Fishers school leaders to vote on debated technology requirement

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) – The board for Hamilton Southeastern Schools is expected to vote Wednesday on an issue that has raised debate in the community over technology requirements in and out of the classroom.

The vote is a response to calls to change a plan that would put tablets in students’ hands starting in kindergarten by the 2016-17 school year.

Petitions for and against the district’s 1:1 iPad rollout have acquired hundreds of signatures.

Some parents have expressed concerns over cost and screen time for the youngest students and responsibility for breakable technology.

Supporters of the plan have said they were surprised by the sudden opposition.

“We’ve dealt with the questions, we’ve looked for the answers to the same questions that these people are struggling with today. We looked at those five, six years ago. This was not an overnight process. This plan is the result of rigorous planning, good, solid academic research and some of the best minds in the district spent five years developing this plan,” Jason Pierce, the creator of a Facebook group supporting the proposal said.

One group has invited parents to meet before Wednesday night’s board meeting to stand together, tablets in hand as a visual sign of support.

“These kids inherently understand these devices. It’s part of their world. It’s part of their world in their daily lives and why shouldn’t it be just as big a part of their world in their educational opportunities,” district mother Sara Mills Henderson said.

The HSE school board meets at 7 p.m. at Fishers Junior High School.