What do “digital natives” need more — 1-to-1 computers or school facilities conducive to learning? Isn’t it absurd to spend money on computers for students when schools are crumbling around them? I want to share excerpts from two recent Readers Respond commentaries in The Baltimore Sun written by very astute parents:
Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance has announced that he will have to cancel much-needed repairs to three area high schools due to state education budget cuts (“Session ends in acrimony,” April 14). Yet when he announced his new program to provide laptops to every student in Baltimore County over the next few years, he assured citizens he would find the projected cost of $205 million via cost-cutting in the school system. Spending enormous amounts of money on an unproven initiative while hundreds of students try to learn in an inhospitable environment is absurd.
Nora Connell
The folks working in our schools have some of the toughest jobs out there. In the past year alone they have been asked to implement a new curriculum, a new block schedule at the high school level, new technology and more testing. That is in addition to dealing with increased security concerns, social media and, in some cases, buildings that are literally crumbling around them. Recently Dulaney High School had yet another hot water pipe in its outdated heating system burst. Some classrooms were cold enough the children’s fingers were turning blue, while others were so hot classes had to be moved into the hallways. There’s a lack of clean drinking water, bathrooms that show their wear after 50 years of use, a lack of air conditioning in more than two-thirds of the building and not enough dedicated computer labs to implement the new testing that is done online. Teachers have to be incredibly flexible to make the current conditions work. How about giving them a facility that is safe and functional and of which they can be proud?
Lisa McClellan
The current superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) is overly focused on putting a computer in the hand of each BCPS student. A computer is only a tool. If there is not appropriate educational content and activities on the computer tailored to the curriculum, it has little educational value.
I agree with the Dulaney High School parent, Lisa McClellan, that the money would be better spent on providing a safe and functional (and air conditioned) educational facility.
If we the people of Baltimore County do not hold this superintendent accountable for school facility conditions, the curriculum, and student achievement, no one will. Don’t expect the current School Board to do it. They do not seem to fully understand their responsibilities.
