Small Town News

Technology turnover

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Thanks to multiple funding sources, Hood Canal School embraces the digital age

When Annette Stoddard began her part-time position as Hood Canal School's technology specialist in September, some kids didn't even know how to use a word processor.

That changed quickly. With the help of Stoddard and an influx of new technology equipment, students now use PowerPoint to create projects with ease, and some are learning HTML coding and getting into Web design.

The surge in technology training has all been possible through several new sources of funding - including nearly $30,000 from the will of a deceased Union resident - the school received this year, enabling it to hire Stoddard and purchase 200 desktop computers, 25 laptops, 20 color printers, six LCD projectors and more.

"This is pretty phenomenal," said Tom Churchill, the school's superintendent and principal. "School districts do not receive a nickel from the state for technology for kids, and federal money is a drop in the bucket, so we really rely on local fundraisers and revenue, either through property taxes or levies, or in this case when someone names the school in their will."

The longtime Union resident bequeathed $28,000 to the school district last summer, which the school used to purchase a set of 25 netbooks with wireless cards and a charger cart.

Stoddard takes the netbooks (small, lightweight laptops) to each class and teaches the students different technology lessons, from making graphs to learning PowerPoint, depending on their grade level and aptitude.

"Every day's a little different," said Stoddard, who teaches four classes a day at the K-8 school. "Kindergarten is high energy. There's a lot of running around, but in seventh and eighth grade it's real quiet and the kids know exactly what to do."

Each classroom is also equipped with color and black-and-white printers supplied from about $6,000 the Hood Canal Education Foundation raised at its golf tournament fundraiser last August.

"We're surrounded by technology, and you have to have access to it," said Jean Boone, president at the foundation, which is dedicated to helping the school find more funding for technology. "By being able to have something as simple as color [printers]... it makes for a richer environment."

In addition to the printers, some classrooms have up to 25 desktop computers, thanks to an advantageous deal the school found at the Issaquah School District. Hood Canal purchased 200 computers with federal stimulus money from the Issaquah district when Issaquah was selling its surplus 3-year-old computers for $30 apiece.

Furthermore, the literacy advocacy group Potlatch Beach Partners in Hoodsport bought the school an Amazon Kindle e-reader, and will buy three or four more for the school to help kids learn to read, Churchill said.

"Since the kids think it's cool, they'll want to read, and that's what's important," he said. "All of these things just came together, and we're just so glad to be able to significantly increase technology for kids."

For the littlest kids in kindergarten, learning technology means learning the proper use of a computer and the names of its different parts, while in first and second grade students learn keyboarding and graphing skills, Stoddard said.

One fourth-grade class is using PowerPoint for its gardening project, mastering the skill at a level higher than you'd expect from most 9- and 10-year-olds, she said.

"They really love it," she said. "I can see the potential of keeping this program growing - It's going to be big."

Sometimes the only thing holding back some of Stoddard's youngest students from advancing in the technology curriculum is the fact that they haven't yet learned to read.



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© 2010 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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