» Techno teachers

The ball-point marked the end of the fountain pen era. Calculators replaced slide rules.

Now teachers in Reedsport School District 105 may ditch the lacquer-like odor and squeak of markers as they say farewell to their dry-erase boards.

Classrooms at Reedsport Junior/Senior High School and Highland Elementary will adopt digital white boards next year after the former becomes a charter school on Feb. 1.

Money granted to the charter school by Oregon Department of Education for staff training will cover the cost of many improvements to technology at the high school, said principal Laura Davis.

“A big part of that is going to be using technology efficiently,” she said.

As early as next winter, students could begin using laptops and wireless networks on campus as the school anticipates more Internet and technology-oriented classwork, Davis said.

More work will be based on computers — from Web searches to PowerPoint presentations — work that reflects a real-world trend, Davis said.

“Kids are going to need these skills in their future business. Or in life,” she said.

The charter school also will use Mimio interactive boards, Davis said. But she is unsure how many or at what price the district will purchase the boards.

An Internet search shows Mimio boards at prices between about $1,100 and $2,300.

Teachers will use the touch-sensitive, electric whiteboard and projected computer display to teach students. At other school districts, the boards are used with microscope “document cameras” and handheld student response units to integrate classwork and testing in an almost entirely digital workflow.

District Superintendent Ike Launstein said the technological changes will streamline classwork.

“We can transmit more knowledge quickly,” Launstein said.

Launstein also hopes the new tools motivate students.

“It ... keeps the kids engaged and with you,” he said.

But first the district will teach its teachers.

“What a fantastic tool,” Launstein said. “But if we don’t give teachers training, then what good are they?”

Davis said teachers will receive training this year and throughout next year. The district received about $23,000 in grants for teacher training, including technology, out of about $56,000 awarded for the school’s planning phase.

The district must spend 80 percent, $44,800, of that Phase-One money before it can tap into the $79,980 in Phase-Two funds set aside to purchase electronics such as digital whiteboards or computers.

The charter school will then integrate computer technology in a school that doesn’t offer so much as a keyboarding class.

A handful of the school’s more than 300 students are enrolled in computer technology classes. Those students are taught computer hardware and software basics — troubleshooting and fixing computers or programming languages like C++.

Computer tech students are working with district technology staff to plan the charter school’s wireless network infrastructure. They also may start completing computer work orders for the district; a sort of vocational computer program, said technology teacher Guy Marchione.

Marchione said the school already has a similar program in place at American Bridge for metal and woodshop students. The school also tried a program with local contractors several years ago, he said.

The programs should offer practical experience for interested students, Marchione said.

Davis said the school’s other technology-dependent classes, like video production and publication labs, could see some updated equipment as well. But she said the school will focus on bringing technology to classes that don’t already widely use computers.

Some teachers will need to adapt, she said.

“Staff that’s been here 20, 30 years is not going to have the same kind of (background) as teachers that have been to the academic level in the last five years,” Davis said.

She said teachers may become technology role models — using laptops, the Web or software to educate pupils. Adapted technology widely will add to the arsenal of education tools already at the disposal of teachers, Davis said.

“The technology is a tool,” she said. “It’s the means to get there. But it’s the means the rest of the world is using.

Interactive white boards or other technology may be in store for Highland, too. The district could seek grants outside charter school funding to buy equipment for the elementary.