Travis Allen, Candidate for Board of Education
♦ Many in public education have jumped on the band wagon of the “new age tech student.” While basic computer and technology skills are a vital part of training our children for the future, just how much is enough? I think we here in our Rowan County Schools are to the point where we have become technology junkies. Yes, a junky. We seem to be addicted to new technology. What does a junky or a drug addicted person do? They support their habit with every fiber of their being. Every hour of the day is consumed with getting that next hit or fix. The problem is that one can never get enough. Every other facet in their life becomes secondary. Even areas that should be priorities like family, faith, friends and career are sacrificed on the altar of their addiction.
I say we are technology junkies in Rowan County. While each year we win awards for our technology and computer innovations our test scores in the basic fundamentals of education such as reading, writing and arithmetic fall or remain stagnant. We are one of the top technology systems in the state yet we are on the bottom half of educational performing systems in the state! So just how important is technology in the grand scheme of things? I recently read where we have added a second IT Specialist to our system. Yet again another high paid administrative position that does not add one single benefit to our teachers or children.
The problem with technology driven education is the high price tag that comes along with it. What is new today is junk tomorrow. It takes numerous employees just to fix and keep running what we already have. Our county is dirt poor. Salisbury is one of the most poverty stricken cities in the nation. We as a system can no longer feed this monster that consumes hundreds of thousands out of our local budget. Today’s Salisbury Post says that we are going to put a laptop in the hands of every teacher before they go home for the summer. How about a text book in my kid’s hand? We still don’t have them!
Have we asked the teachers if they want a new computer? Maybe they would like an increase in their pay or incentives? Maybe they would like an assistant teacher to help them with the endless nonsense of the Common Core Curriculum. Maybe they would like a text book and a work book for their students so they do not have to make thousands of copies a year. (By the way how much to we spend on printing?)
Is there not a computer in every classroom already? Don’t most teachers who need or want a lap top already have Mac Books? Go ahead and just stick the needle of wasted resources in our veins yet again.
Oh yeah, a few other things folks. Did you know we hire assistant teachers and make them pay for their own bus license? We tell them if they want to be an assistant they have to drive a bus. That is fine; most really enjoy the experience of greeting our children each day. Many times they provide the first words of encouragement a child hears that morning. I can see where driving a big yellow torpedo may even be a little fun. (Kind of like a monster truck.) Just tell me why we make them pay for it. The cost is around $120. Oh, we tell them that after so many hours we will repay you. Well, many of our assistants only drive as part time or emergency drivers so they never reach the required hours before the system decides to reduce the number of assistants and they lose their job without ever seeing their money. Do we as a system think that if we pay for their license they are going to resign and start driving a gravel truck or something? No, it is just a way to stick the expense on someone else. It shows we do not care about them. What else could it be? $120 may not be much to an administrator, but to a low paid assistant it is groceries for their family. How about the cafeteria workers we make take long breaks or work split shifts so we do not have to give them better pay and benefits. How about the teachers that put in 12 + hour days with no added compensation? By all means, let’s go buy some more computers! Pass me the crack pipe please. I am a tech junky and a basics flunky.
Time to fix it folks! It is time to fix it! As we say out here in the country—“that dog don’t hunt!” Stand up for your teachers and students. Stop the spending out of the classroom and in the administrative levels. Put our money in the classroom with our children and our teachers. Our teachers can turn our system around if we give them the tools! The tools are not technology based. The tools we need are built on the basics of reading writing and arithmetic. We have the cart before the horse. Technology does not make us better at the basics of education. The basics of education make us better at technology.
