MONROE - Monroe Middle School staff members will receive Apple iPads after the school board approved a plan to purchase up to 50 of the tablet devices Monday night.
Since the district has $160,000 available in this year's curriculum budget, the board considered but stopped short of approving the purchase of iPads for all students in one grade level at the school.
Board member Brian Keith voiced his opposition to the plan, saying he was uncomfortable earmarking $160,000 to $200,000 from this year's budget until the board had an estimate from Apple.
"It's a big dollar amount," Keith said. "If we have to wait a month and look at the hard numbers, that is the way to go."
However, Keith said he would approve spending the $30,000 to $40,000 to purchase iPads for middle school staff for training while the district finalizes a policy for the devices.
While it hasn't been determined what grade level the iPads would go to, the district is considering getting them into the hands of next year's sixth-graders first. It's also possible the board will decide to get them for each grade level at MMS.
Board member Les Bieneman is a proponent of expanding the iPad deployment beyond just the sixth-grade class under consideration. "My objection is not that we are doing this (purchasing iPads), but that we are doing too little too late," Bieneman said. "We hear they last four years. If we put them in sixth grade, they will be obsolete by the time they graduate from high school."
Monroe School District Superintendent Larry Brown agreed with Bieneman's urgency to get the iPads, and advocated using the leftover curriculum money from this year to purchase the tablets for one class next year.
"The sooner we get this the better our students will be," Brown said.
But he also said he wants the board to be aware of the dangers of dipping into the fund balance to purchase the devices for every grade level. "This district has been in fiscal trouble before with the mentality of spending the fund balance," he said.
Board member Larry Eakins questioned the school district's role in providing technology for education.
"I have doubt in my mind if we are responsible for buying these for students or if it's the parents' responsibility," Eakins said.
Proponents of the plan pointed to the fact that the iPads help with student organization, communication and can be used as a tool to engage students at their ability level. The devices will be used across the curriculum.
There is expected to be iPad training for teachers, students and parents.
Monroe Middle School Principal Lynne Wheeler said she also wants to have support staff that work with students trained.
"I would hope that we get the teachers on board sooner rather than later if we want to get an effective implementation," Wheeler said.
The board is expected to make a final decision at its next meeting.
Cory Hirsbrunner, the district's director of curriculum and instruction, said Apple has an insurance option the district is considering and the district is reviewing other insurance options.
In other action, the board accepted the resignation of Tina Van Meer, the principal at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy in Monroe. Van Meer gave no reason for leaving in her resignation letter, but the Green Bay Press Gazette reported April 30 that she has been selected as superintendent and elementary principal in the Gibraltar school district in Fish Creek.
The board also formally approved a contract for Hirsbrunner to become the district's next superintendent.
Hirsbrunner was selected from two finalists; Jennifer Thayer, dean of Blackhawk Technical College's Monroe campus, was the other finalist.
The two were selected from an initial field of 16 candidates. Hirsbrunner, a 20-year veteran of the district, replaced Thayer as curriculum director. Prior to that position, Hirsbrunner was principal at Northside Elementary School for nine years and had worked as an elementary teacher for eight years prior to that.
Hirsbrunner will replace Brown, who is leaving June 30 after five years to become superintendent in the Rice Lake Area School District. Hirsbrunner will take over July 1 and her contract will run until June 30, 2014.
Since the district has $160,000 available in this year's curriculum budget, the board considered but stopped short of approving the purchase of iPads for all students in one grade level at the school.
Board member Brian Keith voiced his opposition to the plan, saying he was uncomfortable earmarking $160,000 to $200,000 from this year's budget until the board had an estimate from Apple.
"It's a big dollar amount," Keith said. "If we have to wait a month and look at the hard numbers, that is the way to go."
However, Keith said he would approve spending the $30,000 to $40,000 to purchase iPads for middle school staff for training while the district finalizes a policy for the devices.
While it hasn't been determined what grade level the iPads would go to, the district is considering getting them into the hands of next year's sixth-graders first. It's also possible the board will decide to get them for each grade level at MMS.
Board member Les Bieneman is a proponent of expanding the iPad deployment beyond just the sixth-grade class under consideration. "My objection is not that we are doing this (purchasing iPads), but that we are doing too little too late," Bieneman said. "We hear they last four years. If we put them in sixth grade, they will be obsolete by the time they graduate from high school."
Monroe School District Superintendent Larry Brown agreed with Bieneman's urgency to get the iPads, and advocated using the leftover curriculum money from this year to purchase the tablets for one class next year.
"The sooner we get this the better our students will be," Brown said.
But he also said he wants the board to be aware of the dangers of dipping into the fund balance to purchase the devices for every grade level. "This district has been in fiscal trouble before with the mentality of spending the fund balance," he said.
Board member Larry Eakins questioned the school district's role in providing technology for education.
"I have doubt in my mind if we are responsible for buying these for students or if it's the parents' responsibility," Eakins said.
Proponents of the plan pointed to the fact that the iPads help with student organization, communication and can be used as a tool to engage students at their ability level. The devices will be used across the curriculum.
There is expected to be iPad training for teachers, students and parents.
Monroe Middle School Principal Lynne Wheeler said she also wants to have support staff that work with students trained.
"I would hope that we get the teachers on board sooner rather than later if we want to get an effective implementation," Wheeler said.
The board is expected to make a final decision at its next meeting.
Cory Hirsbrunner, the district's director of curriculum and instruction, said Apple has an insurance option the district is considering and the district is reviewing other insurance options.
In other action, the board accepted the resignation of Tina Van Meer, the principal at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy in Monroe. Van Meer gave no reason for leaving in her resignation letter, but the Green Bay Press Gazette reported April 30 that she has been selected as superintendent and elementary principal in the Gibraltar school district in Fish Creek.
The board also formally approved a contract for Hirsbrunner to become the district's next superintendent.
Hirsbrunner was selected from two finalists; Jennifer Thayer, dean of Blackhawk Technical College's Monroe campus, was the other finalist.
The two were selected from an initial field of 16 candidates. Hirsbrunner, a 20-year veteran of the district, replaced Thayer as curriculum director. Prior to that position, Hirsbrunner was principal at Northside Elementary School for nine years and had worked as an elementary teacher for eight years prior to that.
Hirsbrunner will replace Brown, who is leaving June 30 after five years to become superintendent in the Rice Lake Area School District. Hirsbrunner will take over July 1 and her contract will run until June 30, 2014.