By Polly Lynn
posted
Aug 15, 2012
KILLINGTON-After officially announcing the initiative in May,
organizers are hopeful that summer fundraising efforts will help
them to equip students at Killington Elementary School with iPads
and interactive textbooks for this school year.
All Killington property owners have now received a letter from
The Sherburne Education Foundation regarding details about a their
fundraising effort, Killington Selectman Jim Haff says.
"Just this year, we began to use the iPad as a powerful and
versatile tool for students who experience learning challenges and
quickly noted the wide variety of benefits that would enhance
learning for all students," Peter L. Phelps, a parent volunteer
spearheading the initiative in Killington, states in the letter on
behalf of The Sherburne Education Foundation. "We see the iPad
combined with interactive textbooks as the wave of the future in
education," it continues.
This initiative certainly puts KES on par with those schools in
Vermont (and nationwide) with the best of reputations for
education. Rural Vermont might seem an unlikely place for
technologically advanced classrooms, but KES is not the first or
only small town school that is fast adopting technology.
Enosburgh, Vt., part of Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union,
adopted the so-called "1-to-1" iPad initiative last August,
becoming the first school in the state to issue iPads to every
student in high school- about 350 - as well as 60 students in
elementary school, including kindergarteners.
The most recent Education Technology Report issued by VDE Jan
31, 2012, says that just over 6,000 students in 75 schools were
involved in 1:1 computing programs during the 2010-2011 school
year. Roughly 1,000 of those devices were iPads, a much more
personal learning device, the report notes. VDE helped establish
over 25 of those 1:1 programs with innovative grants last
year.
The end goal is for every student K-6 at KES (about 75 total
students) to have an iPad, but organizers expect the first round
purchase to be much smaller. Phelps remains hopeful that enough can
be raised the first year to cover the cost of 15 computers - enough
for a classroom and a good first benchmark.
The Sherburne Education Foundation plans to purchase the second
version of the iPad at $399 each, plus a MacBook Pro and two
Learning Labs that are needed for powering and syncing the iPads.
The total cost to fund the school will be about $30,000, which
includes discounts for educators and for bulk purchasing (for every
10 iPads you get $200 off), Phelps explained.
"Towns with highly prized schools are magnets for families for
whom education is a priority… please consider a donation of any
size to the Sherburne Education Fund," the Fund state in the
letter.
Donations can be made to the Sherburne Education Fund, 686
School House Road, Killington Vt. 05751
Tagged:
Killington Elementary School, iPads
