By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The school system’s technology infrastructure and equipment are aging and need to be replaced, Educational Technology Department Head Rochelle Cooper said during a recent School Committee meeting.
Superintendent Tom Geary is requesting a $650,000 capital budget for fiscal year 2026 to address the district’s aging technology infrastructure as well as to purchase devices. The School Department is looking to purchase 87 Wi-Fi access points for the elementary schools; 90 teacher laptops; 40 flat panels; Chromebooks for grades 1, 5 and 9; and firewall, mounts and switches. Lynnfield Middle School’s PA system also has to be replaced.
As part of the Technology Department’s “rebuild” this year, Cooper said the tech team has been working to address the 2024 audit results that Focus Technology identified last year. She recalled that the School Department renewed a one-year contract with NorthEast Technology to serve as the district’s managed technology service provider last fall.
“They are familiar with our infrastructure,” said Cooper about NorthEast Technology. “It also allowed them to look at that audit and help us address what we need to.”
Cooper recalled that the School Department received a $125,000 for technology expenses in the town’s FY25 capital budget, which was less than the $250,000 the district has traditionally received.
“Our limited budget has really stretched our resources this year,” said Cooper. “Our laptop and infrastructure needs are pressing at this point.”
Cooper said the devices that the School Department purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic are “now reaching end of life.”
“They need to be replaced,” said Cooper.
Cooper said the number of devices and software programs used by students and staff have increased since the pandemic, which she said put more “demands on our infrastructure.” She said the Technology Department’s infrastructure and budget has “stayed the same” during that time.
“We need to have a proactive rather than reactive approach to technology purchases,” said Cooper. “In my opinion, we need to move away from the use it until it breaks philosophy, which is what we are kind of doing now.”
Cooper said the School Department’s proposed FY26 capital budget seeks to replace all aging Smart Boards with MX Smart Interactive Panels to make sure teaching and learning is equitable.
“We have two scenarios going on in the district right now,” said Cooper. “We have about 93 classrooms with the MX Smart Interactive Panels. They are seven-years-old or newer. The other scenario is the Smart Board. We have 55 classrooms remaining in the district with this setup, and some are 10 to 15-years-old. Many have lost touch capability, and projectors are dim and hard to see. Teachers have to click the lights off to get true visibility.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman noted that MX Smart Interactive Panels are expensive. He asked what the cost is to purchase the panels and have them installed.
Cooper said the cost to purchase and install each panel ranges between $3,500 and $4,000.
Hayman asked if the MX Smart Interactive Panels could be purchased over a two-year period, and whether that would have a “very minimal impact” on students’ education.
“The issue with that were if we were to split it in half, we would still have about 25 classrooms with Smart Boards,” said Cooper. “We could stagger them and prioritize certain ones, but it is another year, so the newer ones could be on their way out as well.”
Cooper said the Technology Department’s teacher laptop situation is “currently dire” and a large number of laptops have to be replaced. She said the tech team has been working to repair the laptops as required.
“We are not just putting the device aside and saying its dead,” said Cooper. “We are really trying to fix them as best we can.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy asked Cooper what the Technology Department’s plan was before the audit and whether the department was “just flying by the seat of our pants.”
“I think COVID threw everyone for a loop,” said Cooper. “I started in tech in 2020. To say there wasn’t a plan wouldn’t be true. There is always a plan, but whether or not the plan could be executed because of money was always the issue. COVID happened, and we needed a lot of money to buy a lot of things. We are now at the end of that, and it’s a situation.”
Cooper recalled that the district has a one-to-one Chromebook initiative in grades 1-12.
“That means that while in school, every student has a device available to them all day long,” said Cooper. “We are currently a one-to-one district, but we need a solid plan in place to continue with this program. My recommendation for a refresh program is purchasing devices for grades 1, 5 and 9. When the first-grader arrives at school, the device is assigned directly to the student and that device follows that student throughout their elementary career. The device doesn’t go home with the student, and stays on the classroom cart. Then, in fifth grade, a student receives a new Chromebook and it follows them all the way to ninth grade, and so on.”
Cooper said the elementary schools currently have Chromebook carts in classrooms for grades 1-4. She said students are currently assigned a number, and use the Chromebook that has that number. Cooper recently asked 33 elementary school teachers if they “feel that it is necessary to have a one-to-one Chromebook program.” Twenty-nine teachers responded to the question.
“One hundred percent of those teachers said yes,” said Cooper.
Cooper said Chromebooks allow students in grades 1-12 to access textbooks and curricula online. She also said students use Chromebooks for common assessments as well as the MCAS exam, Advanced Placement exams, SAT and PSAT.
Hayman said the district “stumbled” into a grades 1-12 one-to-one Chromebook initiative during the pandemic after a number of devices were purchased with COVID relief funds from the federal government.
“We never had a conversation as educators and as a committee about funding every kid in this district with their own Chromebook,” said Hayman. “Middle and high school, I get it. Third and fourth grade, especially with MCAS, I get it. I don’t know if I am totally bought in on we need to have an individual Chromebook for every first and second-grader.”
Assistant Superintendent Adam Federico said first-graders and second-graders need Chromebooks.
“We feel that they are needed, but we are open to working around our resources as well,” said Federico.
Hayman said the Chromebook initiative at the elementary schools has been “thoughtfully done.”
“I don’t want to take away from that,” said Hayman. “I guess the ultimate question is if we didn’t have a one-to-one and if we had fewer but still access, would kids’ education in that grade suffer at all?”
Federico and Cooper both said yes.
“I feel confidently saying yes that it wouldn’t be the experience we believe in,” said Federico.
Cooper agreed.
“We have data from actual teachers who are using these devices and who want to use these devices,” said Cooper.
School Committee member Jim Dillon said it’s a “fair question” to ask whether first and second grade students should have their own Chromebook. However, he said the 100 percent of elementary school teachers who responded to Cooper’s question believe that a one-to-one Chromebook program is needed.
“They are probably in the best position to know the impact of this on teaching and learning,” said Dillon.
School Committee member Kate DePrizio concurred with Dillon’s viewpoint.
“Our choice now is to do less than what we have been doing,” said DePrizio. “The assumption is our older learners need it more and use it more, but the more I am finding as a parent is our youngest learners are using these in a really meaningful way.”
Elworthy asked Cooper if she had cost estimates for purchasing Chromebook carts that could be shared by different classrooms.
“It would be helpful for us on the budget side to understand what is that cost savings,” said Elworthy.
Cooper said she would provide that information to the School Committee.
In addition to Lynnfield High School issuing Chromebooks to freshmen, Cooper noted that LHS allows students to bring their own device.
While Elworthy said there would be “pitfalls” for implementing a school-wide “bring your own device” (BYOD) program at LHS, she asked Cooper if “that is something you would consider moving to.”
Cooper said between 25 and 30 percent of high school students, who are typically upperclassmen, bring their own device to LHS.
“The issue with BYOD, while it is a huge cost savings, is it is kind of a hornet’s nest,” said Cooper. “You will have hundreds of strange devices on your network, so that poses a huge security risk. If students bring in devices that have an issue, we can’t help because there is a liability issue with that. You all worked really hard on a beautiful cellphone policy over the summer, and what you would be doing is essentially giving a student a cellphone. They can chat with their friends all day and we have little control over that. There are a ton of issues with it.”
Cooper also said the Technology Department needs two new firewalls, access points and switches.
School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan asked Cooper how the Technology Department can strike a “balance” between making technology advancements with the cost of purchasing devices and making sure everything is “still equitable.”
“It’s difficult,” said Cooper. “We are trying to keep up, but we also want to be moving ahead and be really innovative. I think we can be. We just need to put a plan in place.”
Hayman recalled that LHS switched from a one-to-one iPad initiative to a one-to-one Chromebook initiative a decade ago because it was “cost prohibitive and educationally prohibitive.”
“You find better solutions,” said Hayman. “You have to be willing to take some risks and if it doesn’t work, say it doesn’t work.”
Cooper invited the School Committee to join her through a walkthrough to see how technology is being used in the schools.
Speaking as a parent, Library Trustee Darlene Kumar said both of her children did not have access to the one-to-one Chromebook initiative when they were in elementary school.
“There isn’t enough data post-COVID showing the benefits of a one-to-one at such a young age,” said Kumar. “The American Pediatrics Society is not so much focused on time limits, but what type of screen quality is being used. You can embrace technology, but it doesn’t have to be at a one-to-one ratio if it doesn’t fit our budget.”