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3 suburban school districts recognized at White House

Many students in Barrington Area Unit School District 220 have district-provided laptops they can take home. Some are taking classes on how to code and develop mobile apps. Others are able to get free wireless Internet at home if their families aren't able to afford it.

Those initiatives are why District 220 was one of about 100 school districts across the country recognized Wednesday at the White House by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for helping transition their schools to digital learning.

Other suburban districts honored as being “Future Ready” include Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 and Gurnee Elementary District 56.

Following an address by the president in the East Room, superintendents signed a pledge — using their own digital devices — to encourage their colleagues in other school districts to pursue technology-based learning initiatives.

“Having a robust digital environment is certainly the message here today from the president, but certainly within our community, they want us to be one of the leaders to help shepherd this to our other schools around the region and country,” said District 220 Superintendent Brian Harris, who was at the White House event.

Before the president spoke, two videos produced by District 59 were shown to audience members — one featuring local students using tablets and laptops, and the other comprised of clips of previous Obama speeches about improving technology in schools.

White House officials had noticed the district's “59 in: 59” video series on the district's website featuring short profiles of teachers and district staff. They asked if the district's communications staff could create videos “to tell the story of why students need to be 'Future Ready,'” said Ben Grey, assistant superintendent for innovative learning and communications.

“It was a great honor to be asked to do that and something we were very proud to do,” said Grey, who attended the summit with Superintendent Art Fessler.

Wednesday's summit for superintendents follows Obama's announcement of the ConnectED initiative in June 2013, which has a goal of connecting 99 percent of students to broadband Internet within five years. Currently, less than 40 percent of public schools in the U.S. have high-speed Internet, Obama said during his speech.

He noted that South Korea is replacing all textbooks with digital content, and Singapore is equipping every school with broadband that's faster than what most American households have. Obama said countries are “trying to out-educate us today so that they can out-compete us tomorrow.”

“We need to yank our schools into the 21st century when it comes to technology,” Obama said. “In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, the least we can do is expect that our schools are properly wired.”

District 56 Superintendent John Hutton, who was also in Washington for the conference, said the district would continue to improve how students use their computers for learning, and create lessons that were never possible in the past. As part of the district's 1 to 1 initiative, every student from prekindergarten to eighth grade is equipped with an iPad.

“The classroom is no longer four walls,” Hutton said. “The world is much bigger, and we want to expose them to that.”

School superintendents from across the country, including three suburbs, get a close view of President Barack Obama during a White House summit Wednesday on digital learning. Courtesy of Barrington Area Unit School District 220
Barrington District 220 Superintendent Brian Harris was one of about 100 school district leaders from across the country who attended a White House conference Wednesday on digital learning. Courtesy of Barrington Area Unit School District 220
About 100 school district superintendents from across the country signed a "Future Ready" pledge Wednesday on their digital devices, promising to help students gain access to technology. They attended a White House summit on the topic. Courtesy of Barrington Area Unit School District 220
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