Building Committee Looks to Phase Two of WHS Project
WETHERSFIELD - It’s looking like Superintendent of Schools Michael Emmett is going to get his wish as far as Wethersfield High School opening its new additions--a gymnasium, media center, and music wing--by the end of December, but the project building committee is already thinking about phase two.

       â€"At the same time [phase one ends] phase two begins and we’ll be losing three computer labs in the process,” said Board of Education Information Technology Director Keith Rafaniello at the Town Council’s Dec. 1 meeting.

       Or more specifically, two second floor labs, each containing 30 desktop computers, used for business courses and a general purpose one on the fourth floor, according to Rafaniello. So the building committee is trying to make up for that with a $175,000 technology purchase that was approved unanimously by the Council.

       The funding will provide the high school with equipment that includes 120 PCs and 30 iMacs, Rafaniello said.

       â€"It shows that the board is moving more toward versatility and one-on-one instruction,” said Town Manager Jeff Bridges.

       The Building Committee is working with a $1.8 million budget for technology.

       â€"We’ll have spent $300,000 on technology if this passes,” Rafaniello told the Council.

       Once the district has the equipment, the issue will be about space, he said. As of now the plan is to move one of the business classrooms to the former world languages lab. Computer use for students enrolled in classes that utilize the other--as well as the general lab--will be moved to the library where they will be equipped with a mobile laptop cart, Rafaniello said.

       â€"Most of our educational resources are online,” he said. â€"The problem with the current high school is that we don’t have a lot of technology to connect our students to our online resources, and this project is going to take care of that.”

       Councilor Jeff Kotkin asked Rafaniello how long the district can expect the new devices to last. That depends, Rafaniello said.

       â€"I can’t promise you a certain amount of years, but we want to hold onto our technology for as long as we can,” he said. â€"Part of that is buying good equipment and having [an IT] department that takes the time to update it.”

       The first batch of iPads the district purchased, for instance, was only projected to last for four years, Rafaniello noted.

       â€"We love ‘em,” he said. â€"We plan to keep those IPads longer than five years. They work for the SBAC testing and connecting to our online resources.”

       With its remaining technology budget, the Committee plans to purchase $130,000 worth of computers for students and $784,000 worth for teachers. It has set aside $220,000 for projectors--70 units that will cover all of the building’s classrooms plus the library--and $150,000 for an audio control room. Ten thousand will cover an audio projector device to go along with it.

       The Committee will also be buying television monitors that will serve as a digital bulletin board for announcements and other pertinent information for students and staff to the tune of $15,000 from the technology budget, Rafaniello said.
MORE WETHERSFIELD NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Dec 17 2014  |  COMMENTS?