School Board Approves Technology Lab For Ferris

Ferris and Rogers High School students will soon be flying planes and toying with artificial intelligence, thanks to new computers that will be installed this year.

At its Sept. 24 meeting, the district school board approved curriculum for technology labs that will give students hands-on experience in a variety of job fields.

Money for the two $125,000 labs was earmarked in last year’s budget, but final curriculum approval was necessary before the labs could be installed.

Designed to give students exposure to high-tech career options, the labs will provide “some pretty fascinating applications,” said Walt Rulffes, Spokane School District 81 associate superintendent for management services.

Twenty modules will provide background information and simulated experiences in a variety of technologies. One module, for example, will allow students to study the components of an airplane, then simulate flight using the module’s flight controls.

Another shows what it takes to predict weather using satellite information. The module would provide weather maps and forecasts for students to interpret.

The program builds on introductory-level modules already in place in the district’s middle schools. The high school modules will provide more extensive information in subjects ranging from auto mechanics to computer graphic design.

At their meeting, board members had both praise and concern about the lab curriculum.

Board member Christie Querna said that while the labs may seem expensive, they served as “both sort of a carrot and a stick.” The programs, she said, will teach students skills in such subjects as math and computers in addition to showing them why they’ll need these skills to get a job in the future.

But board president Nancy Fike, who was the only member to vote against the curriculum, said she was concerned students would use the lab without the basic math and technological knowledge necessary to make the modules useful.

While the labs eventually will be installed in all District 81 high schools, Ferris and Rogers are first for a simple reason: They have the space.

The Rogers lab will be installed in an unused metal shop. Ferris is converting a classroom to make it compatible for the program.

Some details, such as who will teach the classes and which students will have access to the modules, are still being ironed out, Rulffes said.

“It’s our aspiration to put the labs into all the high schools,” he said.

“We don’t have the funding just yet. That’s why we’re doing just a couple at a time.”

, DataTimes