Pocahontas Schools’ IT Coordinator Updates BOE

At the July 23^rd Pocahontas County Board of Education (BOE) meeting, Kristi Hamons, the schools’ Information Technology (IT) Coordinator provided the members with an amazing update of the new technology available for the new school year.

Hamons said the IT Department, which is made up of 1 director and 3 technicians, manages 1,575 computers in the school system, of which 893 are assigned to students. She said they have added three new computer labs – one each at Hillsboro Elementary School, Marlinton Elementary School, and Marlinton Middle School. They have also replaced 17 network switches.

Hamons also described some of the new IT projects being implemented this year.

One of the new applications installed on student and teacher devices is the Clever App, which enables the teacher to monitor exactly what each student is doing on their computers during class. If, for example, a student diverts from the lesson to play a game, the teacher will immediately see this and can send that student a discrete message telling him to get out of the game and back to the class material, and can do this without disrupting the entire class. Or, the teacher can shut down the game on the student’s computer. The Clever program can also enable a teacher to register all the students in the class for an educational app, instead of having to do this individually.

Another project is installing the Defender ATP program, which will monitor all school computers for any suspicious activity being performed on them.

They are also offering an opportunity for parents to purchase insurance of the devices issued to their students. This insurance costs $34.00 per student but will cover any damage or even loss of a school device, which the parents would otherwise be responsible for.

Another new project is switching from the Live Grades grading system to the WVAS Grading system, which involves some programing.

Hamons said they are also creating a new inventory system for IT items.

She also talked about the third annual Technology Boot Camp, which is an 8-hour staff technology education session which focuses on integrating technology solutions in the classroom.  This year they concentrated on:

• Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) programing to transform classroom planning and give teachers more classroom time.
• The use of the new digital white boards in the classroom.

Hamons also said they ar emphasizing digital community involvement with the schools by utilizing social media as communication, and by streamlining the schools’ website, which has new amazing information, displays, surveys, contests, feedback and suggestion tools for the public.

Hamons also talked about the new Digital Signage monitors being placed around PCHS. These mounted monitors will be in place and operating when school opens, and will display current information which is important for students and staff; things like upcoming testing dates, reminders, sporting events, and breakfast and lunch menus. She said these will still display their information even if the network goes down.

Tracy Valach also made a presentation for the members about the Adventure Pocahontas Program, which is beginning its 4^th year this fall. She said the very first group will be in 5^th grade this year, she said the theme this year will be “Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.”  The program has received donations valued at $250,000 from Snowshoe Mountain Resort, so she will not be asking for financial support from the BOE this year.

Be sure to keep listening to Allegheny Mountain Radio for the second part of this meeting story where we will cover the actions taken be the board during the meeting.