What We Are Doing

The Claremore Public Schools Foundation is pursuing donations to fund a district-wide Technology Initiative. This initiative will ensure that every classroom within the Claremore Public Schools has an LCD projector installed in the classroom. Our goal is to raise $80,000.

Why We Are Doing It

The Claremore Public Schools Foundation administers a Semi-Annual Grant Program. These grants are available to teachers two times during each school year. To date, the Foundation has funded 806 grants totaling more than $986,000.

In the Fall of 2007, the CPSF received a grant request for funding the purchase of "cutting edge" technology for a classroom ... an interactive whiteboard called a SmartBoard. The grant was funded and the SmartBoard was installed. Since that time the Foundation has funded the purchase and installation of 17 SmartBoards throughout the district.

During the Fall of 2011 grant cycle the Foundation received grant requests from teachers for 14 SmartBoards. This number of SmartBoard requests in one grant cycle almost equaled the number of requests we had funded in eight grant cycles! The CPSF Allocations Committee and Board were faced with a "loaves and fishes" situation: At a cost of approximately $3,700 per SmartBoard, funding these requests would exceed the budget for the entire grant cycle. Additionally, attempting to fund these SmartBoard requests would mean that 15 additional grant requests from teachers with other needs would go unfunded.

The dilemma we were facing caused us to pause and consider what we were seeing. After 23 years of funding Foundation grants, our historical records did not indicate there had ever been such a widespread, and increasing, demand for a single item. We realized that we were seeing a broad need and a unique opportunity for the Foundation to impact the learning of virtually every child in every grade in every classroom for years to come.

In an effort to identify and better understand the needs of students and teachers in today's classroom, we met with administrators, principals and district technology personnel. We talked with teachers and parents and, ultimately, students. And we sat in as teachers utilized interactive white boards in their classrooms. The meetings and the conversations were informative but the observations of what teachers are doing in the classroom with the aid of technology were riveting.

We were convinced that technology definitely had, and would continue to have, a place in the classroom. We were also concerned that, although some of the technology was in place throughout the district, conditions existed where a child was in a classroom with an interactive white board for one year only to move to a new classroom the next year where there was no interactive white board. Still, we wondered ... did every teacher really want or need an interactive white board? At $3,700 per unit, the cost of installing interactive white boards district-wide was staggering. The number of grant requests for this technology was increasing but we were by no means receiving requests for interactive white boards from every teacher. Some teachers were requesting LCD projectors, one component of the interactive white board. Other teachers found that a less expensive MOBI system, which also required an LCD projector, met the needs of the subject matter and age of children they were teaching. A teacher survey confirmed the interest the teachers had in utilizing technology within their classroom but equally confirmed the diversity of needs within each classroom.

More meetings. More conversations. More calculations. And then an "ah ha" moment:

What if we equipped each classroom throughout the district with a LCD projector?

What would this mean to students and teachers?

• LCD projectors are very user friendly and require virtually no special training.

• LCD projectors can be utilized in conjunction with the classroom computer to project images, videos and documents as well as the curriculum-based CDs and DVDs provided with many textbooks being purchased today.

• The presence of an LCD projector in every classroom would mean that every classroom would have the "springboard" piece of equipment required for interactive whiteboards, MOBIs and other technology enhancements should those additional features be desired and/or appropriate for use in that specific classroom.

What would this mean to the district and the Claremore Public Schools Foundation?

• LCD projectors are ceiling mounted and hard-wired, thereby eliminating damage to the equipment when transporting and/or storing. Additionally, student visibility of projected images is significantly improved with a ceiling mount installation.

• Purchasing large numbers of a single item decreases the unit cost and standardizes the equipment in use throughout the district.

• Standardization of the equipment minimizes the variation of replacement lamps that the district has to inventory to keep the equipment operational.

• Installation of these units throughout an entire building will result in a reduction of per-unit cost to install when compared to a single-unit installation.

• Having the LCD projector component in place will result in a savings of approximately $1,000 per unit when a teacher requests an interactive white board in the classroom. These savings would allow the Foundation to fund more of these types of technology enhancements through the semi-annual grant program while ensuring that the expense of an interactive white board is not incurred in a classroom where its use is not desired by the teacher or supported by need.

Months of studies and conversations have resulted in important knowledge and good understanding of the technological needs that exist in the district. So what do we do now?

We know what is needed.

We are motivated to meet the need that has been identified.

We need partners to make it happen!

But There's More ...

The Claremore Public Schools Foundation has a unique and exciting opportunity. If we are able to secure donations totaling $80,000 by December 31, 2011, we have an anonymous donor who is willing to match the $80,000 we raise! THAT IS AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY! However, if we fall short of our $80,000 goal, we forfeit this opportunity to secure these funds.

How You Can Help

The Claremore Public Schools Foundation is seeking partners who understand the importance of excellence in public education and the difference it can make in the life of a child, who will commit financial support to fund this Technology Initiative.

May we count on your support? Will you partner with us by financially supporting this initiative?

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If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow. John Dewey