While the renovated library has been open to students and staff for the past few months, the finishing touches have only recently been added. Three SMART Boards and a flat screen TV have been installed as part of the new library bond issue.

“All of the new libraries are getting the same features,” Librarian Nikki Ballard-Long said.

The SMART Boards are meant to provide three different “classroom” spaces for teachers, allowing for multiple classes in the library at a time.

The flat screen TV has mainly presentation purposes, according to Ballard-Long, showing announcements throughout the day or, for the past week, the Winter Olympics.

These new technologies have not yet been fully utilized by many teachers.

“They’re still too new,” Ballard-Long said. “The problem is that we don’t have computers hooked up to drive them, so you have to have a laptop.”

Many teachers who have used the SMART Boards, however, have found them helpful. Language arts teacher Dawn Indelicato-Faw used the SMART Board in the computer area to help her ALAR/P II students find websites useful for their research projects.

“It was nice because I could just stand there, point and click, and help them find the places they needed to go,” Indelicato-Faw said.

However, some see the new technology as unnecessary.

“I don’t think the TV was worth it,” freshman Rachel Cole said. Other students agreed the new technology had been a waste of money.

But, Ballard-Long explained the money for these additions came from a bond issue that passed before the economic recession. This bond issue money has nothing to do with the current operating budget, from which the district is trying to cut $5 million.

“It’s like two separate pots of money,” Ballard-Long said.

Overall, it is hoped that the Smart boards will become a useful tool for teachers as well as students.

“Everything that we needed was right there, and it was very convenient,” Indelicato-Faw said.

“I think it’s a cool new feature. We just need more time to embrace it and utilize it the way it needs to be utilized,” Ballard-Long said.