On Board Online • April 27, 2015

"It is the responsibility of states to ensure that all students are assessed annually because it gives educators and parents an idea of how the student is doing and ensures that schools are paying attention to traditionally underserved populations like low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities and English language learners. The New York State Education Department takes this responsibility very seriously, and we continue to look to them to take the appropriate steps on behalf of kids in the state."

- Dorie Nolt, Press Secretary, U.S. Department of Education

On Board Online • April 27, 2015

By Merri Rosenberg
Special Correspondent

Perhaps this isn't the most pressing world problem, but Sean Copeland thinks it's time for a heated golf bag.

"You lose 20-30 percent of distance when you're playing in 40-degree weather," said Copeland, a senior at New Paltz High School who plans to study material science engineering when he enrolls at Penn State University this fall.

When Copeland and three classmates in an Engineering Design and Development course started to imagine manufacturing a heated golf bag, they had access to a unique tool - a 3D printer. It creates solid objects from a digital file by laying down successive layers of plastic or other material.

The Maker Bot 3D printer, which costs $2,899, plays an essential role in helping students identify and solve design problems, said technology teacher Alexis Mallory. "As part of Project Lead the Way, we offer engineering design and development for juniors and seniors," she said. "This allows kids to see an actual prototype." Students need to consider whether the project will be practical, and how the various elements of the prototype will fit together.

On Board Online • April 27, 2015

By George Basler
Special Correspondent

One of Kim Mueller's first impressions when she became superintendent of the Wellsville Central School District in Allegany County five years ago was how isolated students could feel in the small, rural school district.

"My first thought was: How do we connect to the wider world?" she said.

The answer, in Wellsville's case, has been a major investment in technology. The investment has included making the school building Wi Fi accessible and retooling classrooms for technology, including installing interactive whiteboards and projectors in every classroom, said Emory Roethel, coordinator of curriculum, instruction and technology.

The district also placed iPads in the hands of all 1,350 students. Students use the iPads to take notes, access the Internet for research, do reports, communicate with teachers and post assignments on My Big Campus, an online learning management system set up by the school district.

On Board Online • April 27, 2015

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

NYSSBA's Board of Directors has endorsed the services of School Aid Specialists, which reviews state and federal aid awarded to New York school districts and frequently finds districts were entitled to additional funding.

If School Aid Specialists is unable to find additional revenue for district, the service is free. But that's quite rare; usually the consultants discover that the district is entitled to additional aid.

"The decision about whether a district should use this service is a no-brainer," said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. "It's all upside, no downside."

"As part of a due diligence process, we spent 15 months closely examining the work of School Aid Specialists, and their record of fund recovery was nothing short of phenomenal," said Bob Schneider, NYSSBA's associate executive director and chief operating officer. "During this period, they recovered significant revenue for clients that ranged from large, urban districts to small, rural districts."

On Board Online • April 27, 2015

Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

On June 22, NYSSBA will launch a new "eLearning" program targeted at newly elected school board members.

"NYSSBA is the state's leading provider of state-required courses in fiscal oversight and governance," said Barry Entwistle, director of leadership development. "Our new eLearning system will take advantage of new technology to provide a more interactive and dynamic experience. Board members will be able to access it using a variety of platforms including tablets and other devices."

When NYSSBA first began offering online training in 2007, the industry standard was a presentation of bullet points of information accompanied by narration to replicate an in-person PowerPoint presentation. The new system will be more sophisticated, Entwistle said.

The platform was developed by Loud Cloud, a company founded by Marc Andreesen, best known as the creator of the Netscape web browser.

On Board Online • April 27, 2015

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

More than 250 school districts have registered an interest in adding solar power through a state program known as K-Solar.

As early as the end of the month, the state is expected to name regional companies that will install solar panels for districts and BOCES with no upfront costs.

Participating districts will sign a 20-year contract with their installer in which they agree to buy the electricity generated by the solar power system, which will remain the property of the installer until the contract expires. The company will be required to operate and maintain the system.

To determine whether solar energy makes economic sense for specific schools, registered districts are taking advantage of free site assessments and analysis by the New York Power Authority (NYPA), which co-sponsors the program with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

School districts across the state are facing increasing assertions by parents that they plan on opting their children out of the State’s grades 3-8 assessments as NYSUT’s President Karen Magee has called for all parents to opt their children out of such tests.

The New York State School Boards Association is receiving numerous calls regarding the choices school districts have in managing this situation. Although there are no definitive answers to all of the questions, there are some things that we do know.

On Board Online • April 6, 2015

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Your district has installed broadband Internet access throughout its schools and purchased hundreds of laptop computers and other devices. The latest educational software is on order, and students are anxiously awaiting their first school day with unfettered access to their smart phones.

You are on track to become a perfect model of tech- inspired educational innovation, right?

Perhaps not, if your district has overlooked a critical piece of technological infrastructure: a well-established culture of "digital citizenship."

"That's step one," says Colton-Pierrepont Superintendent Joseph Kardash.

Stressing digital citizenship, Kardash says, means cultivating ethical principles and responsible online habits that will stay with students long after they graduate.