Tech levies help school district keep up to date

Cascade School District Technology Director Kirk Sunitsch briefed the Cascade School Board on the technology in the district at the Feb. 12 Cascade School Board meeting. He opened the discussion talking about the $1.6 million tech levy passed by voters in 2012.
“One of the big parts of that was the infrastructure. We had no wireless, no cabling, no servers really. We had a few. Out of that $1.6 million, we spent $900,000 in the infrastructure just to get it where we could have a wireless device and plug it into a computer,” Sunitsch said.
Another key part of the levy was the laptops and desktops.
“We had some older teacher desktops, but those were all replaced. We had not very many student laptops or iPads. We had to get licensing software from Microsoft, classroom sounds systems, projectors,” Sunitsch said. “We went from a Pinto to a Cadillac pretty quick as far as tech.”
A part of the $1.6 million went to staff development, he said. In 2016, voters approved a technology and safety levy, which provides $350,000 per year for four years.
“We are replacing student laptops. We went to each building last year. One of the big needs that came back from the staff and the principals was, our laptops, which we got 4-5 years ago, were getting battered,” Sunitsch said. “The batteries were only lasting two or three hours. End of the last year, we bought some laptops with the tech levy money. We haven’t done it yet, but some of that money is going to go for new staff desktops. They are five years old, the ones we originally got. Same with the laptops.”
Sunitsch said they are trying to get into some rotations replacing the equipment.
“One of the big mistakes we made was buying all the desktops and laptops at the same time, so they are all the same age. Now, all of a sudden, it’s tough to replace them,” Sunitsch said. “We’re going to use this tech levy to get in somewhat of cycle, so there is more of a rotation going.”
The new laptops have batteries that last 8-10 hours and solid state hard drives which work much quicker, Sunitsch said.
“The new laptop for kids ... the important thing is the kids can’t pick these. They can’t pick the keys out. You can’t pick them out of the new ones, which is real nice. They are backpack ready, built for education,” he said.
The levy has also provided money for safety improvements. Security cameras have already been installed at the district office and middle school.
“These are sophisticated cameras, which can detect movement. You can have multiple cameras responding to movement. You can set it up so if there is movement detected at night, it will send a text,” Sunitsch said. “Wenatchee Valley College has these same ones. They are pretty slick. We’ve learned a lot using them at IRMS (Icicle River Middle School.) You’ll see them going in the high school and at Alpine Lakes.”
Sunitsch said they are also adding electronic, keyless entry to the middle school and later the other schools.
“IRMS we are hoping to do this summer. We’re trying to try to tie into the contractors that are here installing, so we get better pricing. So as they are doing the instillation at Alpine Lakes and the high school, it’s our intent to say, here’s another job,” said School Finance Director Dwight Remick. “It will be outside the two main contracts, but it will be same vendor. At least, that is our plan.”
Board member Trey Ising asked if the keyless entry would get you into all buildings or just school specific.
“It will take getting used it, with that type of security, you enter through maybe two places in the building. Exiting is the same, but entering will be different,” Sunitsch said.
“That will be the case at Beaver Valley and Discovery, all of our schools. It will all be the same. The key cards will work to get into the buildings, but you’ll still use keys for the doors inside,” Superintendent Bill Motsenbocker said.
In terms of the new construction, Sunitsch said they will be bringing over the phone system from the old schools. Even though this phone system is no longer made, Sunitsch said it still works fine so they’ll continue to use it.
The sound and audio systems will be transferred to the new schools, Sunitsch said.
“The (electronic) projectors will also be coming over, except Alpine, because of timing, they will be getting new ones to begin with. That’s something that might get replaced with the tech levy money, depending on building decisions,” Sunitsch said. “Because of the timing with the new construction, PD, Osborn, we have to put new ones in. They need to put them in at the end of March.”
Sunitsch said they have almost 2,000 devices, old and new.
“Most of new items are what we bought with the tech levy or CTE (career and technical education) money. We’ll have about 400, 5-year old student laptops. We also have 265 student desktops. We have about 1,146 devices which are 3-5 years old. We have about 800 new. A lot of those old laptops will be rotated out,” Sunitsch said.
Sunitsch said they did some after school staff training which worked great, about 70 minute sessions. About 65 of the 86 certified staff showed up. It was voluntary. Classified staff tech training is done on conference days.
There is also staff training incentive program, which is changing.
“It went through the tech committee. We saw feedback from staff, they want to do training on their own time. There is an online Microsoft training, where they can get certified,” Sunitsch said. “142 topics. They can go in and sign up for it. If they get up to six hours, they get $500 to spend toward a device. One of the things we changed, they can take that $500 and buy another device, if they buy it themselves.”
Last year, 35 staff members did 205 hours of training with the incentive program, Sunitsch said.
“The key to most of that is the staff development part. We have teachers who use technology in their classroom at very high level. We also have teachers still afraid of it. These training’s have made a huge difference. Some were barely able to get into their email and make a reply,” Motsenbocker said.
“It’s to the point now where they are attaching documents and do some really neat stuff. It’s been fun for them. One has admitted this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in the last 10 years of teaching. ‘I know how to use this in my room now. Before, I was afraid of it. I felt bad because my kids didn’t get what my neighbor teacher was doing.’ Big changes.”
Board member Kristen Wood asked if this was an age thing. Motsenbocker said not always.
“It’s one of the things that kids know more than you. It’s very intimidating. As a teacher, you know more about your subject you’re teaching, but when it comes to technology, it’s stepping out there and trying, expecting to fail. That’s what we want our students to do. I tell them at these trainings, just call me and I’ll come help you,” Sunitsch said.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.