UPDATE: Pleasantdale Superintendent: 'This Needs To Be Done'

The Pleasantdale Board of Education moved forward with part of its $500,000 technology proposal late Wednesday night, but held off approving the most expensive portion of the plan - the purchase of 480 laptops.

Approved was the purchase of 30 iPads and a portable cart for grades K-2 and special education students in the amount of $16,000. However, several board members raised questions about the cost, type and necessity of the laptops, which are proposed for students in the , as well as third and fourth grade. The laptops, along with related equipment, software and storage, cost approximately $441,000.

“We’ve been very frugal here at Pleasantdale...We’ve milked these computers that we have to every extent we can. Seven (years), a lot of these desktops have been there longer than that. It’s time to make this purchase,” Superintendent Mark Fredisdorf told the board. “If we don’t make this purchase, there will be students who need this technology that will not have it. It’s as simple as that. Yes, it’s a big purchase, I know that. But I’m reminding you, we planned this. And we’ve done everything we can to extend the technology that we have.”

Board members spent more than an hour discussing the issue, but during the action portion of the agenda, no motion was made for approval. With no motion, the matter automatically failed.

Among the areas of concern raised by board member Rick Rigley is whether or not it is worth getting the laptops with the recommended solid state drives instead of hard drives. Getting all of the laptops with solid state drives, which are faster, costs about $60,000 more than getting them with hard drives.

“If you ask me if I want an iPad 2 or iPad 3, guess what I’m going to tell you?” Rigley said.

Board member Lisa Houk the teachers should be allowed to decide what works best for them.

“If the teachers feel this is the best way for them to teach their students, doesn’t that hold some weight?,” Houk said. “Isn’t that important? I would think that it would be.”

John McAtee, technology software specialist for the district, said the equipment would help in the delivering and improve existing curriculum. Buying the equipment means the district is buying communication tools, he said.

“As we begin entering the age of collaborative workspaces, we need to get equipment in the kids’ hands so they can actually do it,” McAtee said.
Instead of buying all of the laptops at once, board member Karen O’Halloran suggested spreading the purchase over a few years.

“If you do that, then there will definitely be some haves and haves not,” Fredisdorf said.

Board member Gina Scaletta-Nelson said she would like to visit classrooms to see how computers are currently being used in the curriculum.

“I’m not against technology, believe me. I think technology’s great. But I just want to make sure,” she said. “We’re spending an awful lot of money. What is it going to be used for?”

Fredisdorf asked how visiting classrooms would help her make “a decision as to whether the kids should have computers or not?”

The existing equipment is old and breaking, and teachers are finding it to cumbersome to use in the computer lab that always booked solid, he said.

“That is pervasive now. Now if you as a board want to haggle over all this stuff more and micromanage—and I’m sorry I have to say that, but it’s starting to get into that—kids are going to get hurt,” Fredisdorf said. “This needs to be done. If you need more information and you don’t want to make a decision tonight, fine. Tell us what else you want. We’ll bring it back in May. But I’m going to continue to press the board because this needs to be done.”

*Editors note: This story has been updated from its as a news brief to include quotes from the board meeting.