The Harvard School Committee voted at its October 9 meeting to spend $53,021 from the Shaw Trust for furniture and an assortment of high-tech equipment for the two schools in town.
Each year the town receives money from the trust, which must be used for school furniture or equipment, or for physical improvements to the schools, School Superintendent Tom Jefferson said. Because the schools have not spent all of the funds coming in from the trust in the last few years, he told the board, the schools have built up a reserve of $227,892, with another $50,000 or so in income expected in December.
Finance Director Lorraine Leonard explained that the Harvard schools are one of eight beneficiaries of the Shaw Trust, who split the income from a large pool of money. The schools have not put in a line item in the annual school budget for equipment replacement in the past few years, she said, relying on money from the trust instead.
Of the $53,000 to be spent from the trust this year, $20,000 will go to buy five Smartboards and projection systems for the elementary school. Elementary Principal Mary Beth Banios told the school board that she plans to equip one classroom per grade with the boards initially, but hopes eventually to have a board in every classroom, possibly funded by grants or donations. The device works as a large projection board and allows teachers to project images and documents, along with information imported from the Internet, Banios said. She explained that students will be able to interact with the Smartboards in a very hands-on way; for example, a young child learning about coins can move images of coins around on the board. The devices come with software that the Smartboard’s manufacturer promises to update for free indefinitely.
When board member Stu Sklar asked which teachers will get the first Smartboards, Jefferson answered that the elementary teachers who are technical “hotshots” with more training in the use of such devices will be the first to have them.
Another $12,782 will be used to buy 11 sound amplification systems, 10 at the elementary school and one for a sixth-grade classroom at Bromfield.
In a memo to the school board, Jefferson wrote, “These units will be used in conjunction with FM systems for hearing-impaired students and students with significant language problems at both schools. However, their impact is also of great value to all students within a classroom who do not have specific hearing needs.”
The sound systems have microphones, which teachers wear around their necks, that carries their voices directly to FM earphones worn by hearing-impaired students, as well as to portable loudspeakers in the classroom, special education Director Charles Horn explained.
School board member Will Verbits asked what is the expected life span for the sound systems, and who would be responsible for their maintenance. Horn said the units come with a 10-year guarantee, and will be maintained by special education teacher Ruth Schemel.
The remainder of the expenditures, $20,239, will go for six requests for furniture and equipment at Bromfield. The school will buy an automatic floor-scrubbing machine for $4,999. Twenty-four new lockers are to be purchased, for $4,246. Another $4,245 will be used to buy 10 new lab tables for the biology and new anatomy and physiology labs. Seventy-five replacement classroom chairs are needed; the expected cost is $3,792. Bromfield Principal Jim O’Shea has also requested $2,405 to buy six high-end walkie-talkies and a charger, to be used by the nurse, the special education office, the gym teachers, and the administrators for security and safety purposes. Finally, $552 will be used to buy secure cabinets for the guidance department, to provide secure storage for MCAS tests and other confidential materials, Jefferson told the board.
