Westfield Schools Now Rockin' 21st-Century Tech

If someone had told you that one impetus for the technology upgrade in Westfield’s school district was a complaint from a student, you’d probably figure the complaint came from a high-school student unhappy about network speed, right?

Wrong. Not even close. It came from a first-grader. She couldn’t read the book she was assigned because her e-reader couldn’t get on the network to download it.

Yes, it’s that kind of world, especially so now in the Westfield school district.  This new school year brings to fruition a major, major upgrade to the technology throughout the district.

What started out as a tech initiative three years ago has now been rolled out to the high school, to both intermediate schools and to all six elementary schools.

Spearheading the effort were Superintendent Dr. Margaret Dolan, Chief Technology Officer Brian Auker, Board of Ed member Mitchell Slater and, as of this past December, Assistant Superintendent Paul Pineiro. Also key was the volunteer Ad-Hoc Technology Committee, of which Slater is the chairperson and Ginny Leiz, Rosanee Kurstedt and Richard Mattessich are members.

So what does the 21st century look like in Westfield? It all starts with hardware, so let’s start there, with 360 new iPads -- 30 per mobile cart -- spread across the district; 156 new ultrabooks (slimmed-down laptops), also on carts, for grades 9-12; 37 new desktops for the high school library; 30 new desktops for each of the new Roosevelt, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"roosevelt-intermediate-school"} --> and