Technology

Our Technology Department accomplished many projects during the 2005-06 school year; several will be highlighted here.  The year started with some personnel changes.  The technology area saw two employee changes during the year and never skipped a beat keeping Western students, parents, and employees “up and running”.  We started the school year with the addition of Eric Woolworth as the Technology Integration Specialist at Parma Elementary.  Eric works with teachers on the integration of technology into their daily lesson plans in addition to running the school’s computer lab.  In November, Andy Owen was hired as the district’s Multimedia Support Technician.  Andy works out of the video studio and supports the district’s video studio, television system, and our I-3 classrooms. 

     We started the school year with a change of internet service providers.  Western is now partnered with the Jackson County Intermediate School District as the provider for internet services.  This change means that we now have a much larger pipeline to the internet.  Our available bandwidth jumped from 1.5Mbps to over 5Mbps.  This increase means that our students and teachers have the ability to get more done faster.  The change also means that we now have the capability to connect to Internet 2 (http://www.internet2.edu).

     The district was also able to send another thirty-five teaching staff members through the I-3 training (http://www.I3trainingservices.com) program.  This training focuses on using technology to enhance lesson plans and the integration of technology into the classroom.  Teachers who completed this training had multimedia projectors, smart boards, and software installed in their classrooms.

     In August 2005, the district replaced 250 old computers with new PC’s from Dell as part of our annual effort to maintain and upgrade our technology infrastructure.  We also added an additional twelve security cameras to the Dearing Road campus prior to the start of the school year.  The additions include a rooftop camera mounted on the Community Arts Center to help monitor the parking lot and entrances to the school.
 

Staff

     The highly qualified Western teaching staff consists of one hundred six female and forty-nine male teachers.  Thirty-six have a BA, thirty-nine have a BA plus 1/2 MA, sixty-six have MA’s, and fourteen have a double Masters’ degree or a Specialist degree.  No teachers have “temporary” certificates and forty have provisional certificates.  There are forty-six other instructional support staff including secretaries, clerks, and paraprofessionals

The Western Outlook

     For the past several years the Western Outlook, a monthly newsletter for the staff of the Western School District, has provided opportunities to share curricular and extracurricular activities within the district.  It also recognizes those staff members who have done exciting and extraordinary things in their classrooms and in the lives of their students.  The newsletter also focuses on current information, events, and news items to help all staff members become better leaders in the lives of all students.
 

Parent and Community Participation

Parents and community members play a critical role in the success of the Western School District.  Without their support many of the program components and extra activities which make Western a desirable, sought after district in which to live, would not be possible.  Many opportunities are available to parents and community members including Parent Teacher Associations at the elementary and middle school buildings, Athletic Booster Clubs, Academic Booster Clubs, and Performing Arts Booster Clubs at the secondary buildings. 

A strong commitment to the total school community has always been in the forefront of all decisions made by the Western Board of Education, administrators, teachers, and support staff.  This commitment will continue to guide and direct the planning and implementation of courses, activities, and services to the families and children of the Western School District.