More Grayslake classrooms will feature SMART boards

Grayslake Elementary District 46 will continue equipping some classrooms with technology similar to an electronic chalkboard.

District 46 board members agreed Monday night the SMART boards were a good educational tool in a pilot project that ran for nearly the final two months of the academic year. They voted to pay $33,041 to keep the nine SMART boards from the test program.

In addition, another 14 of the devices are expected to come to District 46 with about $71,000 obtained through a state education grant.

"The staffs are really fired up," said District 46 board President Michael Linder, referring to the SMART boards.

Manufactured by SMART Technologies, the board is a high-tech version of a blackboard connected to a computer. Board members received a firsthand look at the SMART device during a presentation by three principals May 19.

Some District 46 administrators reported becoming interested in the SMART boards after attending a conference last December in South Carolina sponsored by Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Inc. District 46 paid $22,192 to South Carolina-based Blue Ribbon to study its buildings and make recommendations.

Blue Ribbon Schools President/CEO Bart Teal told District 46 board members at a public meeting last November their buildings lacked in technology. SMART Technologies was one of Blue Ribbon Schools' vendors at the December convention in North Charleston, S.C.

Locally, Lake Zurich Unit District 95 launched use of a SMART board at Charles Quentin Schools, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade for the just-concluded academic year. Teachers were trained at the beginning of the year on how to use the device, which was in just one room.

Charles Quentin teachers were able to sign up for the SMART board room for their classes.