Allocating new technology and a lesson in communication

Well, I skipped blogging yesterday...can I say that I made my own rule to not blog on Sundays? So, today is actually day 6 for me to blog.

Compared to the rest of my peers on twitter, we are far behind on the use of technology in my school/district. In fact when I started in my position 2 years ago I thought the school librarian was joking with me when she had me write my name on a card to check out a book. Her face changed drastically after I laughed and then I realized she was serious...we must be the only school left in the country without an automated checkout system!

Last year I talked to my staff about the possibility of ordering SMARTBoards...a meeting that I thought would have been very positive and exciting; however, I was met with negative comments about adding on "something else." I had to bite my tongue , because I wanted to say "the overhead projectors came over 30 years ago, I think you've got that one down now." Instead I ordered 1 portable SMARTBoard, modeled some uses for it in a staff meeting and hoped someone would try it.

That SMARTBoard not only got used, it got fought over and led to staff begging for more! This year we got approval to order 5 SMARTBoards to be placed permanently into classrooms. The difficult decision was in where to put them. After meeting with the superintendent and technology director, we felt it would be the best decision to place 1 in each grade level and in the classroom of a teacher that has had training/used the portable in the classroom. After this was shared with staff, one staff member later came with the concern that having only one in each classroom could divide the grade level (jealousy that one teacher has one and the others don't and parents wanting their children in the classroom with the SMARTBoard). After thinking of this, I also realized how much more proficient teachers would be if an entire grade level of teachers all had SMARTBoards, because they could share lessons/ideas better than teachers of different grade levels.

Well, now how do we go back on this decision? Teachers have already been told they were getting SMARTBoards and I obviously can't go back in time and seek staff input on where the boards should go (which would have been the smartest thing to do). Tomorrow, we're having a "listening session" with staff to share the idea and provide the time to hear their ideas/concerns.