Charter school receives $300K grant

SANDPOINT — A $317,515 grant from the Idaho State Department of Education is set to transform the Forrest M. Bird Charter School’s technology department.

School and state officials announced earlier this week that the charter school received the grant to implement a host of technology improvements at the school. The enhancements will streamline curriculum and provide laptops for students to use in class. In particular, the grants will help ease the transition into college, where online class organization systems and a mix of online and classroom-based classes are increasingly becoming the norm.

“With this experience, students will be able to transition into college easier and do better as a result,” said Mary Jensen, the school’s education director.

Specifically, the funds will supply students and teachers in grades six through 12 with a durable laptop.

Along with the laptops come funds for technical support service for staff, students and parents. The grant also provides for iPads, which will be used in special education classrooms, and projection presentation systems. Finally, it will fund professional training to help teachers get the most out of the new systems.

Using the new computers, students will be able to access the new learning management system, which uses a two-year subscription to software called Canvas. A cloud-based arena that allows teachers and students to access course information, curriculum materials, grades and assessment data, Canvas will help limit the need for textbooks. Even better, the software is more cost effective than textbooks over the long run, since digital curriculum materials can be easily updated without the need to purchase new editions, Jensen said.

While many universities use learning management systems to host online classes, the charter school is pursuing a blended approach, she added. Students will still meet in physical classrooms — they’ll simply have access to all required materials in a much more convenient form.

“We believe technology is not a replacement for teachers, rather a tool and delivery mechanism for high quality instruction,” said Ryan Zimmerle, the school’s technology director.

Both the state and the charter school stand to benefit from the grant funding. For the charter school, they receive much-needed dollars to expand their tech department — a useful contribution since charter schools can’t benefit from property tax levies. In turn, state department officials are watching each of the 15 schools awarded grant money to see what pilot programs could be implemented on a statewide level.

Despite the state’s interest in the charter school’s ideas, the grant award came as a massive surprise, Jensen said. Only 15 schools were selected for the grant out of the 99 which requested funding, so the outcome was a very joyful moment for both herself and Zimmerle, who worked on the grant together.

 “It’s just really great to get a grant that allows us to fulfill our vision,” Jensen said.