District to provide high school students laptops

Carson City Schools continues on their path to provide a laptop for every student in the district.

The Carson City School Board discussed the continuation of the 1:1 mobile project in the schools.

The 1:1 mobile project has been in effect for four years, and is aimed at providing all students from third to 12th grade a laptop to improve learning and teach them a responsible way to use technology as a teaching tool.

Last year, students from third to eighth grade received the laptops. Starting in October all high school students from Carson High School and Pioneer High School will receive their laptops.

“The focus is teaching and learning not on the technology but using it as a tool,” said LeAnne Morris, one of the teachers heading the project. “Tools change and we need to focus on what students are doing with their technology.”

“We are breaking down walls and barriers to bring the world into the classroom,” Morris added.

Educators involved with the 1:1 mobile project believe tit will help students develop skills such as creativity, networking, critical thinking, office skills and coding. They also believe it will help teachers because it will help them collaborate more with students and colleagues.

School administrators said they have seen improvement with teachers using technology to enhance lessons and it has improved communication between teachers to compare and discuss ways to incorporate technology.

The school district is also holding various informational meetings for parents and teachers throughout the year to help them utilize the new technology more efficiently and to be able to work better with the students.

The school board members also discussed the vacancies in the school district for the upcoming year.

Dr. Jose Delfin, Associate Superintendent Human Resources, said the district received more than 1,100 applications and were able to fill 50 positions in the schools. However, they are still missing critical positions such as 10 athletic coaches, 13 classified staff, special education teachers and two Vice Principals at Fritch Elementary and Fremont Elementary.

However, Delfin said the district is in good shape and for the first time in a number of years, Carson High School is completely staffed.

“We are in good shape compared to last year,” Delfin said. “I feel good about where we are at right now. We are charging forward as aggressive as possible because we deserve it, we are a good district.”

Superintendent Richard Stokes also discussed ways to help improve employee satisfaction within the district. School administrators are initiating a survey to all employees this year to allow employees to express grievances. The survey will cover everything from satisfaction with curriculum, supplies and support.

“We want feedback about what everyone is feeling and we want to hear about what we can do better and what we can do in our capacity to fix it,” said Stokes.

Stokes also wanted to remind employees he and other administrators have an open door policy where anyone in the community or district can come to talk to him about problems they may be having.

“I have a personal principle to create regular opportunities to express grievances if there are concerns,” Stokes said.

Board members agreed because the district asks a lot of its employees it needs to make sure that needs are being heard and met.

“If we aren’t going to pay a lot and ask a lot of them, we can at least make sure we are hearing what they need,” said board member Ryan Green.