Harford County Public Schools has launched a "bring your own technology" initiative in light of what the school administration is calling a dire lag in classroom technology available to students.
The school system began the project January at Edgewood High School, where students were asked to bring their own sources of Internet access, HCPS Technology Director Andrew Moore II told members of the Harford County Council Tuesday morning, as they reviewed the school system's budget requests from the county.
Superintendent Barbara Canavan said the state of technology "is abysmal for Harford County, and we recognize the fact that it's a big-ticket item, and in recognizing that fact, we have been feverishly working with the leadership of Mr. Moore and many others in providing technology in our schools."
The students' computers of choice have mostly been smartphones and some iPads, with few laptops, Moore said. Three more middle schools are also set to pick up the initiative shortly, Moore said. Teachers are likewise being trained in how to use the different devices.
School leaders want the County Council to approve about $9.9 million toward their Office of Technology and Information for fiscal year 2016, a $719,097 increase from this year's budget.
Overall, the school system requested $252 million from the county toward a basic operating budget of $451 million in 2016, an increase of almost $29 million, of which approximately $16.5 million would be used toward employee salary increases.
Although the operating budget is increasing by a net of $24 million, the $29 million increase sought from the county includes anticipated reductions in state funding.
County Executive Barry Glassman, however, approved an increase of just $4.5 million, of which $3 million he said should go toward teacher salary enhancements.
By law, the council can restore any school funding Glassman declined to support, although that is considered unlikely, as it would require reductions elsewhere in the county's general operating budget or tax increases or a combination of the two.
Moore and Canavan told the council the school system is struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of technological obsolescence, including the recent focus on shifting from mainframe to cloud-based computing. Glassman and his staff said last month that the county government must deal with similar problems in replacing its existing mainframe computer system, a project they expect to take several years and to cost tens of millions of dollars.
Schools have gone two years with no money toward capital projects in technology, according to Moore. About 7,000 instructional computers, 42 percent of the total inventory, are more than five years old, he said.
He also said about 6,000 instructional computers lack adequate memory.
"We are looking at alternatives," he said, while explaining the "bring your own technology" project.
Despite that effort, the laptops, tablets and smartphones students bring from home as part of the "bring your own technology" initiative would never be used in school assessments because they do not meet the assessment requirements, Moore said.
The school system is assembling a committee this summer to look at school budgets and dedicating part of the budgets to technology, Canavan said.
While Harford County Public Schools has "no intention of emulating other counties," Canavan and Moore noted some jurisdictions budget for technology in their annual operating expenses, as part of the cost of doing business.
Gloria Moon, a member of the budget's citizen review board, wondered if the school system might take donations of gently-used computers. While Moore said that would not make sense logistically, he also suggested that PTAs could reach out to children who may not have their own devices.
"So basically what you are telling me is, you have done everything you can and all you have left is a prayer?" asked Councilman Curtis Beulah, who got the ball rolling on the discussion and is the owner of a financial services firm.
Canavan and Council President Richard Slutzky said that was not quite true, as hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested in recent years in wireless technology at Fountain Green, Homestead-Wakefield and Hickory elementary schools.
Moore said the technology budget is not just about computers, but also includes refreshing servers and software, and other overlooked components such as theatrical lighting and sound systems.
Moore said some schools auditoriums have their original lighting systems and sound systems that are nearly 20 years old.
He also said he would love to take advantage of the county's new HMAN fiber-optic network to cut costs of monthly bills.
HMAN, for Harford Metro Area Network, provides, high speed Internet connections to government buildings, libraries and schools. The system became operational last spring, with about one-third of HCPS's 50 schools being connected initially, according to county technology officials.