SPOTLIGHT ON… Roxbury
TownshipPublic Schools
SPOTLIGHT ON… Roxbury
Township
Public Schools
by Lily Chang, District Supervisor of Technology
The mission of the Roxbury School District is to provide a
fundamental base of knowledge and educational challenge for all students; strive
for individual excellence by promoting high expectations within the community
consistent with financial resources. Provide a supportive environment to
encourage the achievement of excellence and success in all aspects of student
life; develop an appreciation of diverse values and ethics necessary for
productive, independent adults to function within a multi-cultural world. Roxbury
School District is comprised of five elementary schools, one middle school
and one high school with over five thousand computer users.
Last
month the district’s Computer Services Department (CSD) relocated to
the new BOE Administrative Office with the opportunity to have a staff
development library and computer lab dedicated solely to training faculty and
staff members. The CSD is pilot testing a wireless computer staff
development lab set up with a combination of Dell
desktops and laptops. A Prep
Grant worth $750.00 was received from the Smarter Kids Foundation http://www.smarterkids.org/k12/prep/iStep1.asp
was used to purchase a Smart Board unit. The department’s
supporting goal is to infuse technology as a tool within the New Jersey Core
Curriculum Content Standards in a stable LAN & WAN environment with ATM
broadband T3/T1 high-speed Internet connections.
One of the department’s major accomplishments this past spring was the
conversion of a plain old telephone system (POTS) to a Cisco Voice
over IP telephone systems at the BOE Administrative Office and at
one elementary school. As the
district continues to strive towards uniformity, compliance and standardization
in the ever expanding technology infrastructure providing accessibility via a Citrix
server with adopted unified software of CSI Smarts for our students’
K-12 report card, scheduling & tracking system, System 3000 for our
purchase orders, personnel and payroll, Project Special for Special
Services IEP software applications.
The district continuously applied for the SLD E-Rate
Telecommunications Funds.
The district has
made a commitment to enhance technology as an instructional tool across the
curriculum. The Roxbury School District’s
membership to NJECC has made it possible to maximize funds to purchase
academic discount pricing of standardized software such as Scholastic Keys
(elementary interface to Microsoft Professional Office), Kidspiration,
Inspiration, Photoshop Elements and subscription to United
Learning (video on demand).
Technology staff
development is one of the vital focal points of the Roxbury School District.
The Supervisor of Technology is working as part of a team with
district Curriculum Supervisors. The
goal of this team is to develop unit lesson plans that integrate technology
tools within the teaching process. For instance, one of the district’s fifth
grade computer teachers, along with one of the district’s art teachers and
upper elementary guidance counselors developed an interdisciplinary unit project
on “Bullying”. The students
used technology to create a class multimedia presentation called, How to
Handle a BULLY. The Roxbury
School District is also a member of Morris County ETTC and a
satellite site for workshops such as Creating a Classroom Homepage with Scholastic
network, Kidspiration Karnival, Inspired by Inspiration and United
Streaming Video.
Thanks
to the voters of Roxbury, who approved the construction referendum back
in Fall 2002, the development of the district’s sub-website http://www.roxbury.org/buildingproject/
allows the district to communicate to the community on the status of the Building
Project renovations and additions at our seven school buildings.
Community members are able to view photo
journals tracking the project details, the progress timeline of construction at
each school site, as well as Principals’ Communications regarding
safety rules and information that is pertinent to the building project.
The
S.H.A.R.E. sub-website http://www.roxbury.org/share/
is a valuable communication avenue; a newsletter that is intended to create a
bridge between the elementary schools in the Roxbury School District and
the families of our students as well as a global resource sharing. There is a
plethora of resourceful hyperlinks and opportunities for family
involvement activities that provide instructional materials, vocabulary,
activities, practice/homework, and games for family members to do together.
In September 2004, the district launched a project Operations < Paper with the creation of a new district sub-website District Forms http://www.roxbury.org/forms/. The school bus routing schedule is also posted on the district information webpage with an indexing searchable feature. All these project initiatives affirm the district goal of utilizing technology to better enable parents/guardians, faculty, staff, administration and the global community to access on-line unified district resources and simultaneously streamlining the operations process electronically. All these projects have reaffirmed the Roxbury School District’s commitment to enhance the educational program that is provided in the Roxbury community.