After its passage on Nov. 4, New York’s Smart Schools Bond Act will put more technology in classrooms. The federal government is working on its own school technology initiative, called ConnectED. At the ConnectED to the Future summit on Wednesday, 100 superintendents from across the country gathered for a discussion at the White House.
Luvelle Brown, from the Ithaca City School District, was there, and he spoke with us after his trip.
WSKG: What was your biggest takeaway from these discussions?
LUVELLE BROWN: I was inspired hearing the president speak, having conversations with the president, to keep moving. Because it’s a very urgent need for us to provide our students and families and communities with this type of access and experience.
WSKG: Did you hear any ideas from your fellow superintendents that you want to bring home to the Ithaca City School District?
LB: I learned of how other districts are expanding their Wi-Fi networks by putting Wi-Fi hotspots on school buses. And some are actually parking school buses in various locations throughout the community to provide universal Wi-Fi access to a community. So that was intriguing to me, and I’m thinking about how we could do that to provide Wi-Fi access to remote areas of the Ithaca community as well.
WSKG: As part of this summit you signed the Future Ready Digital Pledge to increase technology use, is that right?
LB: Yes, I signed the pledge. Not only to increase technology usage, but also to use the technology tools as a way to transform teaching and learning for our young people.
WSKG: What will that mean for the district going forward?
LB: We will be looking at how we can provide 24/7 access to high-quality curriculum documents, and at conversations that can occur outside of the traditional four walls and a ceiling classroom.