AUBURN — Remote instruction got a boost this week when the School Committee approved the purchase of interactive distance-learning technology.
The audiovisual equipment to be installed in 300 classrooms will cost a total of about $1.5 million and will be paid for with coronavirus relief bill money.
Another $500,000 will pay for 1,100 iPads so each elementary school pupil will have one. The ratio now is one iPad for every two students.
The district has received $2.9 million for expenses created by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
“(The use) of the money is highly regulated,” Superintendent Connie Brown told the committee Tuesday night.
It cannot be used as revenue or to offset budgeted expenses and it must be used by Dec. 31, she said.
She asked the committee to approve the Pro AV Systems technology “in case we need to go full remote again.”
Schools closed in mid-March to help limit the spread of COVID-19, which has killed five people in Androscoggin County.
The Pro AV Systems technology includes cameras in each classroom and a powerful microphone that can be embedded in the ceiling.
Remote students can use a videoconferencing platform to participate in the class and to see and hear the teacher and any students attending in person in the classroom.
Classes can be recorded and watched later if remote students cannot attend live.
“This could be a real game-changer,” Brown said Wednesday, “not only during the pandemic but think of the possibilities it could bring to children who may have anxiety or an illness. They’ll be able to remote into class.”
Brown said she was looking into questions from the committee about protecting the privacy of students and staff.
“It would be the same as kids on a Zoom call (this past spring),” she said. “They would be the only people in that space.”
But “I want to honor these questions,” she said, adding that she had talked to a lawyer and would consult the Maine School Management Association.
The committee also approved spending up to $145,000 in COVID relief funds to buy and install a two-room portable building at East Auburn Elementary School.
This will cost about the same as renovating the basement to add a classroom, Business Manager Adam Hanson said, adding that the portable will add two classrooms.
More space will be needed for social distancing if schools open in the fall.
Brown said Tuesday night that if all students return full time in the fall, more space and more staff will be needed, “even if we put a dozen portables at schools.”
The re-entry draft plan includes a hybrid of in-class and remote instruction.
Committee member Pam Hart said she heard from a lot of teachers who are “leery” about going back to classrooms.
“They aren’t very comfortable with what’s being presented,” Hart said.
Committee Vice Chairman David Simpson said he had received “a ton” of texts, calls and emails from people who don’t like the plan for a different reason.
“Across the board, they want to go back to school full time,” he said.
The re-entry plan is expected to be complete in August.
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