Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • March 5, 2014 FLOW Area District sets support for laptop initiative teachers by Frank J. McMahon The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School Dis- trict is providing professional development support for the district’s teachers as they begin the new 1:1 Laptop Initia- tive program. The school district approved the lease of 2,500 Mac- Book Air 13 inch laptop computers and 180 iPads with related equipment for use by all the students in the district both in school and at home. The agreement includes on-site support and services by Apple, Inc. to set up and image each computer for the district and to build/create disk images for the laptops and transfer them into the district’s inventory management system. At the last school board meeting, Director of Curricu- lum Beverly Mackay provided a presentation about the professional development the district is providing to the professional staff for the 1:1 initiative. She described the 136 classes that have been offered to teachers during the 2013-13 school year, such as Google apps and tools, how to create and use online tools in the classroom, iCloud and online storage, new Web tools for the classroom, and how to create a teaching video. “Our teachers are ready,” Mackay emphasized, describ- ing additional courses offered to the teachers, such as digi- tal citizenship and creating Web pages using Google sites. Mackay pointed out that 70 teachers received Apple training during the summer of 2013, 90 teachers attended the course on creating a digital presence, and 118 teachers attended the class about digital strategies for the 1:1 pro- gram. Since September 2013, she said 150 teachers have taken over 1,000 hours of professional development. In addition, 52 staff members visited the Pascack Hills/Pascack Valley Regional School District, which has been using laptops in the classroom for the past 11 years. Mackay said she plans to build in high quality half-day professional development training into the school calendar because both the teachers and the students benefit from it. “The point is that teachers know and realize the impor- tance of being a 21st century teacher and they are stepping up to the plate,” she added. Representatives of the school district, including admin- istrators, teachers, parents, and school trustees, had researched the use of technology in the district for about two years before the board decided to move forward with the laptop program. Initially, several members of the public voiced concern about the potential expenditure of taxpayer money for the laptop computer program and the Ramapo Indian Hills Education Association, which represents the (continued on page 23)