Hayden School Targets Technology

Hayden Meadows Elementary second-grader Josey Damron uses an iPad in class Tuesday. Students, parents and teachers are embarking on a new curriculum emphasis: technology. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

Some North Idaho fifth-graders sat in their school library earlier this week and chatted with students across town on a brand-new video-conferencing system. Before long they may use the high-end equipment to embark on virtual tours of distant museums, drop in on classrooms around the world or watch a team of surgeons at work. “It’s very exciting. This opens up so much for us,” said Lisa Pica, the principal at Hayden Meadows Elementary School. Down the hall, second-graders sat quietly on their classroom floor, absorbed in interactive math programs on new iPads. They handled the tablets with the skill of a teenager. These are the first steps Hayden Meadows is taking toward an embrace of technology as a central focus of the school, like science and art are emphasized at other schools in the Coeur d’Alene district/Scott Maben, SR. More here.

Question: Isn’t this what controversial Supt. Tom Luna was pushing with Students Come First?