Ferris Spanger Elementary School in Roseville is seeking to upgrade classroom technology, but it will need the community's help.
A parents group is reaching out to businesses and residents to replace the school's older desktop computers with new laptops and to fund interactive "SMART Boards," which are interactive whiteboards used for teaching. But with budget cuts looming, Spanger Elementary can't afford to upgrade older computers, which date back seven years or more, Principal Jodi Westphal said.
"We want our kids to be able to go out into the work world and compete for jobs," Westphal said. "And we don't just want companies' money. We want their interest and for them to come and share their expertise."
Parent Caroline Cormier said an effort is under way to start an endowment to provide new classroom technology on a long-term basis.
The Roseville City School District is assessing technology needs districtwide with the endowment plan in mind, Cormier said.
In the meantime, Spanger parents are looking for ways to meet the school's current high-tech wish list. The school wants to buy about 40 new computers and four SMART Boards, the latter priced at about $5,000 each.
The interactive whiteboards are used at Dry Creek Elementary School in Rio Linda, thanks to a $15.4 million bond approved by voters in 2002 for technology upgrades and school construction.
"It's attention-grabbing," said Glenda Hay, a third-grade teacher at Dry Creek Elementary whose son attends Spanger.
Hay demonstrated a SMART Board last week at Spanger during the school's open house for parents. She taught a geometry lesson in which students moved triangles drawn on the interactive whiteboard.
"The things that we used as tools when we were kids are obsolete," Hay said.
For more information about Spanger Elementary's new fundraising effort, call Cormier at (916) 412-3132.
Call The Bee’s Lakiesha McGhee, (916) 773-7630.
