NL Superintendent: new track not on schedule, but will be ?spectacular?

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? According to New London Superintendent, Steve McAllister, the construction for the school?s new track and field may not be right on schedule, but he says they are making positive progress.

?We are not quite as far along as we had hoped at this point,? said McAllister during Monday?s New London School Board meeting. ??But, I will tell you, when it?s done, it?s going to be spectacular.?

According to McAllister, regular contact with the project?s contractor has been taking place as plan details are being finalized. As he reiterated to the board on Monday, McAllister says he hopes to have draft concepts and cost sheets available for the board to review by the July board meeting.

As for the other projects including work to the elementary school?s roof and the waste water system, McAllister did not report any updates on the status of those items Monday night.

In other major news, the board was also briefed on the district?s technology committee?s decision to go ahead with the purchasing of 10 to 12 more Chromebooks for the district?s continued rollout of a district-wide 1:1 plan.

Initially, when the board moved to purchase additional Chromebooks for a pilot program earlier this month, they had decided to only purchase a limited number to see how well they worked. However, after recently attending some workshops on technology-based learning and studying the matter further, the technology committee feels that in order to have a viable test-run, they need the additional Chromebooks.

?The Chromebooks, we have found, reboot quicker and there is less chance that they will get a virus,? said committee member and New London elementary teacher, Matt Adrian, adding there aren?t enough Chromebooks available to use at this point. ??To make this a real pilot program and to see how well they work in the different classes all day, we found we really need to add these extra devices.?

?I think they will be even more effective once we have enough for a true pilot,? added Tina Garret, saying she has had success already in the lessons she has been teaching using the technology.

According to McAllister, the school will not be buying more Chromebooks than what they had planned with this decision, but will simply be buying them sooner than planned.

?We will continue to update the board as we move along (with the 1:1 rollout),? said McAllister. ?So far, though, everything is moving along smoothly.?

In March, the district moved to begin a pilot program of Chromebook Flips in three of its classrooms, beginning Aug. 2016, to test the viability, endurance and usability of a Chromebook versus a Mac device. The pilot program would test the Chromebooks in the eighth-grade, fifth-grade and first-grade classrooms.

In addition, the board also moved to purchase more memory for the 225 Macbooks currently used by the district?s middle school and high school, as teachers reported that more memory storage is needed in those laptops before starting another school year.

The district will spend roughly $18,000 on its 1:1 program during the 2016-2017 school year.

With regard to personnel, the board did approve two resignations, including that of Joel Prottsman, assistant high school girls basketball coach and Jackie Housman, assistant high school girls volleyball coach. They also approved the appointments of Marcia Carthey, Spanish teacher; Alison Leytem, fall play director; Jeanne Mulford, TLC funded PLC leader; Jody Meyer, elementary special education teacher; and Rebecca McIntosh, middle school/high school special education teacher.

In other news, the board:

? Approved the 2016-2017 board meeting dates

? Approved a resolution directing the advertisement for sale and the terms of offering for the general obligation bonds

? Approved a report from the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), within which New London received all positive marks

? Recognized the New London VFW Women?s Auxiliary for their gifts of safety barricades to use within the school buildings by custodial staff

? Tabled the approval of the 2016-2017 administration contracts and classified employee wages in order for minor corrections to be made to the wages and contracts report

Before adjournment, the board also heard reports from both school principals as well as the district?s athletic director. Among the reports, congratulations were extended to the New London High School girls golf team for their recent win at the state golf tournament. In addition, it was reported that overall, the high school is seeing a reduction in detentions and suspensions.

?The middle school saw a little spike in detentions, but our high school is continuing on a downward trend with detentions,? said middle school/high school principal, Scott Kracht. ?Overall, our high school is seeing the downward trend that we want as we continue to work on our positive intervention practices.?

The next New London School Board meeting will be held on Monday, July 18, at 7 p.m., in the New London Community School District boardroom.