Budget for Cape school district's technology program hovers at $1 million a year

At just under $1 million, the Cape Girardeau School District's technology program cost slightly less during the 2015-2016 school year than in previous years, according to an evaluation by district technology coordinator Brian Hall.

"It does vary, but it hovers around that million-dollar mark," he said.

The program cost $999,336 during 2015-2016.

Hall said the greatest strength of the technology program is his staff's ability to provide services in-house, which he said keeps costs down.

Costs to the program are split almost evenly between personnel salaries and equipment.

"That number on the equipment and repair side would be much higher if we had to contract that out," he said, "because most of the work we would have to contract out is in the $80- to $120-an-hour range, and we're able to take care of that in-house."

In-house development of web tools saved the district at least $15,000, the report stated.

Hall said his staff's utility also extends to infrastructure upgrades, such as installing network equipment.

"We haven't hired out any of the cabling needs or anything like that," he said. "We've been able to do all of that."

His staff also addresses equipment concerns arising from the district's 1:1 plan, which puts computer devices in students' hands as tools for learning, he said.

"Fifth to eighth grade has Chromebooks, and ninth through 12th currently have Windows 10 devices," Hall said. "We're phasing out the Windows devices in favor of the Chromebooks so next year fifth through 10th [grades] will have Chromebooks and the following year, they'll all be Chromebooks."

The next step is trying to extend the program through kindergarten through fourth grades, he said.

"We're currently doing iPads for those [grades], and it's about ... three students per device," he said. "But with the lower cost of the Chromebooks, we're hoping to start phasing those in at least for third and fourth grade."

He said the devices have replaced several tools used previously, such as clickers, in the classroom. Teachers have begun integrating the technology into their lesson plans, he said.

"It's almost what they call a flipped classroom," Hall said of some classes. "Where the student can do the research and, quote-unquote, book learning at home and then do the exercises in the classrooms where they have help with them. ... It frees up that class time for instant feedback."

He said the biggest challenge facing the school district's technology program is the ratio of devices to support technicians, which is greater than 750-to-1.

"The number one goal is to provide quality and timely support," he said. "And maintaining, retaining our staff and retaining that knowledge in-house is huge."

He said the district has five full-time technicians and two part-time.

"We'd like to have a 24-hour turnaround on a work order," he said, although that's not always feasible.

This year is expected to resemble the 2015-2016 school year in terms of the technology-program budget, he said. Hall said his staff is trying to forecast the future of the program.

"Of course, it's hard to do a technology plan for a year, let alone five years, because things change so fast, but we want to at least get a plan in place to deal with that," he said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627