The day was October twenty-second, 2024, and Mr. D’Amico’s third period Calculus BC class noticed something new. As the students filed in, they saw a
brand new smartboard on the far left wall of the classroom- two feet away from one table group and much, much further from Mr. D’Amico’s normal teaching podium and projector setup, which seemed inconvenient. During a mid-period brain break, he made it clear to the class; his teaching setup would not be changing, and the smart display was doomed to a life as abstract wall art. Calculus student and tech enthusiast Roman Abrahamson immediately Goo-
gled how much the smart display cost and came up with an answer of $20,000 USD. The accompanying sound system was, thankfully, only eighty dollars.
“I told them I’d never use it,” Mr. D’Amico said, gesturing vaguely to the smart display. “I made it clear. There have been teachers here asking for this for five years that don’t have it, and I got it. I don’t want it!” He turned it on to satiate his curiosity, only to find he wasn’t familiar with its Android operating system. There was nothing left to do except keep teaching about slope fields.
The parents of our school’s students and the community around us had voted to put up these boards, however indirectly, as they had been bought with Measure A funding. The NewsBreaker was lucky enough to interview Mr. Keller and PGUSD’s Director of Educational Technology, Mr. Binder, for information about this bond and its
relevance to our daily lives as students. The Measure A Tech-Bond (not to be confused with another existing Measure A for school infrastructure) was an $18 million bond that was voted on by PG residents in 2014, and passed with over 60% of the vote. Its purpose is to support educational technology initiatives over its 18-year lifespan.
Mr. Keller made sure to highlight how much Measure A/Ed Tech Bond helped over the Coronavirus pandemic, stating “without Measure A, we wouldn’t have gotten through COVID.” It was Measure A that allowed PGUSD to transition to distance learning over the pandemic. In Pacific Grove High School specifically, it was Measure A funding that bought the fleet of chromebooks for our campus, and it will be Measure A funding that upgrades them to a newer model starting in Fall 2025. Mr. Keller commented, “It really brought us into the twenty-first century.”
The above measures, as well as the smart displays, were funded from Measure A based on the decision of the district’s Tech Committee, which meets regularly and evaluates requests from staff. These staff requests include getting onto the list for a new smart display; three more displays will be put up in February 2025. Mrs. Selfridge has also already had a display installed; she had been teaching with a finicky projector unable to project red hues for years, and was happy with her display’s functionality, especially considering she had been asking for one for years.
Mr. White, the school IT technician, had helped install the smart displays and knew some details about the process. The displays were very heavy and took a team of several people and time of several hours to fully put up. Once they were on the wall the team, spearheaded by Mr. White, had to figure out the semi-obscure programs and operating systems involved in getting the display connected to the school cloud. Mr. White ended his statement to the Newsbreaker on a very happy note; the board in Mr. D’Amico’s room wasn’t sticking around for long.
Just one room over from Mr. D’Amico, history teacher Ms. N, had expressed that she wanted a smart display, all while her display was left with at best average intelligence. Mr. White stated that the board would be moved from Mr. D’Amico’s room, where it only took up space, to Ms. N’s room, where it would be used often. On Monday, October 28, the board was moved, and Mr. D’Amico’s room was outfitted with a spare, older board.
For students interested in district-level technology projects, including those funded by Measure A, Mr. Binder welcomes them to attend the technology committee virtual meetings, held at 3:30-3:40 on the second Tuesday of each month. For more information, visit the PGTech website.
The other existing Measure A, to be used for school infrastructure, is nearing the end of its lifespan. On Tuesday, November 5th, Measure B is on the local ballot. Its intended purpose is to replace the infrastructure Measure A, which has helped provide our PGHS campus with improvements such as new pavement, an upgraded gym, the dance and small gyms, and disability-accessible railings.
Nothing to do with making sure a public school has the best available resources is easy, especially considering different teachers’ vastly different needs. Thankfully, the saga of and the smart display was a happy one, remembered only by the old board of Mr. D’Amico’s wall.