MCPS USE ONLY
At the April 26, 2010, Board of Education meeting students and a teacher from Montgomery College presented public comment to the Board to plead for access to the technology in their classrooms. The teacher and students were from English for Speakers of Other Languages classes. The students are taught in Montgomery County Public School classrooms with Promethean Boards glued to the middle of the blackboards.
But the Montgomery College teachers are forbidden from touching the Promethean Boards, and the Montgomery College teachers are prohibited from attending Promethean Board training classes.
The Montgomery College students and teacher advocated that allowing them access to the technology that was already in the classrooms would increase the effectiveness of their program without spending additional tax dollars.
Imagine that. Using the existing technology and increasing learning. Well, that can't happen!
The students and teachers have been told that they can only use classroom technology if they pay a fee to the Interagency Coordinator Board (ICB is run by county officials, Superintendent Jerry Weast, Board President Pat O'Neill, MCPS principals, Montgomery College President and citizens) for a supervisor to watch over their use of classroom technology. Funding for Promethean Board babysitters does not exist in their ESOL classroom budgets.
If the Promethean Boards are so "delicate" that they cannot be used by classroom teachers from Montgomery College maybe the Board of Education should have taken this into consideration when this purchase was made for public school classrooms that are also used by the community. Maybe the Board of Education should have taken a look at a competitor's product that provided more durability.
Oh, sorry. Forgot. The Board of Education never discussed or voted on the purchase of 3,300+ Promethean Boards. That decision was made by MCPS Chief Operating Officer Larry Bowers when he signed the 4 year "rent to own" payment documents.
Here's the WARNING!!! flyer put out by ICB:
Promethean Board Warning!!! Please note that Promethean Boards are not "also called Smart Boards." SMART Boards are the
product of a competitor that was not considered in this major MCPS procurement.
It should be noted that Promethean boards are NOT delicate. They are by far more durable than the SMART branded boards, and more durable than, or equally durable as most other brands of IWB.
ReplyDeletePower cable issues and concerns about using dry erase markers are the same with ANY IWB, not just Promethean.
Frankly it sounds to me as though someone has an issue with the manner in which the boards were purchased and is using this false "durability" claim to shed a bad light on the decision to purchase them.
Pretty sad, huh?
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those bizarre "ownership" issues between institutions!
When I taught ESOL classes in Mont Co a few years ago, one elementary school teacher would cover the blackboards head to toe with assignment notes for her class and write: DO NOT ERASE on the blackboard.
I had to write down the whole assignment from one of the blackboards on a sheet of paper before erasing it, then [thoughtfully] rewrite it on the chalkboard 3 hours later.
I left a note on the blackboard asking her to kindly leave at least one blank blackboard near the middle of the room for me for the benefit of my ESOL students on Tue and Thurs nights.
The second time she did it, I just left the written assignment on the sheet of paper and let her re-write it on the chalkboard.
There wasn't a 3rd time.
beth chaisson