Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Junior High School no longer has to worry about scheduling or moving classes into computer labs.
Now junior high teachers can take a computer lab to their students.
The school’s new lab fits neatly into a wheeled case that can easily be moved from classroom to classroom. On top of the case is a printer, a projector and two wireless routers.
Once in a classroom, a teacher can pass out IBM Thinkpads to each student. Internet access is no problem. The lab needs no cables snaking all over the room. The teacher can plug the two routers into a wall jack to provide wireless Internet service to the entire classroom.
The lab includes 25 laptop computers. The entire setup cost $24,000.
Of that, the parent-teacher club provided $10,000, said Principal Hal Huschka, who put together two years of school technology funding to pay for the rest.
The new lab is the school’s third computer lab, he said. One lab is used almost entirely for computer instruction classes. The other is mostly used for state assessment testing.
With the number of subjects being tested on computers and the retakes that students are permitted, with 400 students in the school that lab is almost always in use with state testing, making it difficult for teachers to get their classes into labs for classwork, Huschka said.
“We wanted to find a way to create a lab that wasn’t always tied up with testing or the regular instruction piece,” Huschka said.
Sharon Connor and Nancy Brocard have been instrumental in getting the lab up and running, Huschka said. They have been working with the Education Service District on security issues related to using wireless Internet connections.
Huschka credits and thanks the school’s PTC for making the lab happen.
“I have a student store they run,” Huschka said. “Parent volunteers work breaks and lunch. We sell healthy snacks out of the store.”
The money raised through the store is used for PTC activities.
The lab is the first of its kind in School District 55, Huschka said. “It’s nice to be able to pass out computers and not have kids tripping over cords.”
Now teachers and students have the ability to do research right in their classrooms, he said. “There’s so many more resources available on a well-guided Web tour than there even will be in a library.
“It really allows us to use technology to reach more kids. It opens up so many doors for them to explore what’s out there.”
Adding computers to the classroom is motivational too, Huschka said. They interest students, especially since most are “really computer savvy.” It continues to expose them to technology.
Huschka said he was grateful for the contribution from the parents.
“They do such a good job at the Junior High and they don’t get much thanks,” he said. “They do all this work, and the money goes to a good cause.”
Huschka added that among other PTC programs are stipends for running after-school clubs. The school has had clubs in bike repair and knitting. The drama club starts in the spring. A guitar club is meeting now.
“They’ve done a really good job getting us resources to get some kids some after school activities,” Huschka said. “It does a good job reaching kids not reached by the athletics program.”