Sean C Morgan
Sweet Home School District Internet service improved substantially this school year, and the board Monday approved another project to continue boosting performance at the elementary and junior high schools.
The district made big gains at the high school this year when it increased bandwidth by 500 percent and laid down 2 miles of new fiber optic lines, said Supt. Tom Yahraes. The old lines now exclusively serve the surveillance system, while the new lines provide better speed and reliability.
During state testing, “there were lags,” he said “It would stop. It was very hard to properly interact with the state assessment tool.”
The Internet could be difficult to use in regular classroom activities, he said.
The elementary and junior high schools saw some improvement, Yahraes said, and now, “we want less dead spaces for service and our schools comprehensively available to the Internet.
The board voted 6-0 to approve an $85,000 project to provide a greater density of access points in the elementary and junior high school facilities, Business Manager Kevin Strong told the board during its regular meeting Monday evening.
The federal E-rate program will reimburse 80 percent of the cost, $68,000, with the district covering the remainder from its 2018-19 budget.
“Each access point will be able to support more devices, allowing all students in a class to use devices simultaneously,” Strong said. “The new access points will also be faster and more reliable.”
“It’s preparing for more capacity as we have more devices that are going to go online,” Yahraes said. The district is promoting more use of one-to-one devices in schools. “We need to be forward thinking and have our infrastructure prepared.”
Last school year, the district became a “Google school,” using Google email, apps and resources, Yahraes said. Friday, the district is hosting a “Google boot camp” for teachers to help them make more use out of Google’s resources in their classrooms.
He said that people in the district used Google to send more than 143,000 emails, and the district created 19,000 Google documents this year.
Present at the meeting were Jim Gourley, Ben Emmert, Jason Redick, Chairman Mike Reynolds, Carol Babcock and Debra Brown. Absent were Jason Van Eck, Chanz Keeney and Angela Clegg.
In other business, the board:
– Appointed Jenny Daniels to serve in the Liberty position to fill a vacancy left by Emmert. The board accepted his resignation last month, and his last meeting was Monday.
Daniels will serve through June 30, 2019. The seat is open for election in May. The winner of the election will serve the final two years of Emmert’s term.
– Heard reports about planned construction projects at Sweet Home Junior High and Hawthorne Elementary School.
Coming up, Strong told the board, the district must obtain a conditional use permit and a variance from the City of Sweet Home for the Sweet Home Junior High School remodel. Property owners within 300 feet of the project will be notified by the city.
The district has prepared a brochure explaining the project to those property owners.
The district is preparing to demolish and remodel portions of the junior high, consolidating its functions into a single building with a secure entrance. It will add a new gym, cafeteria and update the parking lot among several new features.
Maintenance Department staff are planning to start working on a remodel of the Hawthorne Elementary School office and entrance after school ends this week, said Maintenance Supt. Josh Darwood, and Gerding Builders will quickly begin a $1.5 million seismic upgrade to the building.
– Adopted a budget for 2018-19 following a public hearing. The budget takes effect July 1. The budget is $54.6 million, including all funds, transfers and ending fund balances. The General Fund is $25.8 million. The Special Revenue Fund is $11.2 million; Debt Service Fund, $7.3 million; Trust and Agency Fund, $2.2 million; and paying for the junior high project and other improvements, the Capital Improvement Fund, $8 million.
– Approved the hiring of Tim Faulconer, math, Sweet Home Junior High; Melinda Stocking, .5 full-time equivalent counselor, Holley; Lisa Collins, special education and resource room, Sweet Home High School; and A. Jay Bronson, swimming pool supervisor.
– Accepted a letter of resignation from Daniella Allen, Basic Life Skills, SHJH.