Mobile telephone company to outfit Locust Grove schools

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.新蒲崗迷你倉July 16--LOCUST GROVE -- A mobile telephone company's pilot program will provide phones and computer tablets worth at least $400,000 to Locust Grove Public Schools beginning next month, Superintendent David Cash said.Part of the program involves equipping 250 faculty and staff members with smartphones with special safety software installed."Bottom line is, it has a button you hit that immediately puts you in contact with me or their principal or the police," Cash said. "The response time is faster. You don't have to run back and get a hold of somebody if they see somebody suspicious or maybe somebody that's patrolling the parking lot that looks out of place."When it's tornado warning time, I can put us all in lockdown from my phone in a matter of seconds. Every employee is notified."T-Mobile also will provide 900 computer tablets for students in grades 6-12 as part of a one-to-one initiative."We'll hard-load their textbooks, and it will be a digital work flow instead of the traditional paper and pencil," Cash said.Ben Parker, the technology director for mini storagehe district, said in a statement: "Students will be able to create documents and share them instantly with their teachers. There will be no more waiting for an open computer lab. Wherever a student is, he or she will be able to work."Cash said the improvements will alter the dynamics of the district, including how it approaches future construction."With the tablets, it's eliminated our textbooks," he said. "We're designing a new high school now. It changes the way you do that. You don't need the big, cumbersome lockers to pack a backpack in. You just need room for a tablet."With the amount of budget cuts we've had over the past four years, it's something we've been wanting to do," he said. "We just haven't been able to."Locust Grove, which is about 40 miles east of Tulsa in Mayes County, has about 1,500 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade. Fall classes begin Aug. 22.Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at www.tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage