Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
In other matters at the February 18 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting, the board was given updates from technology coordinator Kristi Hamons and secondary education director Kristy Tritapoe.
First, Hamons explained that it is the time of year for funding allocations toward technology and she had recently received several funds. The first was eRate funding which has restrictions on its usage.
Hamons said 90 percent of the eRate funding is used for internet throughout the county at all the school facilities.
“We get a huge amount of money from that, but there are a ton of restrictions on what we can spend it on and the sort of paperwork that we have to keep,” she said.
Some of the funding will go toward more switches for the internet infrastructure at Pocahontas County High School to help that system run better.
The next funding source, Tools for Schools, is more flexible about what the funding can go toward and Hamons said part of it will go to switches at Hillsboro Elementary School and Marlinton Elementary School.
It will also be used to replace laptops and devices, although it will not cover all devices that need to be replaced.
“We don’t have money to replace the student devices on the schedule that we need to replace them all, so we’re going to have to rely on grant money,” Hamons said. “That’s something we’re always going to have to chase after to get the most efficient technology in our kids’ hands.”
To do that, Hamons said she is working with treasurer Sherry Radcliff on writing a grant to the USDA, which awarded a grant that bought the initial devices for the students five years ago.
Tritapoe gave updates on several areas including preschool, special education and professional development programs.
In preschool news, Tritapoe said she spoke to Samatha McClure with MountainHeart about a program they offer called TRAILS – Traveling Resource and Information Library Service.
The program offers free materials for the preschool curriculum that schools can use during the school year.
“They have a van stocked full of resource materials and the teacher can get online and request materials,” Tritapoe said. “The teacher gets to keep them for four to six weeks and will receive an email reminder when it’s nearing time for them to be picked up. Participation in this program is totally free.
“They have story boxes; they have activities; they have games and puzzles,” she continued. “They have all kinds of things that we can borrow for free. We’re hoping our teachers will take advantage of that.”
Tritapoe also shared information about the LETRS – Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling – Training. She said it’s a very expensive program and the state education department has offered to pay for county teachers and administrators to take the training.
