District 303 schools ask for help with tech funding
New technology doesn't come easy in St. Charles Unit District 303 schools. The district is neither incredibly wealthy, not wrought with poverty. As such, an overflow of property tax dollars doesn't flow into the district's coffers. Neither do federal dollars. The old-fashioned chalk and blackboards and overhead projectors in the classrooms at Wild Rose Elementary reminded PTO President Elena Palmer of that financial hurdle every time she looked at them.
So when forming a grant committee, she knew searching for federal grants was a waste of time. Corporate donations, on the other hand, could be an untapped source to end the days of clapping erasers in the halls. Palmer, with the help of PTOs from Ferson Creek Elementary and Haines Middle School, put together a recent contest entry that could see the schools share a $100,000 prize from Microsoft and the search engine Bing. That money would go a long way toward updating technology in the three schools, said Wild Rose Principal Donna Clavelli.
“Our district technology team does a fabulous job of giving us all the tools we need,” she said. “But we're hoping to go above and beyond. It's always good to dream.”
Those dreams include using the money to buy SMART Boards, similar to those you see CNN anchors using on election nights, to enhance education and energize student attention spans. Document cameras to replace overhead projectors and even surround sound in classes to help students in the back of the room hear a tiring teacher better at the end of the day.
“Please help us reach the 21st century,” reads the contest entry co-authored by Palmer. “Help our students and teachers by providing them the technology to compete with the best schools. Give us the technology so that we can expose our students early on to the technology that is out there. Give us the technology so that our teachers can provide them the best learning experience.”
The plea itself is not enough to win the money. Palmer has been stuffing mailboxes with fliers and sending out a swarm of e-mails around the district to get people to go online and vote for the contest entry. Palmer said the entry is already one of the most-rated entries among 15 Illinois schools on the contest website. Making it also the highest-rated entry would help thrust the entry into the next round where a panel of judges will select finalists for another round of Internet voting. The first round of voting closes this Sunday.
“It's not that we don't get stuff from the district,” Palmer said. “But technology is constantly changing. We figured, why not try to find outside resources so the technology in our schools can really compare to the schools that get more federal money. We need to expose our kids to the new technology so they are computer literate adults.”
The contest page to vote for the Wild Rose entry is at:http://www.wildrosepto.org/ourschoolneeds.