Lincoln Technology Committee Minutes

April 14, 1997
7:00 p.m., Lincoln Community School Library

Attendance:
Sandy Lathem, ANESU Technology Coordinator
David Marsters, LCS School Board
Chris Wetmore, 6th grade
Brian Mayo, 6th grade
Rick Good, Community member
Matthew Miller, 6th grade
Susan Ferland, 2nd grade teacher
Bill Jesdale, Principal
Chrissi Nisun, 6th grade
Debi Gray, Librarian
Steve H'Leureux, Community member
Jim Brown, Community member

I. Review of Minutes from March 25, 1997.
The Committee welcomed our new student members and distributed minutes from the previous meeting. A few minor corrections were noted to the minutes. Names and addresses of the new committee members were collected.

II. Setting a Vision and Mission Statement
The first task for the Committee was to develop its own mission and vision statements for the Lincoln Technology Plan. Sandy distributed some sample mission and vision statements that were collected by the National School Boards Association. David also distributed samples he collected off the Internet. Sandy will keep a copy of all these materials in a notebook with the minutes of each meeting.

Debi Gray suggested that we start with the District Technology Plan Mission and Vision Statements. Debi read this statement to the group. Some responses to this discussion follow:

Definition of technology. The Committee did not want to limit our definition to computer technology. Technology must include video, voice, graphics, audio, video-conferencing technologies as well.
Keep the language simple. Our vision statement must be written in common language and avoid technical jargon.
The concept of technology must be that it is a tool to support learning. This seems most clearly stated in the last paragraph of the district vision statement.
In writing the statement, we must be sure to use the future tense. "Students will ..."
Our statement should include a sentence that endorses that every person should know how to use the computers.
The committee members want to ensure that information technology access is available to all students and that it is equally distributed at LCS.
It is our vision that students become confident technicians of technology and that teachers are able to instruct and help facilitate this learning for students.
In revising the district statement, we should not use the phrase "technology projects" but reword this to state that we will use technology to create projects or products (i.e., technology supports learning projects)
Some members supported the mission statement for the North Olmsted City Schools. (p. 54) This is a simple and direct statement. We should add community to the last sentence, however.
Technology is needed to be successful in the work place.
Our statement must include gender equity and equity in socio-economic status.
Use the phrase "eventual success" in our statement.
The following vision statement was constructed:

"Used by educators and support staff, students and community members, technology is an important component of life long learning from pre-school to adulthood. Technology helps support eventual success for every individual. Technology is a tool to support the curriculum, to reinforce prior learning, to increase productivity and to encourage creativity and problem-solving. "

Sandy agreed to take this statement and use the ideas expressed to state specfic goals for the Committee. This first draft will be reviewed and discussed at the next meeting.

Some goals to remember were --

All students will have basic understanding of technology
LCS will provide more equal opportunity for all students
LCS will offer more professional development for technology ...
LCS will provide resources (equipment and training, classroom support )
Student:computer ratio must be established --- support needed for younger children.

II.Subcommittee Reports

School and Community Demographics (Rick). Rick brought a copy of the Lincoln Town Plan which contained much information about Lincoln, Vermont. These statistics included income, male/female percentages, median age, household income, occupations, population, student population, school tax rate, town tax, etc. David Marsters volunteered to write a narrative which would summarize some of this information.
Hardware and Software Inventories. Bill Jesdale and Debi Gray distributed information on the current inventory of hardware and software at LCS. Bill agreed to reorganize the list so that equipment descriptions were more complete and grouped together in terms of total numbers of certain classes/types of equipment. Rick offered to help with this.
Curricular Goals. Jim Brown used the district matrix to define curricular goals. He organized goals into immediate, short term, intermediate and long term goals, as follows:
- Immediate Goals
  - Develop and complete a technology plan which will facilitate technology integration into the curriculum.
  - Provide software and hardware appropriate to allow the advancement of the technology plan.
- Short Term Goals
  - Introduce technology plan to teachers and provide necessary training needed to provide the teachers a level of confidence that would stimulate the integration of technology into their lesson plans.
  - Introduce students to technology and its uses following the ANESU Technology Matrix as a guideline.
- Intermediate Goals
  - Begin using technology in the classrooms, again using the matrix developed in the District Technology Plan, Technology Curriculum Strand.
  - Provide continuity, training and support for teachers and support staff to keep up with changing technology.
- Long Term Goals
  - Provide technology to all students, K-6, through curricula constantly being updated to keep up with and utilize new technology as it becomes available.
Communications. Steve spoke about establishing goals for communications which included more phone lines to the classrooms for telecommunications and establishing a local area network. The goal would be to have equal access to telecommunications in all classrooms.
Administriave and Management Goals. David developed a list of administrative goals and read these to the Committee. Bill Jesdale suggested that the word "Principal" be used instead of the term "Administration." These issue was not resolved and was left for further discussion. David's goals follow:
- Administrators use technology to support management needs.
- Administrators must support mission and goals set forth in the Technology Plan with appropriate resources.
- Administrators must provide professional development opportunitites.
- Administrators must ensure equity (in all areas).
- Administrators must gather data, disseminate and interpret data regarding use of technology at LCS,
- Administrators must keep abreast of changes and innovation in technology.
- Administrators must model the appropriate use of technology.
- Administrators must serve as the liason between the School Board and the Lincoln community.
- Administration must ensure community access to technology at LCS.
- Administration must provide oversite to ensure appropiate and legal use of educationally sound technology.
III.ANESU Joint Board Meeting. David noted that a technology demonstration was planned for the May 12th ANESU Joint Board meeting. Committee members are welcome to attend. The meeting is at 7:00 p.m. at the Mt. Abraham Union High School Library. Students from LCS will be giving a short presentation.
IV. Next Meeting Date. The next meeting date was set for Monday, April 28, 1997 at 7:00 p.m.
V. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,

Sandra A. Lathem