Clawson Schools to Ask Voters to OK 1.3-Mill Technology Bond

The Clawson School Board approved a proposal Monday night to ask voters to approve a 1.3-mill tax in the May 3 election that would fund the purchase of updated technology at each school in the district.

The millage would generate the $4 million the district said it needs to buy equipment including smart boards, desktop and laptop computers, curricular software, smart clickers, wireless Internet in common rooms and enhanced classroom phone systems. Some of the new technology would be installed this summer, in time for next school year, while the rest would be installed over time, the district said.

If voters pass the millage, it will cost the average Clawson homeowner an additional $65 a year, based on an average assessment value of about $100,000 for Clawson homes.

“I don’t see how we can be competitive without new technology," said school board member Kara Rosso Rieck. “I think we do our kids a disservice by not having these resources available for our teachers.”

After discussion among board members and comments from school staff members , the board voted 6-1 to put the millage proposal on the ballot.

Mike Bosnic was the lone board member to vote no on the proposal, citing the struggling economy and the short two-month time period the district would have to educate the public before the election.

“Given the totality of everything, I can’t support putting this on the ballot in May,” Bosnic said.

District technology director Marcus Isabell approached the school board last fall, stating there was a great need for new technology in the schools. Isabell said it's been 10 years since the district received a technology bond, and since then, many computers have worn out and are no longer compatible with new software.

Since then, Isabell has been working with school district officials, Oakland Schools, Tek 3 Data Services Inc. in Madison Heights and Flint-based Convergent Technology Partners to assess the technology needs of each school to determine what electronic curricula will be most useful for students and teachers.

Teachers and principals have said the outdated computers hinder their ability to teach certain computer programs that will benefit students in the real world.

Carol Arslanian, a computer teacher at , said in October that she can't teach a lot of free online programs for math, science and language arts lessons because the computers won't run the software.

"It can be a frustrating thing to know that there are things out there that can help a child that we don't have access to," she said.

science teacher is already using a smart board in his classroom, which allows him to project lessons and images from a computer screen, access the Internet and save the notes he writes on the screen.

"Say we’re studying Newton’s law – boom, a video comes up from the Net," he said. "Or maybe during the lecture, I can Google a better image. Kids get immediate feedback. I can write on it, do physics problems and save those notes for the next class."

Superintendent Cheryl Rogers said the board will have to put together grassroots efforts to inform the community before the May vote. The district will need to distribute fliers, organize citizen committees and present information about the technology equipment to the public, she said.

"When you educate people about it, they see how important it is," Rogers said. "I'm excited about the opportunity it brings to our staff and students for learning."

"We need to take an active role and knock on doors," school board member Cyndi Peltonen said. “It needs to be citizen-led and district-supported."