By DAVID CLOUSTON

Salina Journal

The single most labor-saving technology device to take root in schools in the last decade probably isn't the one you think of first.

"We somehow in our minds immediately think of computers," said Ken Kennedy, the Salina School District's director of operations.

But bar none, there's not a piece of equipment that has affected the way schools operate more than the cell phone, Kennedy said.

"Cell phones have been the biggest change factor in terms of building operations," Kennedy said. "But in the area of student instruction, the computer itself has been the biggest change factor with the use of technology."

Cell phone technology, computer software that helps route buses more efficiently or remotely controls the temperature in school buildings, e-mail and laptop computers for teachers and administrators -- the technology revolution is helping schools save money and improve the ways that students learn.

As an example, take the custodian in charge of building operations. Before cell phones became ubiquitous, if an emergency in a building arose and the building operator or principal was needed, a staff member -- sometimes more than one -- had to walk around the school trying to find the building operator or principal. Or a call would go out on the intercom, disrupting the whole school, Kennedy said.

The school district has hundreds of cell phones it provides to district personnel in key roles, he said. Some staffers choose to use their own rather than carrying two phones.

For the advantage gained, and in the quantity the district buys them, "they're very, very inexpensive," Kennedy said.

The district owns 135 cell phones. The net annual service plan cost is $16,017, which is the cost after the application of a quantity discount, he said. Kennedy said the cost of replacing a phone is generally 1 cent to $19.95 depending on the age and features of the unit being replaced.

"The phone itself is virtually free, and the service plan is very reasonable for the benefit derived," he said.

Two years ago, the district added a cell phone for each school building's custodial staff. When visitors use the building after school hours, the custodians give the visitors the cell number to call if they need some support for their activity.

"They can just call; the custodian comes and takes care of it, and then the custodian leaves and can go on about their business. I can't imagine the labor savings we've had in that," Kennedy said.

Another technology acquisition for the district has been special bus routing software. The Versatrans routing system was implemented about 1Ôªø1âÑ2 years ago, and it has improved efficiency by enabling administrators to see where portions of some bus routes were being duplicated.

Thus, the district was able to put more students onto fewer buses and shorten routes in some cases, Kennedy said.

The savings has been significant. In special education transportation, he said the district has saved close to $200,000 since fiscal 2010 through route restructuring. In the general transportation fund, the district has saved $222,000 the first year through the restructuring process.

"That savings continues on year after year after year," Kennedy said.

Bought and paid for

Salinans who remember their local history will recall that in 1998 voters approved a five-year, 0.25 percent sales tax for school technology. That included putting computers into most classrooms and wiring a high-speed data network connecting the district's buildings.

That sales tax ended in 2005, after generating about $11.5 million for the district.

Voters in 1998 also approved a $98.8 million school bond issue. That money was used to build Cottonwood Elementary School and Lakewood Middle School, plus more than 260,000 square feet of building additions around the district.

One item no longer in use by the district that was paid for by the sales tax is the Safari system. Safari delivered video content from a central location to televisions in classrooms. Today's emphasis is on laptop computers plus giant touch-sensitive displays called Promethean Boards that showcase and interact with video and other content from the Internet, and "clickers" that, for example, allow an entire class to take a multiple-choice test in real time.

In February 2008, the Salina School Board increased the capital improvement property tax from 4 mills to 6 mills, largely to be able to maintain and upgrade the district's technology programs. Half of that 2-mill increase was allocated to technology.

The district made a technology hardware purchasing plan in the $4.5 million range that's been carried out for the past four years, said Corbin Witt, the district's executive director of school improvement.

Still about teaching

"We try to continuously integrate the technology into the classroom for instruction," Witt said. "We don't want the technology to be an event. You don't want kids to say, 'Oh good, today we get to do technology stuff.'

"We want it to be continually used to support instruction. And so, I think that's how the smart boards and some of the technology we've been able to purchase have helped."

But budget cuts have already cut into the district's ability to maintain its technological edge. The Legislature has cut a long-standing program where it added money to districts' capital improvement funds. That's costing the Salina district about $500,000 a year and sharply reducing the effect of the district's capital improvement tax.

"That's a lot. And that really hurts because a lot of it was going to technology," Witt said.

In touch

Other schools in and around the area also have made technology a priority in recent years.

Southeast of Saline Elementary School is in its second year of using iPod touch handheld computers in the third-grade class team taught by teachers Juliana Pearson and Kent Jacobson. The school also has added an iPad tablet computer for use in the special education resource room by teachers Kristi Weiss and Kim Mooney, who work with students from various grade levels.

In third grade, the 45 students use the handheld devices for everything from math problems to spelling lists. Students use earbuds to listen to a recording of their teachers pronouncing words. The recording is created with iTalk Recorder, a free application.

The school also has added iPod nano MP3 players in its kindergarten classes. Kindergartners are "book buddies" with the third-grade students. One of the kindergarten teachers, Shannon Trimmel, selects picture books for all of the kindergartners that the third-graders read out loud and record. The kindergartners then can use their nanos as they look at a book and hear it being read to them.

Pearson said the third-graders also make PowerPoint slides of individual words that the kindergartners can view on their nano screens as flash cards.

Partnering with Apple

Apple Computer was looking for schools to partner with their new technologies and provided a discount to Southeast of Saline to buy the iPod touches. The purchase was funded with a grant from the Southeast of Saline Education Foundation.

The nano players were purchased through an online grant program that matches teachers with needs in their classrooms with donors nationwide, Pearson said.

Status: school work

At Sacred Heart High School in Salina, Principal John Krajicek has noticed more students using social networking sites, such as Facebook, to collaborate on their school work, which he says is a good thing.

The school has three hard-wired computer labs equipped with about 70 computers. It has wireless Internet available throughout the building, and each teacher and staff member has either a laptop or desktop computer, or both, for his or her use.

There also are interactive smart boards in about seven classrooms. Each year, the school spends between $15,000 and $20,000 on technology, mostly for upgraded software and equipment or device replacement, he said.

Teachers find that students are more engaged when they can incorporate technology into their lessons, Krajicek said. Because of that and because of significantly lower costs for portable devices, administrators are discussing equipping all students with laptops or tablet computers. Such a move could come within two to three years and would likely be implemented one to two classes at a time, he said.

"I think before we can do that, your teachers have to be comfortable integrating that in the classroom," he said. "And so I think staff development and support is absolutely crucial for a one-to-one initiative."

It's important not only from the standpoint of employing a curriculum that incorporates the technology efficiently, but also having teachers comfortable and familiar enough with operating the devices, he said.

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.