Schools

Regional District's Plan Generates Multi-Million Dollar Investment

Glowpoint Video will provide $2M as school hones in on technological advancement.

Written by Dan Gunderman

Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast revealed the source of a $2 million donation/investment to the West Morris Regional High School district on Monday.

The substantial investment, discussed at a Board of Education meeting at West Morris Central High School, comes from Glowpoint Video, which has decided to back the district in an attempt to make it a model prototype for technological advancement.

The company, which focuses on video collaboration, support and network services, is associated with businesses such as ESPN and institutions like Carnegie Mellon.

As stated on the Glowpoint website, “Hundreds of organizations around the world rely on our unmatched experience, business-class support and cloud-based services to collaborate with colleagues, business partners and customers more effectively.”

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Glowpoint also has an executive who lives in the Long Valley region, according to Pendergrast. As he explained, the employee approached the district in hopes of collaborating to make West Morris a benchmark for modern electronics in public schools.   

“They’re interested in working with the schools, to make them a model,” said Pendergrast.

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“They heard about our vision, had a discussion with us, and we reached a spot. Now, there lies potential for a training tech team and internship possibilities. This is a part of a creative vision that involves the entire community,” he said.

Strategic Development

The “creative vision” that Pendergrast discussed, stems from a new initiative the district has involving technology.

“We have a (huge) focus on technology,” said Pendergrast. “We’re improving at every level, and have big things going on…But the critical question we ask ourselves is: There’s a revolution taking place in the world, so how are we responding to that?”

One of the answers to that question dates back to October of 2012, when the district had representatives attend a community technology forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

In a sold-out session, they worked with the strategic development committee, and came back with plenty of new ideas. They also received 850 responses from students, teachers and parents, and sifted through 50 pages of feedback.

“We drew on the vitality of spirit of the whole community,” said Pendergrast. “Now, there are new objectives.”

In a development plan crafted in part from what they picked up on at the forum, the district is improving its WiFi infrastructure and support, to provide further access to students and staff, and improving technological competencies.

“Students have to be ready for this new economy,” said Pendegrast. He also discussed a new umbrella term for much of what the district is doing, called “the digital toolkit” and said the schools will be hiring a Digital Info Specialist with Google certification to work with new apps.

Also, the Digital Learning Center will have 10,000 e-books available at the start of the next school year.

Further, being an “IB School,” they’re able to work, via video conferencing, with schools in Argentina and Shanghai, to name a few.

These cutting-edge new variables within the district are giving it a widely recognized presence, according to Pendergrast, and that is assumed to be part of the reason the Glowpoint executive confronted the school with its offer.


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