School Plan Urges Computers and TVs

A Simi Valley Unified School District task force has laid out a vision of technology that includes computers for all teachers in the district and wall-mounted televisions with videocassette recorders in each classroom.

It also called for computer access for all students and interactive links between the teachers’ computers and the televisions.

The proposal to the school board seeks 12 additional staffing positions to support technology throughout the district. The district now has two technology support technicians, the task force said. The plan proposes that 30% of technology resources go into training staff, according to state guidelines. The rest would go toward support staff and equipment, including computers and televisions.

But some board members expressed concern Tuesday over how the district will pay for the equipment and whether it can keep up with ever-changing technology.

“My worry is that we’re constantly chasing that new technology,” said board member Diane Collins. “Really, we can’t possibly keep up. We just can’t. There’s just not enough grant money.”

But Mike Wray, director of secondary education for the district, said the staff and task force members consider the new plan a realistic next step, because most of the district’s classrooms are wired for Internet access. In addition, every school office is part of a network linked to the district, which already has 5,000 personal computers, though not all of them are up to date.

“The technology committee is very committed to having everything that is in that plan implemented,” he said. “We believe it is not pie in the sky. It is a real look at what we need to do to bring technology in.”

Wray said the plan would be revised following budget discussions later this month.