Dean Duncan, who teaches the electronic office course at the high school, presented the SBDM with the guidelines students will be required to follow in using the sticks.
The school “has more or less purchased” sixty sticks using grant money, Duncan said, at a cost of $19.99 each.
The memory sticks will be issued “just like a textbook,” Duncan said, to be returned to teachers at the end of the year. Students who damage or lose their stick will be required to pay a $20 replacement fee.
SBDM member Jackie Clark predicted the students would lose quite a few, based on some past experiences.
“I’ve lost a lot of pencils to kids,” he said. The memory sticks are as wide as two pencils, but about half as long.
Some members expressed the need to make sure the students will only use the sticks for academic use, and not for downloading various media off the Internet.
As more technology enters schools, “we’re going to have to start looking at all the rules and regulations,” Duncan said, particularly copyright laws — even as they pertain to teaching materials.
“If [the trial] goes OK, this is probably something we’ll want to do for all of our students,” Duncan said. In addition to her electronic office class, an information technology class will also participate in the trial.
For the rest of this article, please see this week's edition of The Cadiz Record.
