Windham School officials: Computers are students’ best bet for future

Salem Editor — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:13:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Concerns raised by some residents have education officials defending a proposal to put laptops in the hands of students in Windham’s new high school.

Longtime resident Tom Case said he worried that students would be unable to properly care for the equipment, though he is not fully opposed to the plan.

“Kids can break things; they lose their iPods, they lose their phones. My main reservation is them carrying (the laptops) back and forth every day,” Case said. “At the end of the school year, there is probably a hundred pounds of clothes that kids have forgotten.”

According to Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Wilson, the research administrators have looked at indicates that students will most likely develop a sense of ownership for the laptops, making them less inclined to damage the computers. Though the district is considering insuring the computers, Wilson said concerns over potential damage to the equipment was one of the reasons why officials had selected an Apple laptop for the program.

“They manufacture a laptop for student use that is very rigorous. It’s put through the paces and they tend not to have the damage or the breakage that you might find in some of the other laptops,” Wilson said. “(The students will) own these machines.

They are going to take care of the machines. (Damage) will occur, but we are still developing our policies and procedures on what we will do and how we’re going to take care of that.”

Case has also questioned the timing of the program. He believes the district should have waited until after the school’s faculty had been hired, but Wilson said that with the new high school ready to open, the time to implement the one-to-one computing is now.

“We’re building a new school, and this is the time to put any extra infrastructure in. One of the biggest reasons other schools don’t do it is because they can’t afford to retrofit their existing school,” Wilson said. “We also know that five or 10 years down the road, this will be commonplace in schools.”

If the program is put into place, Windham will be the first community in the state to replace traditional computer labs with individual laptops.

Officials estimate that the program will cost $642,157 in its first year – with the funding expected to come out of the high school’s building budget – roughly $180,000 less than starting with traditional computer labs and classroom workstations.

That number is lower due to the high school only being open to a freshman and sophomore class in its inaugural year.

Despite the early savings, the cost is expected to rise to $1,142,566 by the third year of the program – $229,703 a year more than the traditional model – as new computers are purchased for incoming classes.

Despite the concerns surrounding the program, Wilson said that the focus for administrators was not on giving students laptops, but on preparing them to use the computers as real-world tools for research, presentations and collaboration.

“It’s an instructional way of meeting the kids’ needs in a very meaningful way and using the tools that 21st-century kids are going to use. It’s not about the laptops, it’s about how we’re using them to teach the kids,” Wilson said. “It’s not necessarily about how they have to go home and use (the laptops) for homework, they’re using the laptops as a tool in the classroom.”

Passing the baton – Becht to succeed mentor in principal’s job

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 May 2007 17:35:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

A few days after Kori Becht began her new job as assistant principal at Windham Middle School two years ago, her boss, Steve Plocharczyk, gave her a tour of the building’s boiler room and showed her all the switches.

She remembered what he told her then: “You need to know it. You need to know everything about this school.”

Since then, Becht has learned a lot about what Plocharczyk does as principal and has worked closely with him in all areas of running the school.

It’s an education she will put to good use. On July 1, Becht will succeed Plocharczyk in the job.

Although much of the work of many middle school assistant principals focuses on student discipline, Becht’s experience has been much broader: learning about many responsibilities of managing the school.

“The way that Steve has mentored me has not been your typical middle school experience,” Becht said.

For example, they have worked closely on the school’s budget, an experience that allowed Becht to learn how to put a budget together. And they’ve shared other responsibilities.

“We’re really connected,” Becht said. “We touch base at least 10 times on a daily basis, kind of depending on what crops up, and we handle a lot of the operations of the school together.”

Her experience has been the same as that of two others who served as assistant principals.

“My philosophy was ... to teach them what I know about the entire job. Not to pigeon them into one area,” Plocharczyk said. “Because the reality is they almost always move on to become principals. My feeling is the better prepared they are to do all aspects of the job, the better the job they are going to do.”

Plocharczyk is retiring on June 29. He has served Windham for 34 years, and has been the middle school’s principal since 1986.
Retirement for Plocharczyk will mean less stress in his life and give him more time to do activities he enjoys: making furniture, playing golf, gardening, traveling and collecting stamps.

“I have mixed feelings about leaving,” he said. “Working in a district for 34 years, you build relationships with people. In many ways, they are your family away from home. When I walk out of here, the relationships will be different. I’ll have contact with them but not in the same way. It’s a dramatic change, but I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life.”

Becht, who is married and lives with her family in Auburn, said she’s excited about her new role and plans on continuing the initiatives the school is pursuing. But she also admits she’ll be sad to see Plocharczyk leave.

“I’ll miss Steve’s mentorship, working with Steve on a daily basis,” she said.

Plocharczyk acknowledges that there are some things he can’t teach Becht. There are things, he said, she will learn on the job as time goes on.

“When you’re in administration, you’re the boss, things come at you from nowhere that you don’t anticipate,” he said. “Much of it is situational. What you look for in an individual is someone who has good instincts, not a knee-jerk reaction. Kori has that.”

Becht graduated from Pinkerton Academy in 1995, and studied political science and education at Suffolk University.

Her association with WMS dates back prior to working there: She was a student at the school in the early 1990s.

Back then, she knew Plocharczyk as “Mr. P.”

And she was “little Kori Maroon,” Plocharczyk recalled with a smile.

After graduating from college, Becht came back to WMS. She spent five years teaching math, science and reading before being promoted to assistant principal in 2005.

Her teaching work included serving as head of the math department and working as the sixth-grade team leader. Her leadership earned her the respect of veteran teachers, Plocharczyk said.

“After teaching in the classroom for a few years – and I loved teaching – I really wanted to affect the whole school,” said Becht, who holds a master’s degree in education administration from Rivier College. “As a teacher, you certainly have influence over your 25 students. As an administrator, you look at the big picture and look at the school and affect a greater number of students.”

Windham News : education

Windham School officials: Computers are students’ best bet for future

Passing the baton – Becht to succeed mentor in principal’s job