State-of-the-art school
By JESSICA KELLER — ARGUS OBSERVER
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 11:54 AM PDT
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| Fruitland Elementary School Principal Joe Wozniak stands next to the computer tower in the second-grade wing of the new school. Each wing has a computer tower with a 10-gigabyte wiring system connecting to the school’s computer monitors. |
FRUITLAND — Students returning to school this fall in Fruitland can expect a new elementary school boasting state-of-the-art technology geared toward efficiency and learning.
From the automatic lighting and automatic community sinks outside the boys and girls bathrooms to the 10-gigabyte backbone wiring for the school’s computer system and the fiber optics network throughout the school, Principal Joe Wozniak is excited about what the new Fruitland Elementary School has to offer.
Wozniak said when he first started out as a principal 28 years ago, typewriters were still in use and his first computer featured only a fraction of the memory of those on the market today.
“We’re able to get a lot more information for the children,” Wozniak said. “We’re able to show them so much more.”
When Fruitland Elementary School opens in the fall, new technology improvements will be commonplace in almost every room of the school and even outside with the reader board.
Wozniak said music teacher Dick Groves purchased the reader board outside the elementary school through fund-raisers, Boxtops for Education and his own money. Groves can program the reader board from his computer in his classroom.
Inside the school, lights triggered by motion go on and off automatically in the hallways and each classroom and bathroom.
“It really saves on power,” Wozniak said.
In the library, students will be able to check books in and out by scanning their identification card. Because reading proficiency is such a priority at the school, all the library’s books are also computerized, Wozniak said.
He said when students return a book, they will take a short test on the book to make sure they understood it and really read it. For every book they read and test on, they receive points, which they can redeem for prizes.
“Some will read four or five books in a day,” Wozniak said.
In the classrooms, teachers will not have to raise their voices to be heard while teaching, as they will wear wireless infrared microphones. The sound will emit from a speaker in the middle of every classroom. Wozniak said the microphones are important because it is crucial for students to learn sounds they hear. He also said it will also help identify those students who may have a learning or hearing disability.
“So it’s a real nice addition,” he said. Overall, the school will have more than 300 computers for staff and students. The school has two computer labs, but in addition, each classroom will have five flat-screen monitors students can work from, Wozniak said. While the screens will run from only one computer tower in each wing, students will be able to use five different programs at once, he said.
At the recommendation of former school computer technology specialist Rudy Endrikat, the school district had FMTC install a 10-gigabyte backbone wiring system for the school’s computers to be connected to, along with the fiberoptics network.
“So this school will be 10 times faster than any of the other schools,” Wozniak said. “The wiring will be good for 10 to 15 years down the road.”
Instead of SMART boards, the school district opted to install mimio boards in each classroom, which are more advanced than SMART boards. Like SMART boards, they are interactive, but mimio boards allows all notes and everything written or printed on the board during the day to be saved and later printed out.
“We felt this was more versatile than the SMART boards,” Wozniak said. While the school is not entirely wireless, it does have wireless capabilities, and Wozniak said he would in the future like to see that happen. Currently, only special education teachers, needing to develop education plans with parents, will use wireless laptops, Wozniak said.
Wozniak said the ideas for all the technology improvements at the school came from various people and places.
The idea for the infrared microphone evolved from the Nyssa School District. The idea for the mimio board stemmed from its use at the Ontario School District. Wozniak said it was a matter of deciding what would be best for students’ education and for the future.
“So we think we’ve done about as good of a job as can be done,” he said.
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