Electronics Approved for High School Classroom Use

Paulding County high school students can now use cell phones and tablets in class to enhance lessons.

The Board of Education on Tuesday approved changes to the board's policy on the use of electronic devices that now state that students may use electronic devices at the direction of the instructor. The use of electronics outside of instructional time is only allowed by students in grades nine through 12.

"[Students] can pull up research [with the devices]," Superintendent Cliff Cole said. "Sometimes a teacher might tell them to go to a specific website."

How to monitor use of electronic devices, though, is something that school system officials have been discussing, Cole said.

"The teacher will have to be aware and be observant of what the students are doing," he said.

Currently, Paulding County High School is the only high school with wifi throughout its building. The county's other high schools have hotspots.

"If you have a student who has AT&T service, they do have the capability to use their phones," Cole said.

The board also discussed a proposal by board member Nick Chester to create an Efficiency Review Committee comprised of the board members to look at ways the school system can be more efficient and save either money or employee time.

"What we hope to do is concentrate on the areas of the budget where we spend the most money," Chester said. "I believe there are going to be some areas where we'll find we do things extremely well. This isn't an open-ended kind of mission. It's area-specific."

The board has six areas to discuss—Business Support Services, School Administration, Media Staff Services, Student Transportation, Maintenance and Operations and Instructional Staff Services—and will look at two every other month beginning in December.

In other business, the board:

• Heard a presentation from Lorri Graham and Bonnie Bowen on what the school system does to teach bus safety;
• Approved field trip requests;
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Board of Commissioners, Industrial Building Authority and Airport Authority regarding the payment of property taxes;
• Approved a renewal of a contract with West Georgia Fire Extinguishers for fire extinguisher and kitchen hood services;
• Approved a renewal of a contract with Hamby's Commercial Waste for septic and grease trap pumping services;
• Approved a contract with EMC Security for system-wide security monitoring services;
• Approved a contract with Unifirst for uniform services;
• Approved a contract with Mauldin Cook Fence Co. for fencing services;
• Approved a contract with SouthEast Link for custodial supplies and services;
• Approved personnel recommendations;
• And approved two tribunal reports.