,” said Dee Christopher, principal of Lugoff-Elgin High school.

Kershaw County will become the first district in the state to issue laptops to all high school students. “We will be the first in South Carolina, but not the first in the country,” said Berg who cited successful programs in Virginia, Maine, Georgia, and other states.

Berg explained that the “school tools” of his day were instruments like the protractor, the compass, and the slide rule. “The ‘tool’ of today’s classroom and workplace is the computer. We will be putting our students significantly ahead of the competition they will face by arming them with extensive computer skills made possible by this program,” said Berg.
Board chairman Dana Morris said that the district was in critical need of new computers. “The Board has been studying district technology needs for over 2 years. This has been a long, carefully implemented process. One thing we learned is the district has over 4,500 computers of which about 3,500 are obsolete because of their age. Some of the district’s computers are older than some of our older students,” said Morris.

The last major district technology initiative was in the 1997-98 school year. A lack of funding has prevented the district from being able to replenish aging computers or significantly expand the number available for student use. The district will pay for the new laptop initiative using a four year lease plan based on conservative estimates of revenue growth. The contract has a clause which allows the district to terminate the lease if funding is not available.

“We had to take steps to improve technology for our students and teachers. We needed to not only improve the quality of our computers, but improve student access so that computers are part of their daily work,” said Morris. Currently the majority of Kershaw County students have access to computers only one hour a week.

“When it came down to it, we had to decide whether we would simply replace the computers we have and continue to use them as we always have or replace the computers and support the administration’s recommendation to distribute them in a fashion that will dramatically impact instruction. This is a bold new initiative, but if we are going to be a top school district, we need to improve faster than our competitors and provide our students with the best instruction possible,” said Morris.

The Board will carefully evaluate the impact of this laptop initiative over the next 18 months. If progress is not as successful as envisioned, the computers can be redistributed within the system to replace other obsolete computers, according to Morris. “While this initiative is a bold one, it is not as risky as it may first seem to be,” said Morris.

Berg credited the district’s technology committee, high school principals, and his instructional and financial staffs for their extensive work in organizing this project. In addition, he says he could not be prouder of the school board for its unanimous support of this program. “This program will truly level the playing field for many of our students. We talk about equity in education, but this is an initiative that will truly bring it to each student. We are going to make a difference in lives of Kershaw County students,” said Berg.

School officials and HP representatives are working together on issues related to security, internet filtering, usage policies and procedures, parent orientation, and other implementation issues.

The timeline for program implementation places computers in the hands of 9th grade teachers at the end of October with their staff development training following in November and December. Ninth grade students will receive computers in mid-January. All other high school teachers will receive laptops in December with their staff development training to follow in January and in summer months.