The Examiner U-46 News FeedDist. U-46 Board approves purchase of more cameras By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 unanimously approved, 1,500 conference cameras at a cost of $324,525 at a special board meeting on Monday, Dec. 7 which was held electronically due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The proposal was presented and approved that same evening. The purchase is from Insight Direct, and it will be paid through the education fund.
“This technology will give the teachers the ability to teach the students who are both in the classroom and attending classes remotely,” the proposal states. “This set-up provides optimal opportunity for teachers to record instruction to share with students, or model instruction for students. Modeling may have been impeded previously due to limitations of laptop computers.”
The board did approve of a purchase of 500 of the same cameras in August, but the proposal states this purchase will be used for third grade through high school classes while the first purchase was for pre-kindergarten through second grade. That August purchase cost was $220,190 including 500 conference cameras, 500 document cameras and additional equipment.
Board member Melissa Owens asked what these cameras will be used for as the district’s regularly changing distance learning and hybrid model plans don’t include as much synchronous teaching now.
“At the time that we put this together, we were expecting we might have more concurrent instruction occurring,” said Superintendent Tony Sanders. He said the approval that evening was a not to exceed amount, and the district may purchase fewer cameras.
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