School board discusses technology, costly lightning strike

Fulton School District officials discussed technology in the classroom and a costly lightning strike at Wednesday night's school board meeting.
Josh Howard, the district's instructional technology facilitator, discussed the implementation of SAMR, an ideology focused on advancing technological learning.
"SAMR is basically a framework for what we do with technology," he said. "It stands for substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition. There are studies that suggest if we play to the strengths of technology, it will positively affect students."
The district has invested extensively in technological upgrades for students. Many classrooms, Howard said, include students using laptop computers, and a technology-based projection whiteboard known as a smart board.
"We are giving the students technology they otherwise wouldn't be able to put their hands on," he added. "This is just the tip of the iceberg. Our vision is we're going to do a lot more of this to provide opportunities to students they would otherwise not have."
The shift in ideology, Howard said, is a necessity with today's students. The teachers, he added, have also embraced the change.
"I go around the schools, and I do see this happening," he said. "When we think about 21st century learners, we have to do these kind of things. I'm surprised at how far I've seen teachers take this already."
The new utilization of technology is more than just using a computer to type an essay. Students are taking the projects further and even producing videos for class projects, Howard said.
"If the end result of having access to technology is doing the same thing we can do with paper, we're not doing it right," he said.
Technological advances in the district were eclipsed this week, however, by technical failure due to a lightning strike Friday night.
Jacque Cowherd, superintendent of the district, reported to the board about a costly lightning strike to the bus barn, where district transportation operations are housed.
"Just last week, we had our second lightning strike to the bus barn this year," he said. "If we wouldn't have had a professional development day Monday, school would've been canceled. They were just inoperable."
The electric surge from the strike, Cowherd said, caused damage to phones, computers, printers, routers and the buses radio communication system.
"We have insurance coverage to cover a lot of that," he added. "We'll get it all sorted out in the next few weeks."
The necessary repairs are a good opportunity to add improvements to the buildings electric system.
"We're upgrading all their surge protection," he said. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised it didn't burn. We were very fortunate."