Technology headed to classrooms

With a substantial investment in technology, St. Mary School Board District 2 committee members ensured that every core classroom in the parish will have a Promethean Board and that elementary classrooms in Berwick, Bayou Vista and Patterson will begin receiving computer tablets to go along with them.
The committee met without a quorum Wednesday in a workshop format to discuss the annual “wish list” maintenance requests of the district prior to budget considerations in the upcoming months. The final request list is expected to be approved during today’s regular meeting of the full board.
The three Berwick schools needed 17 Promethean boards, interactive whiteboard systems, to ensure that one is in every elementary classroom as well as math, English, science and social studies class in the parish.
The Promethean boards will cost $127,500.
Meanwhile, four schools in District 2 will receive $25,000 each to furnish two elementary classroom sets of 26 computer tablets, called Learn Pads, at Hattie Watts, Patterson Junior High, Bayou Vista Elementary and Berwick Elementary.
The tablets are used in conjunction with the Promethean boards or individually as a learning tool.
Other expenditures in the district include:
—Patterson High: handicap lift at football stadium, $38,000; renovate stadium restroom for wheelchair accessibility, $30,000; and continue concrete and cover for a student commons area for lunch break, $40,000.
—Hattie Watts: purchase property at 1312 Third St., across the street at the end of the block from the school, to be used as a parking lot, $20,000; cement the new parking lot, $102,000; replace five air handlers, $30,000.
—Patterson Junior High: purchase property at 1125 First St., for future use, $127,500; demolish the dentist office and home on that property, $38,000.
—Bayou Vista Elementary: repair asphalt parking lot, $8,000; dirt to fill holes on the playground, $6,000; library upgrades, $6,000.
—Berwick Junior High: repair half of the brick columns in the bus drive, $15,000; replace intercom system, $20,000, added to the $15,000 set aside for the work in previous years so the job can be completed this year; seal or replace the window wall in the cafeteria, $45,000.
—Berwick Elementary: install heaters in restrooms in two-story building, $15,000; seal downstairs windows and change thermostats, $8,000; dirt to fill in playground holes, $6,000.
—Berwick High: new parking area in front of tennis courts, $63,000; install six outdoor industrial fans under canopy, $7,500; replace handicap ramp at stadium with a lift, $29,000; replace air conditioning system in boys’ locker room, $12,000.