Schools
New Technology Silver Lining of Tough School Budget
Technology is making its way into the classrooms, while other changes this upcoming school year are less than ideal.
A for the 2012 school year forced Reading Public School officials to grit their teeth and make some tough cuts, but new technology managed to make its way into the schools' classrooms.
This year, the district added more than 200 new laptops and 50 new iPads for students and teachers to use alike.
"The [new laptops and Ipads] will be distributed throughout the schools in the district, and based on the special education needs of each school," said Superintendent John Doherty.
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Doherty referred to the new technology as a "positive side" of the changes taking place this upcoming school year; other changes are less than ideal in the eyes of school officials.
Some of changes include cuts to paraeducator hours, which will have a considerable impact on the elementary schools in the district.
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With the hour reductions, parents will be advised to drop off their children off , and if a student is dropped off before this time, he or she will not be able to get into the school, and the school will not provide supervision.
Doherty recognizes that this change may cause an influx of cars attempting to enter and exit school grounds at one time, but notes that parents do have the option of signing their children up for before-school programs.
"I think this will become more of a problem in the winter, therefor we are going to see how the the fall goes and see if there are any major issues," Doherty said. "[If there are], we are going to have to adjust accordingly."
In another effort to save money, the district will also begin hiring substitute teachers in-house, as opposed to purchasing substitute services through a contractor as the school system has done in the past.
School Committee member David Michaud back in January, and the district ultimately took that advice and hired 75 new substitutes for the upcoming school year without use of a contracting agency.
In addition, the position of instructional literary specialist has been cut, and such staff cuts have prompted an increase of professional development courses in order for staff to be able to compensate for such losses.
