[December 17, 2010] School gets Smart Board boost Tweet Dec 17, 2010 (The Hawk Eye - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Notre Dame High School is one step closer to having a Smart Board -- an electronic white board -- in every classroom. Principal Ron Glasgow officially accepted a $1,500 Smart Board from Agency Street Hy-Vee manager Scott Beach during a short ceremony Thursday, marking the second consecutive year the store has donated a Smart Board to the school. The board donated last year went to Notre Dame Elementary School. "We're happy with Hy-Vee for doing this. We're trying to do as much as we can without using our operations money," Glasgow said. More than 200 schools across the Midwest received a Smart Board through Hy-Vee's Smart Points program in conjunction with Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee. During the promotional period, shoppers who purchased products made by those companies at Hy-Vee earned points that could be designated to the school of their choice. The new Smart Board will be hanging in the high school's math room, but Glasgow said the room won't be strictly dedicated to math for long. "Next year, we're going to have more classes in there. There will be some English classes," Glasgow said. The Smart Board interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive display that connects to a computer and digital projector. The slightest touch can allow students and teachers to control computer applications, write notes, pull up charts and images, search the Internet, play videos and save work. Visual learners can see colorful, movable images and diagrams that the interactive whiteboard displays. Hands-on learners can interact and explore by moving letters, numbers, words and pictures with the touch of a finger. Auditory learners can enjoy a complete multimedia experience using optional USB speakers, or Smart Audio. "Notre Dame is really on the move technology wise, and we've dug ourself out of quite a hole over the last couple of years," Glasgow said. Notre Dame has 12 Smart Boards in the elementary school -- one for each classroom -- and the latest donation means there will be eight Smart Boards hanging in the high school. That leaves the high school only four Smart Boards short of having one in each high school classroom. "We've come a long way in two years," Glasgow said. "Technology wise, we're probably not going to be the best around at this, but we're certainly still pretty good." Glasgow said grants from the Witte Foundation and other sources have been a tremendous help in getting the school updated. The school has 23 netbooks (miniature laptops), and that number will double next month. The school implemented wireless technology just this month, which turns every netbook in the school into a mobile device. "We will continue to buy as many netbooks as we can," Glasgow said. The school also has partnered with Drake Hardware and Software for a computer recycling program, where the school receives older computers for a fraction of the retail price. The discarded computers come from local businesses upgrading their hardware. "We have saved an immense amount of money," Glasgow said. "We would have used our entire operational budget just to replace the computers." To see more of The Hawk Eye or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thehawkeye.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]