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East Grand School District board supports seeking technology mill levy

Reid Tulley
rtulley@skyhidailynews.com
East Grand Middle School eighth grade teacher Abby Loberg, second from right, works with students in the school's computer lab in 2009. Byron Hetzler/Sky-Hi News file photo
Byron Hetzler | Sky-Hi Daily News

GRANBY — The East Grand School District Board of Education is on track to pose a mill-levy ballot question in the November election.

The mill levy would support technology maintenance and upgrades for the schools in the district.

With recent pledged support of the board, the next step is to visit individual schools to solidify needs and budgets to develop what amount the mill levy would be, according to East Grand School Board member Chip Besse, who is heading up a committee charged with studying the issue.



“We are going to spend the next month working with the administration and teachers and make sure our estimates are accurate and then come back to the board with the numbers,” Besse said.

The district has already been working meticulously on the school-by-school budget and has completed the hearing for the budget’s second draft.



The mill levy, if approved by voters, would most-likely be used to fix technology the district already has, with the remainder of the tech budget for updates, according to Besse. Specific updates are still undetermined as is the amount of the mill levy.

One option the district could pursue is the implementation of tablets in the schools. The district has been following the use of tablets in other school districts in the state and has seen success in their use.

Currently, the district has about one computer to every two children in the district. Purchasing tablets would allow the district to increase that ratio to one computer for every child in a more cost effective manner than purchasing desktop or laptop computers.

“Technology is changing the classroom ultimately, and we can choose to embrace that or not, and as a board I think we have chosen to embrace that notion,” Besse said.

“We want to make this a place where people come here because of the education and are proud of the education we provide,” Besse said. “We want to be on the front of new things, not trailing behind.”

Reid Tulley can be reached at 970-887-3334


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