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Hernando Today

District's New Technology Up And Running

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By Linnea Brown

Hernando Today

Published: August 21, 2008

Brooksville - It's the American Idol generation.

On the second day of school, Tyler West, 8, stood at his seat in his fourth-grade classroom at Spring Hill's Explorer K-8 with a wireless microphone, displaying the contents of a brown bag for the assignment "All about me."

"This is my favorite transformer," he told his peers, folding a small plastic robot into a truck. "If I had its key, I could turn it and spikes would come out."

He smoothly finished his speech into the microphone, apparently unfazed as his voice boomed softly from four speakers on the classroom's ceiling.

"This is the next generation," said the school's principal, Dominick Ferello. "They're used to this stuff."

As students displayed the contents of their bags one-by-one, they passed the microphone between them. Their teacher, Tina Cordova, discreetly adjusted the volume for each student by touching a wireless monitor that hung on a cord at her neck.

Welcome to the district's new "sound enhancement system," designed to distribute sound evenly around the room and provide a boost for teachers who previously had to strain to be heard.

At an estimated $9,500 each, Explorer's 99 classrooms have been equipped with overhead speakers and small wearable microphones, paid for through the school's construction costs. Total cost at Explorer: $940,500.

Much of the school is wireless, with Internet and network connections that do not require being connected via hard wires, and each classroom has four desktop computers and one laptop. Intermediate students will also have 30 laptops on carts.

Other technology components include slick overhead video cameras and screens in each classroom, as well as "Interwrite Pads," or an interactive overhead projection system that allows students to write on pads and have their work appear on screens.

While all of the district's schools received new Dell computers this summer as part of the school board's $8.4 million technology leasing agreement, Explorer is the only school in which all classrooms have been equipped with the new sound enhancement system.

However, the new school's "high-tech" design is expected to set the stage for all future school construction in Hernando County — and teachers are loving it.

"Now I don't go home with a sore throat, and I don't worry that someone in the back of the room can't hear me," fifth-grade gifted teacher Mary Beth Linstad said. "One of my personal pet peeves as a child was when I couldn't hear. Now I just adjust the volume."

The system also includes a "magic eye" in the center of the classroom that is interchangeable between teachers. That way, if a teacher leaves the room and another teacher comes in, the system will automatically stop carrying the voice of the outgoing teacher and pick up the voice of the one coming in.

"This is awesome," Linstad said. "I would never want to go back (to the old way)."

She said she hopes to begin using the classroom's laptops by the end of the week to write and spell check essays.

The computers will also help students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test with test-specific drills, Ferello said.

"It's a benefit to a lot of kids. Whether spelling, grammar or handwriting issues, this helps them all," Linstad said.

Ferello said most of the school's teachers are in their first few years of teaching, meaning they are younger and already adept at new technology. Also, he tried to choose teachers who are knowledgeable about basic technological skills such as Powerpoint and Microsoft Office, he said.

"They're really comfortable with this," he said. "I've got a couple teachers that are already trying to figure out other things to do with the new equipment."

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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