Interactive whiteboards on the way to Hempfield Area schools

Fort Allen and Maxwell elementary schools are at the top of the list to receive interactive instruction panels to replace outdated classroom projectors.

The upgrade is part of a Hempfield Area School District plan to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade classrooms across the district with the interactive technology.

The district is accepting bids for Promethean interactive panels, which are expected to cost around $2,160 per panel. The panels allow for interactive whiteboarding, videoconferencing, screen sharing and more.

It was not immediately clear how many panels the district would need for each building. They will be purchased over several phases.

“Rather than a projector that merely projects an image, teachers and students can manipulate the content,” Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said via email.

“This is very important for demonstrations, checking for understanding, and modeling.”

The district decided to move forward with purchasing the panels after months of research and discussions on what technology the district wanted to use in the future.

“In September 2021 we were looking at projector replacements,” said Dave Vilchek, the district’s technology director.

“What does that look like for the district, where do we want to go? We wanted to figure out longevity, what would look best for us here. That came down to these interactive panels.”

After receiving input on the panels from neighboring school districts, members of an instructional technology committee received demo panels from four companies including Promethean, Boxlight, SMART and Tango.

Those panels were rotated through each of the district’s schools.

Committee members met in March and decided to move forward with Promethean, whose panels are used in Norwin, Franklin Regional, Monessen and Latrobe school districts.

“I generally think that this process was very intensive,” Vilchek said.

The panels will be phased into the district’s schools.

Phases were determined based on the age of the current projectors.

The project will begin with Fort Allen and Maxwell, where projector replacements were upended by the covid-19 pandemic.

According to Wolicki, Fort Allen will receive 24 panels and Maxwell will receive 19.

Of funds needed for the panels at those schools, about $92,600 will come from remaining Wendover capital project dollars.

The second phase will consist of Wendover and West Hempfield middle schools.

Those panels will be paid for using remaining operations funds from the 2021-22 school year. They will be ordered over the summer and installed during the next school year.

Stanwood elementary would be next, followed by West Point and West Hempfield elementary schools. The high school would be last, with panels installed during the renovation.

Panels for those schools will be purchased as funds are allocated. In the meantime, devices will be shifted between schools as panels are installed.

“While we would like to install new panels in all classrooms for the start of the upcoming school year, there are budget limitations and we recognize the benefits of a phased approach for budgeting for replacements as the devices age,” Wolicki said.

The panels are expected to last seven to 10 years.