Jair Chavez, Muskan Sehjal and Jimmy Van Bramer
Sept. 28, 2015 Staff Report
Several classrooms at IS 125 were equipped with Smart Boards this summer, stemming from council funding allocated by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
The school, located at 46-02 47th Avenue, received 22 Smart Boards—costing about $6,500 a piece—that provide students with the ability to maneuver words by touch—much like scrolling with a mouse.
“While it sounds expensive, the truth is it is an investment in our children’s future,” Van Bramer said.
IS 125 is the first school in Van Bramer’s district to receive smart boards. Smart Boards or laptops will be coming to other schools in the district shortly, although the details were not available at press time.
“Since we have Smart Boards, everyone wants to get up and start moving stuff around,” said Muskan Sehjal, a student at IS 125, who was providing a demonstration of a Smart Board at her school on Friday.
Van Bramer said that he has allocated $1.3 million toward schools in the district this year and about $6 million in the nearly six years he has been in office.
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20 Comments
Can someone please tell me what’s going on with IS 125 & all that construction?
How about giving some money to p.s. 343 which has been devoid of any money at all for two straight years. The principal and board of directors opened a school that receives no federal or state funding???How is that even possible in the 21st century??
Oh wait, I forgot. Instead of funding money or after school programs they instead decided to open another pre-k facility. #taxincentives
Why so much money? At Best Buy you can buy a decent laptop for under $1,000. I can’t believe the Board of Ed could not get a better deal. Adrian agrees with me.
Kickbacks perhaps.
They’re still ending up at a community college
This is a HUGE benefit to both teachers and students.
Not to mention the companies that sell these machines.
I wonder how many of these kids could do a simple algebra equation with a pencil and paper or write a coherent, grammatically-correct, traditional letter with a pen and paper.
If for any reason society went unplugged for any amount of time, these kids would be lost.
A friend of mine is a teacher and she says it is invaluable.
@Block 50 Yes a number of my friends who teach say the very same thing. I have friends and relatives who teach public, private elementary school, high school and college level and they all agree.
And yet so many brilliant people in history somehow managed to receive an education via such humble tools as chalkboards and books, if that much. See Abraham Lincoln.
Let’s hope these new devices don’t do to math skills what texting has done to spelling and grammatical skills.
“spelling and grammar skills.”
Too much reliance on electronic devices. These kids are going to be utterly lost without some computerized gadget prompting them every step of the way.
There was nothing wrong with blackboards and chalk.
It’s a way of keeping up with the times. When they head out into the real world for a job, they’ll be expected to be tech savvy.
One can be tech savvy without being a slave to technology. You know, using one’s own brain occasionally.
tech savvy is one thing being clueless without it is unacceptable. that’s where us old people come in we know how to add subtract and write legibly so people can read it…
today’s kids cant fix anything wont even try…and that’s sad.
When I was a kid, we had to do our own bowling scores. So, even at play, we were practicing our math skills and keeping the brain well exercised. How many of these kids could keep score without the computerized score keeper?
There is some merit to your point. About 3 years ago I was in Met Food on 43rd ave. and the main computer went down rendering all of the cash registers useless. The kids lacked the confidence to add up even the smallest orders of just 3 and 4 items on paper or in their heads. I had only 1 six of beer and the kid lacked the confidence to calculate the tax. Needless to say I left the money with a few cents over just to avoid the ensuing riot. Do you remember when they tallied the order on the outside of the paper bag? “The times they are a changin”..
critical thinking? whats that? hasnt been taught in nyc PUBLIC schools in ages!
i dont know what everyone else is thinking, but the board is for the teacher, not the students. its just another tool. the students still have to take notes and write it down on paper.