by David Purvis-Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
NORTH MANCHESTER,IN A virtual reality equipment grant and updated textbook fees were the highlights of the July 12 meeting of the Manchester Community Schools Board of School Trustees.
MCS received a grant through NEARPOD, a company that makes interactive classroom tools. Curriculum Director Sue Gnagy presented information about the grant to the board. “It’s a competitive grant, and I thought, ‘Well let’s at least try,’” Gnagy said.
The application process consisted of an essay and a short video, which she played for the board.
Through the grant, MCS will receive a school license for NEARPOD’s software, a set of virtual reality headsets for classroom use, access to NEARPOD’s virtual reality field trip library and staff training.
The principal of each school in MCS presented textbook fee information for the upcoming school year. Overall, fees have decreased from last year, with only kindergarten and first, fourth and fifth grades seeing increases. The highest increase is for fourth grade, which will be $228.66 this year, an increase of more than $60.
The increases are attributed to the new Chromebooks being used by the district, which cost $100 per student per year.
“Because of the Chromebooks, parents will no longer have to buy the $40 insurance [for the iPads],” Superintendent Bill Reichhart said. “So really, the fees could go down by another $40 from what parents paid last year that you don’t see here.”
For full details, see the July 13 issue of The North Manchester News Journal.