Ben Hill County School District and VARtek Services have built a strong partnership during the last two years–improving the district’s technology infrastructure, expanding access to devices, and providing valuable professional development to teachers and staff.
The latest win for the team is a $134,000 Connections for Classrooms technology grant from the state of Georgia. VARtek staff worked closely with district administrators and faculty over several months to plan and write the grant application—a complex process that demanded a solid understanding of the school’s technology environment and its needs.
It was truly a group effort, says VARtek’s Ben Hill Technology Director, Matt Smith.
“The span of the application required a broad number of perspectives. Having the technology coaches on our end as well as the academic coaches from the school working together was one of the biggest reasons we were able to succeed.”
The application was so well-written, Mr. Smith says, that Ben Hill was one of only five districts (out of more than 100 applicants) to receive “tier three” funding, which will be enough to pay for installation of broadband Internet in every classroom once it’s matched with money from the federal E-rate program. These connections are vital for the district’s plan to build a 1:1 environment, in which every student has access to a computer throughout the school day.
Mr. Smith says the district was able to get this high level of funding because it had already made improvements, such as a firewall installation and wireless in some classrooms, the kinds of projects covered by the grant program’s lower funding tiers.
Ben Hill could start receiving grant payments as soon as January, Mr. Smith says, and the first project on the list will likely be adding additional network connectivity at the high school and middle school. The middle school has been taking the lead in the 1:1 initiative, recently piloting a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) day, when a few hundred students brought devices to use in class.